While MySpace was busy ruining friendships in the early aughts, Facebook was readying to upend life as we know it. Knotel CEO Amol Sarva thinks his flexible workspace platform is the Facebook to WeWork’s MySpace.

This week on Business Casual, we’re getting into the nitty gritty of flexible space and the future of work. Sarva isn’t afraid to name names...and cast doubt on WeWork’s financials.

More high points from the conversation:

Sarva explains the difficulties of cauterizing “ethical rot” vs. “financial rot.”.

He makes a case for celebrating the coming recession. Sarva argues that despite how capital intensive real estate is, flexible office space will thrive when things go south.

For anyone looking to optimize your life—Sarva’s point about why we don’t build our own iPhones is for you.


In addition to out-Zuckerberging WeWork, Sarva 1) got his Ph.D. in cognitive science at Stanford 2) co-founded Virgin Mobile USA and 3) uses both “Faustian” and “schadenfreude” in the interview...so you know you’re going to learn something.