BWTalks ImranKhan
Theco-founderofe-commercestartup
VerishopInc.sayshe’sbettingtheonline
shoppingmarketstillhasroomforhigh-
endbutrelativelyaffordabletastemakers
thatcansurvivethewrathofJeffBezos.
—CarolMassarandJasonKelly○RaisedinBangladesh;headedtotheU.S.topursuefinanceand
economicsdegreesattheUniversityofDenver○Ledthe 2014
initialpublicofferingforAlibabaGroupHoldingLtd.whileatCreditSuisse
GroupAG○ServedasSnapInc.’schiefstrategyofficerduringitsIPO○ Interviews are edited for clarity and length. Listen to Bloomberg Businessweek With
Carol Massar and Jason Kelly, weekdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on Bloomberg Radio.DoyouthinkaboutAmazonconstantly?Onecompanycannotsolve
allproblems.If youlookat
onlineretail,it’snow10%
ofoverallretailsales,and
I believethatin thenext
10 to 15 years,onlineretail
willbe30%ofit.Howdoyoucapturesomeofthatslice?
You’vebeenliveforjusta fewmonths
now.Whatareyoulearningaboutthe
marketplace?If youneeda commodity,a
disposableutilityproduct,
Amazonis phenomenal.
What’sreallymissingis
a lifestylee-commerce
destination.Wearecreating
a platformwhereyoucan
findallthecoolbrandsfor
youreverydayluxuryneeds,
andwiththeconvenience
ofAmazon.Freeone-day
shipping,andweputour
customersupportnumberat
thetopofthepage.What’stopreventsomebodyfromgoing
toyoursite,saying,“OK,I likethisXYZ
coolbrand,”andthengoingtothehome
siteofthatbrandin thefuture?Somepeoplewilldothat.
Theinterestingthingis thatconsumers don’t like putting
their credit card number in
500 different websites. So if
you have a relationship with
one retailer who knows you
and the product shows up,
that’s a great place to go.What’s it going to take to fix this chasm
between private valuations and public
valuations that we saw with WeWork?A lot of great companies
were built in a public market.
Amazon went public very
early. Netflix went public
very early. But I think it’s
getting more and more
challenging. The market is
so volatile, and investors are
so short-term-oriented. So I
understand the excitement
then with private markets.What sorts of market lessons did you
learn at Snap that you’re applying now
at Verishop?If you can build an audience
and work with a great team,
you can build a business
fast. By yearend we’ll have
a million unique shoppers a
month. I still believe there is
an opportunity to build big
businesses. TECHNOLOGY27CATE
DINGLEY/BLOOMBERG
WeWork chose Premier XD, a commercial fixture
company that builds kiosks for the likes of Starbucks,
according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg
Businessweek and three people familiar with the mat-
ter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
they weren’t authorized to discuss it. After UBS
employees at the offices of its wealth management
unit in Weehawken, N.J., complained of a smell, the
bank hired a company to test the Premier-made
booths. The results showed potentially toxic levels
of formaldehyde, say two people familiar with the
matter who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Formaldehyde is often used in building materials,
but in too-high concentrations in the short term,
exposure can irritate people’s respiratory systems.
Long term, contact has been linked to cancer.
By August, after UBS had relayed the results and
had its booths replaced, WeWork was holding dis-
cussions to try to find a new provider. On Sept. 11,
Premier XD abruptly shut down; workers say they
had to fight to retrieve personal belongings from
its locked Virginia warehouses. Yet WeWork still
hadn’t warned its customers about the booths, so
people were still using them. More than a month
after Premier closed, WeWork emailed tens of thou-
sands of customers to say it was pulling 2,300 booths
because of possible formaldehyde risks. Those who
arrived at WeWork offices that morning found the
booths slapped with paper signs reading, “CAUTION:
DO NOT USE.” A WeWork spokeswoman wrote in an
email: “We regret the impact this issue has had on
members at some of our locations, and we are work-
ing to remedy this situation as quickly as possible.”
UBS declined to comment.
To keep costs down, Premier XD frequently out-
sourced manufacturing to China when it had enough
lead time to do so, say two former Premier XD
employees who spoke on condition of anonymity
for fear of retaliation. A former WeWork employee
says ousted Chief Executive Officer Adam Neumann
likewise pushed hard to cut office furnishing costs.
If not for the serious health risks, this might seem
like just another absurd turn for the hapless office
space company, which in recent months has pushed
out Neumann, abandoned its initial public offering
plans, and required a $9.5 billion bailout from its
chief backer, SoftBank Group Corp. As WeWork has
begun replacing some of the tainted phone booths,
it’s swapping in units of the same design made by a
different manufacturer, says a person familiar with
the matter. Some remain off-limits. —Ellen Huet,
withLananhNguyenTHE BOTTOM LINE People familiar with the matter say WeWork
knew for at least a month that its custom phone booths might carry
elevated levels of a carcinogen before it informed its customers.