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<ul class="summary-list"><li>TikTok has become the hottest social platform among Generation Z and influencers are using it as a springboard to social-media stardom.</li><li>Business Insider is recognizing the 19 top talent agencies and management companies that are helping to shape the careers of TikTok stars in 2020.</li><li>These agents and managers come from a variety of backgrounds, with some having experience working with other social-media creators or Hollywood talent, and others entering the talent management space for the first time with the arrival of TikTok. </li><li>Send your influencer industry tips to the authors at dwhateley@businessinsider.com and aperelli@businessinsider.com.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>TikTok has become a serious contender in the battle for social-media attention, with billions of downloads globally. And talent managers and agents are fighting to sign TikTok's roster of up-and-coming stars. With the help of their reps, the app's most popular creators have scored <a href="https://www.insider.com/ok-boomer-meme-life-cycle-super-bowl-sabra-hummus-2020-2">Super Bowl ads</a>, lucrative brand sponsorships, and have crossed over into traditional media with talk-show appearances and animated voiceover work.As with TikTok's top talent - which includes YouTube-famous creators like David Dobrik and Emma Chamberlain and newcomers like Charli D'Amelio - the list of power players in TikTok talent management is a hodgepodge of incumbents and upstart agencies who capitalized on the app's popularity at the right moment.Some influencers have both a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-managers-of-youtube-creators-influencers-power-list-2019-10">talent manager</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-agents-of-youtube-creators-influencers-uta-wme-caa-2019-11">an agent</a> to help build their digital brand. In those cases, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-managers-of-youtube-creators-influencers-power-list-2019-10">a manager will often help with day-to-day work of crafting the creator's brand,</a> while an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-agents-of-youtube-creators-influencers-uta-wme-caa-2019-11">agent will work bringing in deals and on broader business strategy</a>. There's also some overlap.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-star-charli-d-amelio-influencer-business-youtube-tour-uta-2020-2">The most popular TikTok creator is 15-year-old Charli D'Amelio</a>, who posts dance videos with friends or from her bedroom in Connecticut. She has 48 million followers on TikTok.D'Amelio, her sister, and her two parents are all comanaged by the firms Outshine Talent and Manncom Creative Partners, and represented by United Talent Agency for larger business ventures like going on tour or <a href="https://www.etonline.com/tiktok-star-charli-damelio-teases-a-reality-show-with-her-family-exclusive-144556">launching a reality TV show</a>.Agents and managers earn revenue by receiving a cut of the influencer's earnings, which typically ranges from 10% to 20%, depending on how much the agent they do for the client, according to industry insiders.After highlighting the top talent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-managers-of-youtube-creators-influencers-power-list-2019-10">managers and agents in the YouTube influencer space last year</a>, Business Insider is now putting a spotlight on the top agents and managers for TikTok talent. These power players are helping shape the careers of TikTok stars in 2020.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-agents-of-youtube-creators-influencers-uta-wme-caa-2019-11">Agencies that have worked with traditional Hollywood stars for decades</a> like WME and UTA have been scooping up TikTok talent in recent months. And they're not the only players in the game.Talent management upstarts like The Fuel Injector, Amp Studios, and Sadowski Enterprises were some of the first to see TikTok's potential and set up management deals with its stars."I think TikTok is super interesting," Jad Dayeh, a partner and the cohead of digital at WME, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wme-digital-talent-cohead-jad-dayeh-youtube-tiktok-influencer-trends-2019-12">told Business Insider</a> in January. "It's undeniably connecting with youth culture on a global level."As with other social-media platforms, TikTok's prominence in the cultural zeitgeist has seen a bump in recent weeks as more people spend time online while sheltered at home. TikTok creators have seen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/engagement-on-instagram-sponsored-posts-rises-as-coronavirus-spreads-2020-3">video engagement spike</a> and follower counts jump as the app's user base grows to new heights.In the months ahead, TikTok stars will lean on their managers and agents to discover how to leverage near-term fame into a long-term career.To narrow down a list of finalists, Business Insider relied on a mix of our own reporting, nominations from readers, and industry experts who helped us assess each individual's impact on the influencer business.The top talent managers and agents for TikTok are listed in alphabetical order by company: <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/influencerdashboard">Sign up for Business Insider's influencer newsletter, Influencer Dashboard, to get more stories like this in your inbox.</a>Check out our other influencer industry power lists on Business Insider Prime: <ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-agents-of-youtube-creators-influencers-uta-wme-caa-2019-11">The top 18 talent agents for YouTube creators and influencers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-agents-of-youtube-creators-influencers-uta-wme-caa-2019-11"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-managers-of-youtube-creators-influencers-power-list-2019-10">The top 14 talent managers for YouTube creators and influencers</a></li></ul><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-managers-and-agents-for-esports-gaming-influencers-and-streamers-2020-3">The top 17 managers and agents for gaming YouTubers, streamers, and esports competitors</a></li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/stories-slide-deck?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=tiktok&amp;itm_campaign=stories-slide-deck"></a>

The top 19 talent managers and agents for TikTok influencers who are helping build the careers of a new generation of digital stars

In the space of eight years and with an initial capital investment of AUD400, Australian YPO member Nick Bell has grown a digital empire from the ground up. 
 
Bell launched WME Group in 2008 – an award-winning digital services agency that has been dubbed one of Australia’s fastest growing tech companies by SmartCompany and BRW – after seizing an opportunity to turn SEO (search engine optimization) into a marketable and consumer-driven product. The success of WME served as a springboard for a multitude of cross-functional companies offering web design and development (Nothing But Web), mobile app creation and marketing (Appscore), live chat services (Lead Chat) and web hosting (Hosting Australia). In addition, Bell established WME sister agencies throughout Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand. 
 
Today, Bell’s group of multi-national companies helps thousands of businesses across the world increase their bottom line and boost brand recognition, catering to myriad of needs in the perpetually evolving world of modern marketing. 
 
How does a university dropout become a highly successful entrepreneur of several different global companies? 
Two reasons: opportunity and necessity. Essentially, this is what drove me to where I am today. After four months studying business at Victoria University, I decided university wasn’t for me and started up an online skincare business instead. When this didn’t work out as planned, I had two choices – go and work for someone else, or get innovative. I saw a business opportunity in the world of SEO and I basically took it and ran with it. 
 
What kind of qualities have landed you where you are today? 
• Thick skin – WME began when I started cold-calling prospective clients from my office-converted bedroom. I’d built up a resilience to rejection, which is an integral facet of entrepreneurialism; failures are inevitable in life and can often be the best lessons. 
• Confidence in your abilities – Although I believe you need to be prepared to embrace failure, you also need to back yourself when it comes to business. I always maintained confidence that I was going to achieve the goals I set out for myself. Self-doubt will get you nowhere. 
• Determination to overcome obstacles – I live by a certain motto: “There’s always a way to overcome a challenge and there’s always an angle that you haven’t yet explored.” I don’t waste my time over-analysing situations; I think it’s important to understand the objective, carve out a plan of action, get in the trenches and make it happen. 
 
What is the most difficult leadership lesson you have learned? 
You absolutely need to nail your niche. There were periods where I invested in industries that I hadn’t researched correctly and I ended up losing a substantial amount of money. It helped me realize that true success in business lies in sticking to what you know, and from there, becoming an expert in every single crevice of it. You need to investigate it from a granular level; to pick apart the tapestry and continually find new threads to explore. 
 
What are three business leadership insights you would like to share? 
1. Evolution in business nowadays is paramount to success. Take Apple – it’s one of the most successful companies in the world, largely due to its abilities to continue churning out new and innovative ideas. 
2. Invest in the right people for your company. They drive your business. They are the cogs that keep the wheels turning. 
3. Avoid succumbing to a complacent workplace culture. It’s really easy to follow in the footsteps of places like Google, where sleeping pods and table tennis are all the rage, but to me, they are just gimmicks. I find other ways to strike a healthy balance between having fun and getting it done. 
 
How can business leaders cater to the Gen-Y workplace attitude? 
There’s definitely a whole new approach towards the workplace these days and it’s one they don’t really teach you in business school. My office chairs are mainly occupied by young, vibrant millennials who have essentially grown up with the digital age, and they are constantly looking for ways to satiate their growing curiosity. Business leaders should acknowledge this and ensure their employees are given the appropriate avenues to channel their energy. In my companies, no one remains stagnant: people move across departments, continually adding new tools to their skillsets and unlocking new doors for opportunity. 
 
(The article is authored by Nick Bell, Managing Director for WME, Member of YPO) 
 
(YPO is the global platform for chief executives to engage, learn and grow. YPO members harness the knowledge, influence and trust of the world’s most influential and innovative business leaders to inspire business, personal, family and community impact. Today, YPO empowers more than 24,000 members in more than 130 countries, diversified among industries and types of businesses. Leadership. Learning. Lifelong. For more information, visit YPO.org) 
 
(Image: Thinkstock)

From humble beginnings: 5 questions with Nick Bell, Gen-Y entrepreneur

<keyword id="2085190" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-grocery-stores">Online grocery stores</keyword> are gaining popularity in India due to sheer convenience, ease of shopping and a fast-growing market. Globally, <keyword id="2085193" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-grocery-retail">online grocery retail</keyword> is growing nearly 7 times faster than on-ground formats and the <keyword id="47445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-market">Indian market</keyword> may soon catch up. For one, the <keyword id="156795" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="indian-retail-industry">Indian retail industry</keyword> is estimated to be worth over $500 billion (one of the world’s top 5 markets) and 30-40% of the businesses will be in the online retail space over the next 7 years., This presents a great opportunity for any form of e-tailing, especially the <keyword id="2085203" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="E-grocery-space">e-grocery space</keyword>. 
 As of now, <keyword id="2085207" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Grocery-e-tailing-in-India">grocery e-tailing in India</keyword> is a largely unorganised space and poses a big challenge in terms of stiff <keyword id="2085206" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entry-barriers">entry barriers</keyword>. The traditional methods of inventory and <keyword id="2085212" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Logistics-management">logistics management</keyword> call for intense cash-burning – a business condition most of the bootstrapped Indian start-ups fail to meet. Moreover, a <keyword id="2085209" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Series-A-funding-crunch">Series A funding crunch</keyword> also compelled companies like Mumbai-based <keyword id="2048780" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ShopVeg">ShopVeg</keyword> to shut down operations. Therefore, when another Mumbai-based start-up decided to start grocery e-tailing in the same year, things were not looking too exciting for the newcomer. But 22 months later, <keyword id="2009014" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="LocalBanya-com">LocalBanya.com</keyword> has managed to set up Mumbai’s first online supermarket and also raised <keyword id="6793689" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Series-A-funding">Series A funding</keyword> for the next level of expansion. 
 Although there were predecessors that attempted various models of grocery retail in the digital space and failed, <keyword id="2047523" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="LocalBanya">LocalBanya</keyword> has adapted a <keyword id="2085214" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lean-business-model">lean business model</keyword> that relies on a convenient mix of <keyword id="96173" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="warehousing">warehousing</keyword> and <keyword id="512818" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cash-and-carry">cash-and-carry</keyword>. This has reduced the start-up’s dependence on capital-intensive operations and enabled it to put in place a thoroughly efficient <keyword id="118965" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Supply-chain">supply chain</keyword>. In addition, the company has adopted some unique measures to take <keyword id="2085217" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Customer-convenience">customer convenience</keyword> to the next level. Want to know more about LocalBanya and how it works? Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs LocalBanya (www.localbanya.com): A team of three co-founders – <keyword id="2085179" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Karan-Mehrotra">Karan Mehrotra</keyword> (<keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword>), <keyword id="2085180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rashi-Choudhary">Rashi Choudhary</keyword> (COO) and <keyword id="1251820" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amit-Naik">Amit Naik</keyword> (<keyword id="238078" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="CTO">CTO</keyword>). Karan is the brain behind LocalBanya and set up the entire infrastructure with just 14 employees. He is a <keyword id="163598" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="computer-engineer">computer engineer</keyword> and prior to starting up, worked for his family business as a distributor for <keyword id="123278" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="FMCG-firms">FMCG firms</keyword>. He has 11 years of work experience in varied fields – from turning around a chain of restaurants to setting up metal fabrication plants to building a food distribution network. 
 Amit holds an MBA from IIM-Lucknow and he is also a Six Sigma Black Belt from the American Society for Quality. He had six years of top tier experience in ad-tech and earlier worked for <keyword id="1076906" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Directi">Directi</keyword> and <keyword id="45475" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Larsen-Toubro">Larsen &amp; Toubro</keyword>. Rashi holds a Global MBA from <keyword id="1433263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="SP-Jain-School-of-Global-Management">SP Jain School of Global Management</keyword> and brings four years of experience in <keyword id="6553136" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="retailing">retailing</keyword>, consulting and <keyword id="169305" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="customer-service">customer service</keyword>. Prior to joining LocalBanya, she worked with the <keyword id="244481" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Raymond-Group">Raymond Group</keyword>. 
 The trio had been working on the concept for some time and the site went live in May 2012. LocalBanya is now in beta and the e-grocer has over 130 employees operating across Mumbai, Thane and <keyword id="57321" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Navi-Mumbai">Navi Mumbai</keyword>. 
 
What inspired the venture: The desire to go one step ahead of your <keyword id="2085220" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Local-grocer">local grocer</keyword> who accepts orders on phone. “Apparently, it was convenient but there was something lacking. You can’t browse the inventory when ordering on phone; the choices are not many (after all, a kirana or <keyword id="2085221" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mom-and-pop-store">mom-and-pop store</keyword> won’t keep exotic or imported items as those are a bit expensive) and finally, there’s no organised system (accountable, responsible and prompt),” says Karan. So up came LocalBanya, an online supermarket selling around 12,000 products across 17 categories and adding more every day. 
 
What’s the pitch: LocalBanya.com is an <keyword id="2085223" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-convenience-store">online convenience store</keyword> dedicated to YOU (customers). The e-grocer offers high quality products and hassle-free delivery that save time, energy and money. “If you are <keyword id="62452" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="grocery-shopping">grocery shopping</keyword> 4-5 times a month or looking for something special, imagine the kind of supermarket trips you have to make and how you have to run from shop to shop,” points out Karan. “But having the entire bulk procured for you and delivered to your place, at the time you want it, would make things extremely convenient and lure the customers,” he adds. Karan, however, feels that the industry is huge enough to allow kirana stores, large-format retailers and e-retailers to survive and grow in the same marketplace. 
 
How it works: As of now, LocalBanya is targeting the <keyword id="6756404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="urban-population">urban population</keyword> and the customer base varies from <keyword id="2085227" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Single-professionals">single professionals</keyword>, <keyword id="632195" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="working-couples">working couples</keyword>, <keyword id="168112" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nuclear-families">nuclear families</keyword> and <keyword id="3216" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="students">students</keyword> fending for themselves to <keyword id="1400200" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="new-mothers">new mothers</keyword>, <keyword id="20566" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="senior-citizens">senior citizens</keyword> and even <keyword id="2085229" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Large-families">large families</keyword>. 
 “People come to us for a wide selection of goods (otherwise, they will have to visit 2-3 stores to make a purchase), convenience and great pricing. We deliver that convenience with exceptional levels of customer service, <keyword id="2085230" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Preferred-delivery-times">preferred delivery times</keyword>, same-day deliveries, fresh produce and efficient &amp; reliable suppliers. We also take product suggestions from our customers and ensure that the products are online in a fortnight,” details the LocalBanya team. The <keyword id="2085232" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Procurement-model">procurement model</keyword> includes a convenient mix of warehousing and just-in-time (<keyword id="377986" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="JIT">JIT</keyword>) deliveries from a host of suppliers including <keyword id="34523" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="fmcg">FMCG</keyword> companies, cash-and-carry outlets and other distributors. 
 Shopping for groceries on the LocalBanya platform is also kept simple. You just have to register or connect through Facebook before browsing the categories and the products. Once you make the purchase, the order is processed and ready for delivery within 6 hours. Delivery is done as per your time slot selection. The company offers 6 slots (of 2 hours each), from 7 in the morning until midnight, and one can choose any of those. Customers also enjoy <keyword id="2085234" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Banya-Points-rewards-programme">Banya Points rewards programme</keyword> and these points are redeemed for cash discounts on every purchase. 
 
Claim to fame: <keyword id="900658" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="traction">Traction</keyword> and <keyword id="232730" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-model">business model</keyword>. The start-up claims that it currently reaches over 10,000 homes a month and delivers 500-plus orders a day. Interestingly, nearly one-third of its orders are from <keyword id="1189616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="institutional-clients">institutional clients</keyword> while senior citizens and <keyword id="58225" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="NRIs">NRIs</keyword> constitute over 16% of the customer base. But what matters most is the <keyword id="2085235" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lean-infrastructure">lean infrastructure</keyword> set-up for reducing asset liabilities. 
 
Show me the money: Since its <keyword id="85080" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Inception">inception</keyword> in May 2012, LocalBanya has done around Rs 15 crore in gross revenues. The start-up is projected to grow 40% month on month over the next 15-18 months and eyes <keyword id="486782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="break-even">break-even</keyword> in the existing markets (Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai) by June this year. 
 LocalBanya was initially bootstrapped, but has already raised two rounds of <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword>. It is now in talks with investors to raise a Series B round by March 2014. In January this year, the start-up secured an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from <keyword id="2009015" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Karmvir-Avant-Group">Karmvir Avant Group</keyword>, a real estate developer in Mumbai. Earlier, it had raised funding from <keyword id="2085241" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Times-Groups-Brand-Capital-Springboard">Times Group’s Brand Capital Springboard</keyword> platform. “The Series A round will last us for a year and help fuel our growth at a faster rate as we scale up operations, hiring and marketing. We are also looking to start operations in a new city within a quarter,” says Karan. 
 
Biggest challenge: Competition abounds in online grocery retail space but containing cash-burning is most crucial when it comes to inventory, supply chain and logistics. Streamlining the supply chain and <keyword id="2085210" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Inventory-management">inventory management</keyword> is an uphill task but a lean procurement set-up, use of <keyword id="2085238" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Leased-delivery-vehicles">leased delivery vehicles</keyword>, <keyword id="2085242" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="In-house-delivery-personnel">in-house delivery personnel</keyword> (for ease of management) and a well-structured <keyword id="2085243" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Region-mapping">region mapping</keyword> that enables effective coverage of the city have helped the start-up cut down on costs. 
 
Five takeaways: In nearly 2 years of operation, LocalBanya has seen some interesting trends in <keyword id="2085200" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-grocery-shopping">online grocery shopping</keyword> behaviour and Karan &amp; his team want to share it with the budding wannapreneurs and all our readers. So here we go: 
 
59% of the transactions on the site are done by women. 
 
Senior citizens are a sizeable 14% of the customer base due to the convenience of online retail. 
 
A sizeable 2.1% of transactions are done by NRIs to have groceries delivered to their relatives in Mumbai. 
 
Institutional clients including restaurants, corporate houses, co-operative societies and any other organisation requiring groceries in bulk have seen the advantage of e-grocery and 29% of the business comes from these channels. 
 
Around 11% of LocalBanya’s deliveries are done during the 10 pm-12 midnight slot. And the last trend brings us back to the convenience factor. How many e-grocers or physical retail stores in India would be doing that in a bid to break out of the pack?

This E-grocery Start-up Uses A Lean Model For Its Online Supermarket; In Talks To Raise Series B
Funding

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Zane Saleh launched sunglasses brand <keyword id="11051300" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lexxola">Lexxola</keyword> in 2019, now a staple among the <keyword id="159493" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gen-Z">Gen Z</keyword> "it" crowd.</li><li>The unisex eyewear is designed for city life and breaks a mold in the eyewear market.</li><li>Saleh spoke with Insider on growing the brand during the pandemic and its community-led approach.</li></ul>If you want to see the world through the eyes of Gen Z, just put on a pair of Lexxolas.The sunglasses' sheer tinted lenses have been spotted on everyone from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIJf7RwDHhS/?utm_source=ig_embed">Emma Chamberlain</a> to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kaiagerber/?utm_source=ig_embed">Kaia Gerber</a> to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJBoBG0pul3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loadingding">Sofia Richie</a>. And beyond these members of Gen Z's "it crowd," many other members of the generation are <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@annedrinksmatcha/video/6925556264994950406?lang=en">taking to TikTok</a> to share examples of affordable Lexxola dupes. That's because you have to shell out designer prices for the London-based indie brand's ergonomically designed, sleek modern-meets-'70s vibe, which are priced from £190 to £220, or $200 to $260. The line continues to grow, with two new styles just launching, a cat-eye frame named "The Ally" and a more oval frame named "The August."For the record, Lexxola's CEO and founder is a millennial, and the 27-year-old Zane Saleh told Insider that since launching less than two years ago, in late 2019, they've viewed everything as an experiment. "That freedom of thought to just say 'try everything' has really allowed us to figure out what's working quite quick and figure out what isn't and just push forward," he said. Along the way, Saleh says he hit upon a Gen Z-friendly business model: direct collaboration with his customers. Instead of designing based off his own inspiration, Saleh said he uses a community-sourcing model to create styles - a creation process that has the potential to reshape <keyword id="6" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="fashion">fashion</keyword> <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword>.It's a strategy that's worked, as Lexxola might be small and young, but it's growing. The company has evolved from just Saleh running the whole show to four employees working remotely. At time of publication, several styles were sold out, available only for pre-order, and with the US being its biggest market, Saleh said the company is planning to open a warehouse in Virginia and headquarters in New York City this year so it can offer domestic shipping rates to US customers. Lexxola has operated under pandemic conditions for the majority of its existence, and the brand is growing at an unlikely time, as 2020 hit the retail industry <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/covid-19-impact-on-worldwide-retail-will-worse-than-great-recession">harder than the Great Recession did</a>. From February to April of last year, <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/retail-recession.html">Deloitte found</a>, retail sales plunged by 20%, with an 89% decline in clothes and accessories. By June, <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/covid-19-impact-on-worldwide-retail-will-worse-than-great-recession">Insider Intelligence</a> predicted that retail sales worldwide for the year would be down 5.7% from 2019.But Saleh said that being a young, agile, and digital company at a time when brick-and-mortar stores were closing left it uniquely placed to grow and gather market share. A solely online presence speaks to a Gen Z community which often shares and expresses itself digitally, he said. According to screenshots of Lexxola's analytics dashboard that Saleh sent to Insider, Lexxola's sales grew by over 5,500% from February 2020 to February 2021, and annual revenues for this year are projected to exceed $6 million. Saleh spoke to Insider about launching Lexxola, growing it through the pandemic, and his community-led approach. What's emerged is a brand made by a millennial for a Gen Z audience, with <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> at its heart. <h2>Made for the city</h2>Saleh originally studied economics, but said he quickly realized finance wasn't for him. He found himself in the art world for five years, and he began getting Lexxola off the ground while he was working at Sotheby's. He ultimately left, his full-time job three months before Lexxola's official launch.Growing up, he said he noticed that sunglasses marketing campaigns were always about summer. "It was the guy and the girl running down the beach," he said. "Whereas the eyewear experience that I knew was about wearing a product year-round, it was something for city life."He long wondered why there wasn't a brand speaking to that concept, and decided to fill the gap himself. The year prior to Lexxola's 2019 launch, the global sunglasses market was <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/sunglasses-market#:~:text=The%20global%20sunglasses%20market%20size,CAGR%20over%20the%20forecast%20period.&amp;text=Consumers%20are%20willing%20to%20spend,create%20their%20own%20style%20statement.ent.">valued at $14.5 billion and growing</a>, thanks to an increase in disposable income. While sunglasses stores declined in revenue during the pandemic, <a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/sunglasses-stores-industry/">IBIS World found</a>, it predicts revenue to grow as the the economy rebounds. Americans are now sitting on more than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-pandemic-savings-signal-economic-boom-2021-3">$1.6 trillion in savings</a>, some of which will likely be deferred disposable income.<div type="image" title="ALLY Lexxola " height="1878" width="2500" msid="81919270" hostid="261"></div>Saleh described beginning Lexxola as "diving into the deep end," as he had no prior experience in the eyewear sector. He managed to source a factory in Italy and find a warehouse, both of which were hugely important, he said. "When we first set up our warehouse, it was probably a bit early, but if we didn't have that we'd for sure be out of business," he said. "Putting the right building blocks into place in the first sort of six to eight months of the business, prior to the pandemic, really allowed us to springboard through it."<h2>A community-led approach</h2>Saleh said he did everything when first launching, from packing boxes to answering customer service. Now that the team has expanded to four, he said he still has touch points in all aspects of the business. Lexxola's community-led creation process involves aggregating data on Gen Z consumers to create new styles for them. It's a contrast from many fashion companies, Saleh explained, which are typically headed by a singular figure creating a product, putting it to market, and hoping that people like it."What we do is speak with our community," he said. "We're almost in a position where we're a brand that actually acts as a service to create a product." But Saleh said this strategy has some challenges, such as ensuring they have styles that meets everyone's needs. Continuous iterations of new sunglasses can also be quite labor and time-intensive, he said, but ultimately worthwhile. He cited a time when the team gathered product-return data, which helped it make specific changes to a product that led to 90% fewer returns. The data process also enable them to design an upcoming frame named "The Antonio" combines the brand's two best-sellers, "The Jordy" and "The Damien," in what Saleh says is "almost a mathematical form."Product evolution is "never finished," according to Saleh, "it's just something that can get better."<h2>Speaking to Gen Z</h2>Lexxola's community-led approach helped Saleh understand and cultivate a Gen Z community, Saleh said, along with strategically hiring full-time and part-time Gen Z employees.Saleh said the company found its feet with influencers six months in. Since then, it's been a "knock-on" effect, as "People see other people wearing them and they become aware of the brand ... it just sort of balloons that way."It helps, too, that Lexxola capitalizes on some of the things that matter the most to Gen Z when deciding where to spend their money. It's part of a growing genderless market that <a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/genderless-fashion-future-of-industry-1203381685/">WWD considers</a> the future of the fashion industry. In recent years, designers have been launching genderless collections and unisex lines to appeal to changing norms and the Gen Z consumer. Lexxola was a step ahead by launching a unisex brand from the start.More than half (56%) of Gen Z consumers shop "outside their assigned gendered area," Phluid Project founder Rob Smith said at a 2019 <a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/genderless-fashion-future-of-industry-1203381685/">WWD Culture Conference</a>.Sustainability has also been a focus from the get-go. The sunglasses are produced in factories fueled by renewable energy, dispatched from LED-lit warehouses, transported via eco-integrated carriers, and delivered in recycled cardboard packaging. Lexxola also donates 1% of its annual sales to 1% For The Planet Organization.That's a plus for the 62% of Gen Z who prefer to buy from sustainable brands, according to a <a href="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/160569/1.14.2020%20The%20State%20of%20Consumer%20Spending%20Gen%20Z%20Shoppers%20Demand%20Sustainable%20Retail.pdf?utm_campaign=Report%3A%20Generation%20Z%20Demands%20Sustainable%20Retail&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=81840717&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8KnjMMpk6jXj5rZMQXtGXpayoLmYGW9K36iVFMnUEQJsSWcqzDgukq6CfjFcy3WhJo-BNMFhO8FPaCQmU-JWI6VB2nwQo7qxwJ2ALQmv9ocp7LH4k&amp;utm_content=81840717&amp;utm_source=hs_automationsource=hs_automation">consumer spending analysis by First Insight</a>. They're more willing than any other generation (72%) to pay more for sustainable products.There, too, is Lexxola's curated modern aesthetic. A quick scroll through its Instagram grid shows colorful close-ups and selfies of the fashion-forward artfully posing against a backdrop of city streets or nature, making it difficult to discern campaign shots from real-life photos. Such an integrated feed is part of Lexxola's social strategy, according to Saleh, who said his audience loves to see real people wearing Lexxolas in real situations. Once the company began creating campaign content that visualized this and ran it alongside user-generated content, he said Lexxola's social platforms took off."Gen Z are mobile natives, they're digitally minded," Saleh said. "They want authenticity and they're extremely pragmatic."Right now, Saleh is focused on improving the way Lexxola designs new products. His team is currently working to develop an online page where customers can suggest new styles or colors they want to see.What they're really trying to do is build out more data points to inform future decisions for production, he said. "We try to build products that inspire confidence," he added."Everyone's still learning as we go," he said. "It's very much business as usual, and continuing to not rest on our laurels and improve."

How a 27-year-old founder created Gen Z's defining sunglasses, on track to rake in $6 million in under 2 years

RobloxRoblox VP of Developer Relations Grace FranciscoThough it's been around for over a decade, there's a healthy chance that you've never heard of "<a href="http://www.roblox.com">Roblox</a>" - an online video game, immensely popular among pre-teens, available for smartphones, PCs, and game consoles.And yet, Roblox is a huge economy unto itself.Every in-game level, every item, and every character is designed and marketed by Roblox's own players, in a "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/roblox-ceo-david-baszucki-interview-funding-2017-3">free market</a>" that nets its most popular developers a solid $50,000 per month, after the company takes its cut of each sale. Hit player-made Roblox games like "I Work In A Pizza Place" or "Roblox High School" are mini-phenomenons in their own right.Back in 2015, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/loleris-roblox-2015-2">Business Insider spoke to a 17 year old who had made $100,000 in two years from Roblox</a>. Even younger kids are getting in on it, with a 13-year-old player recently using his Roblox creations to fund a family trip ... to the annual Roblox convention, naturally. There are currently 1.7 million developers building with Roblox, total.In March 2017, Roblox made a big move to keep developers happily building on its platform: The Roblox Developer Exchange (DevEx) monthly payout maximum to developers <a href="https://blog.roblox.com/2017/03/roblox-tops-1-7-million-developers/">went from $50,000 a month to $140,000 a month</a>. That means that for anyone with the skills and hustle, Roblox is theoretically now a $1.68 million a year opportunity. robloxSome Roblox games are action-packed, like this jet-fighter game...Not long after, in April 2017, Roblox hired on Grace Francisco, a veteran of both Microsoft and Atlassian, to serve as its first-ever VP of Developer Relations, acting as liaison with existing developers and working to attract new ones. If Roblox can make its most dedicated players into millionaires, it's going to be her job to help get them there. "I don't really think this kind of tangible opportunity exists anywhere else," says Francisco. <h2>Curb your enthusiasm</h2>Also back in March, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/roblox-ceo-david-baszucki-interview-funding-2017-3">Roblox announced that it had taken a $92 million venture capital investment</a>. At the time, Roblox CEO David Baszucki told Business Insider that the master plan is to take the popular games that players are already making, and springboard them into full-fledged "Minecraft"-style cross-media brands that stand on their own.Baszucki has been <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/roblox-teen-game-developers/">known to call Roblox the "American Idol" of video games</a>, since anybody can be discovered and become a star.Now, says Roblox VP of Marketing Tami Bhaumik, this is something of a time of transition for the game. The hiring of Francisco reflects a broader push for the 12-year-old game to mature and really form lasting relationships with the developers who literally make the game happen.Roblox...or more sports-like, like this frenetic take on soccer."Roblox is growing up, in all respects," Bhaumik says. "We need a much more focused way of reaching out." Francisco has some experience in this department. At Microsoft, she handled much of the company's outreach to open source projects WordPress and Drupal; at Atlassian, she headed developer relations for popular business software like Jira and HipChat. The big difference, she says, is that Roblox's "young and energetic" audience are super excited to be working with the game."That's actually really difficult to find in an adult group," says Francisco. <h2>Bringing them in </h2>That enthusiasm is actually something key to how Francisco is approaching the job. When she started talking to Roblox about the job, she says, she just thought, as many do, that it's similar to "Minecraft." But she says she was quickly impressed with how easy it is to make games with Roblox, and how powerful the Roblox Studio tools are.Now, she says, she wants to communicate that to players of all ages and demographics. Francisco says that Roblox's huge appeal with young kids often sparks an early interest in programming - many players play the game for years before they ever write their first lines of code. It's Francisco's job to fan that spark into a flame."Now I'm dealing with young developers who haven't necessarily picked their career path yet," Francisco says.RobloxRoblox CEO David Baszucki introduces one of the new Roblox games.Importantly, Francisco says, those young developers also haven't succumbed to societal pressure: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-diversity-report-comparison-google-apple-facebook-microsoft-twitter-2017-3">Programming has a reputation as being a career for white men</a>, but kids don't know that, says Francisco. That means Roblox can act as a gateway into programming for girls, kids of color, or any other kind of underrepresented group in the tech industry, teaching them that they're capable of programming before disillusionment or discouragement might set in."In that age group, they don't see the difference the way that we do," Francisco says. "It's nice because there's no barrier."And taking a step back, Francisco says, it plays back into her broader ambitions for the platform. A more diverse group of Roblox players, making a more diverse set of games for Roblox, will draw even more kids into the Roblox fold. That means more programmers making more games for a wider audience - and a chance to get closer to that $1.68 million."That's a win-win for everyone involved," says Francisco. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/minecraft-facts-fans-video-games-2017-1">6 reasons why 'Minecraft' is so incredibly popular</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

This game turned players into $50,000-a-month entrepreneurs - now it has a plan to help them make $1.68 million a year

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Female-founded startups receive less than 3% of total venture capitalist investments, according to a 2019 report.</li><li>Vivian Chen leveraged her $300,000-a-year freelancing income to self-fund her own startup, a freelancing platform for women called Rise.</li><li>The most popular method of small business financing isn't from investors, venture capital, bank loans, or family, but through personal funds.</li><li>If you're looking to bootstrap your own business, she recommended transitioning slowly from freelancing to entrepreneurship, not being afraid to launch before you're ready, and saving money where you can.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul>Vivian Chen likes to joke that her startup, <a href="https://www.joinrise.co/">Rise</a> - a freelancing platform for women - is "VC funded," as in funded by Vivian Chen, not venture capitalists. "All jokes aside," she explained to Business Insider - it's worth noting that female startup founders receive less than 3% of total venture funding, according to a 2019 <a href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/21-charts-showing-current-trends-in-us-venture-capital">Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association</a> report - "until a few months ago, I still freelanced on the side to support my business." Her startup's origin story is similar to many others - the result of a happy accident. Having worked in corporate marketing for L'Oreal for several years, she initially set out to start a skincare company. After finding out how costly it was going to be to launch, however, she picked up freelance marketing consulting for clients across a variety of industries, from diamond brands to DTC cosmetic companies to billion-dollar fintech unicorns, as a way to fund that initial business.Soon, her roster of clients grew and she found herself barely able to keep up. Eventually, she was earning $300,000 a year as a freelancer.At the same time, she had many female friends asking her how they could make the transition to freelancing and if she had any work for them. "The 'aha' moment came when a Fortune 100 company approached me and offered me a position that was five levels above where I had been just a year prior," said Chen. "I realized that I had 'hacked' my career and discovered a way to go up the ladder faster by getting out of the traditional full-time structure."That realization inspired her to start Rise that very weekend. She hasn't looked back since. While there are other freelancing platforms to choose from, Chen saw a need for one with a different purpose: one that would position freelancing "as a way for women to leapfrog one's career," she explained.Whereas other gig economy platforms, like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-22-year-old-built-fiverr-business-5-at-a-time-2016-8">Fivver</a>, formed to help employers find low-cost labor, Chen's goal with Rise has been to focus on creating a community of 10,000 high-skilled, high-performing, US-based freelancers, who, on average among the current membership, have seven years of experience or more. Another differentiator for the Rise model is that Chen and her nine-member team of independent consultants (including sales, community, marketing, design, content, and PR) want to connect freelancers to benefits and support services not often available to independent contractors, such as health insurance. In 2019, <a href="https://www.joinrise.co/decent/">Rise announced a partnership with health-insurance administrator Decent</a> to offer options for self-employed workers in Austin. For the first year and a half, the company had been completely bootstrapped by Chen, which is the most common way small businesses are financed - through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-bootstrap-startup-to-success-according-to-founders">personal funds</a>, not by angel investors, VCs, banks, or family. After covering her own personal basic living expenses, Chen invested about $100,000 of what she earned from her consulting work in 2019 into her company.For 2020, the founder is exploring securing outside funding to accelerate Rise's business growth. Here's how she successfully self-funded her business and got it where it is today.<h1>Transition gradually and save money where you can</h1>Chen's shift from freelancer to entrepreneur was gradual - no unrealistic instant success story here. In the beginning, she worked three days a week doing outside freelancing consulting work and another three to four days a week on building Rise. Since she <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-teach-yourself-code-and-land-6-figure-job-2019-7">taught herself to code</a> - via courses on Udemy (for about $10 each) and Coursera, classes in person at General Assembly, searching for answers on Stack Overflow, and through the help of engineering friends - she was able to build the Rise platform, in addition to all of the initial sales, acquisition, marketing, and content without hiring any technical or specialized hires, which kept costs low.Another way she has kept expenses to a minimum is by not having a physical office (relying instead on <a href="https://www.the-wing.com/">The Wing</a>, a coworking space for women, and booking conference space through the Breather platform as needed) or full-time employees or spending money on paid customer acquisition strategies.<h1>Don't wait until it's perfect to launch</h1>When a company posted a job to a listserv Chen was a member of, she decided to reach out and ask if she and Rise could help. Within two days, she secured her very first client, an entrepreneur who has since come back to work with Rise on additional projects."Getting that first customer required getting over a major fear because I didn't feel like Rise was ready," said Chen. "I had to really push myself to just put myself out there and see what the product response would be."As a founder, she has had to remind herself to focus on progress over perfection. That's her advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs as well: Learn quickly and iterate, and don't spend a significant amount of time and effort launching a product that potentially nobody may want. More than ideas, she said, it takes courage to put creativity into action. "Don't wait for perfection, don't wait until you are 'ready,' because by then you are already too late," she said.<h1>Freelance as a way to springboard your business</h1>As a freelancer, Chen found herself faced with imposter syndrome - overcome by feelings of uncertainty about her own performance - but each time she successfully completed a project, she realized, "I am valuable, smart, diligent, and have immense capacity for problem-solving in various fields," she said.She's experienced that same cycle as a founder as well. Many aspects of her new role as founder - building a tech product, hiring team members, managing resources and business expenses, and making critical product decisions - have been new to her. Still, overcoming challenges like these has been familiar.After all, since freelancers are business owners, this isn't her first time launching a business.For those considering starting a new venture, she sees freelancing as a path, since it provides the flexibility to set your own hours, location, and field to work in. This can provide a great opportunity to explore and take risks you might not otherwise consider in a full-time capacity, said Chen, which can "allow you to get out of your comfort zone, to expand your network, and to ultimately leverage different ways of thinking."

The exact steps a freelancer turned entrepreneur took to build up a 6-figure salary and self-fund her own startup

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="2918346" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="WeWork">WeWork</keyword> is looking to go public via a <keyword id="1817616" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="SPAC">SPAC</keyword> that values the company at $9 billion.</li><li>The company released an investor presentation that projects a profitable final quarter of 2021.</li><li>The company's occupancy rate is less than 50%, but it expects a dramatic upswing this year.</li></ul>WeWork is projecting a rapid turnaround of its business ahead of a merger announced on Friday with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that would allow the flexible workspace company to go public at a valuation of around $9 billion. The deal with BowX Acquisition Corp., if successful, would take WeWork public <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-ipo-fiasco-adam-neumann-explained-events-timeline-2019-9">less than two years after the company's infamous attempted IPO</a>, which had sought to value it at nearly $50 billion. The previous effort to go public collapsed as investors scrutinized the company's unprofitability and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-inside-adam-neumanns-wework-reveal-a-wild-culture-2019-9">leadership of its cofounder and former CEO Adam Neumann</a>.In a package of financial information released by WeWork as part of the proposed deal with BowX, it revealed that it continues to operate unprofitably and that, after a yearlong pandemic that has forced many office workers to do their jobs from home, over half of its spaces are empty.WeWork is pitching investors that it will see a dramatic upswing to both its earnings and occupancy levels, however, as the virus fades and as workers return to the office and tenants seek out flexible workspaces while they recalibrate their office needs.Here are 4 takeaways from the investor presentation:<h2>It has slashed costs since it last tried to go public</h2>Some observers lauded WeWork's cost-cutting efforts under CEO Sandeep Mathrani, who was installed to lead the company in the wake of an unsuccessful <keyword id="6354763" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipo">IPO</keyword> in 2019 that nearly led to a financial collapse of the firm. The company stated that it had trimmed $1.1 billion of expenses in 2020. "There was a lot of right-sizing and optimization that took place," said Daniel Ismail, a senior analyst at Green Street, a commercial <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> analytics company. "A lot of the other things, the tangential non-core businesses that WeWork had been involved in have been sold or exited."The company has exited eight different non-core businesses, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-closes-restaurant-coworking-startup-spacious-lays-off-employees-2019-12">restaurant coworking firm Spacious</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seventy-five-percent-cuts-managed-by-q-after-wework-sale-2020-3">office management company Managed by Q</a>, and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/30/wework-sells-flatiron-school-to-carrick-capital-partners/">programming instructor Flatiron School</a>. The company also made major cuts in personnel, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-layoffs-staff-spac-investor-presentation-pitch-2021-3">cutting two-thirds of total headcount from its September 2019 high.</a>Cuts to operating expenses added up to $400 million in savings across 2020, while the company saved an additional $200 million by exiting over 100 leases and amending lease terms for roughly 100 more.<h2>WeWork has ambitious goals for occupancy in 2021 and 2022</h2>The company, which has a current occupancy rate of 49%, projects that it will EBITDA-profitable in the fourth quarter of 2021 as its occupancy soars to 75%. It projected $3.2 billion in total revenue for 2021, roughly the same as in 2019 and 2020, and an anticipated loss of over $900 million in 2021. It projects earnings jumping to nearly half a billion dollars before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, known as EBITDA, in 2022.By 2024, WeWork is projecting 95% occupancy and soaring revenues of $7 billion, double what it has reaped in recent years, and $2 billion of earnings. "The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we work, and WeWork is incredibly well positioned to springboard into a future propelled by digital technology and a new appreciation of the value of flexible workspace," Marcelo Claure, WeWork's executive chairman and the CEO of SoftBank Group International, WeWork's largest financial backer, said in a statement released as part of the proposed SPAC merger.<h2>It plans to build a cash pile in case occupancy doesn't rebound</h2>Even one of the deal's backers suggested some of WeWork's projections were optimistic at a moment when the demand for office space remains uncertain. Several large WeWork tenants, including technology companies such as Twitter, Spotify, Facebook and Microsoft, have said they will allow employees to work remotely on a permanent basis post-pandemic. If office tenants across industries adopt flexible work policies, it could reduce demand for office space. Barry Sternlicht, the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, which is part of a group of investment firms that plans to buy into WeWork in the deal, said he agreed to partake only after WeWork secured $800 million in private placement investment for the transaction and additional credit from SoftBank. SoftBank said it would extend WeWork $550 million to provide the company with additional cash on hand for its business. "We wanted them to raise a larger PIPE and have SoftBank provide other facilities in case the ramp up for their business was slower," Sternlicht told Insider. "If WeWork is right great, if not, we'll be okay too."Starwood plans to invest in the deal alongside Fidelity Management, Centaurus Capital, and BlackRock-managed investment funds. The company said it projects having $1.8 billion in cash and credit on hand in the second quarter. <h2>WeWork says flexible workspace could end up representing 22% of the US office space market</h2>Already, record amounts of sublease space have been cast on the market in major office hubs like New York City and San Francisco, space that is generally offered at substantial discounts and with flexible leasing terms that could make it competitive to offerings from providers like WeWork. WeWork itself has hundreds of thousands of square feet of vacancies in its multi-million square foot office portfolio in New York City, according to a recent list of its available inventory. And the <keyword id="11001913" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="flex-office">flex office</keyword> industry has had a rocky year. One of WeWork's largest competitors, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/knotel-filing-for-bankruptcy-2020-finances-show-losses-2021-1">Knotel, recently filed for bankruptcy and was acquired by one of its investors, the commercial real estate brokerage Newmark</a>. IWG, which operates the workspace brand Regus, <a href="https://allwork.space/2020/09/iwgs-reasoning-behind-entities-filing-for-bankruptcy/">closed several US entities by placing them in bankruptcy</a>. But WeWork is betting that flex office will become one of the main tools that large enterprises use to return to work, allowing companies to bring office space closer to employees' homes, and meet them in whatever locales they may have relocated to.The company has launched a new product, All-Access, which grants members the opportunity to access any WeWork location across the world. This could be a tool to attract more large global enterprise clients looking to offer their employees somewhere other than home to work. The company's business is 50% enterprise right now, and the company eventually hopes to grow it to 65%.The company expects All-Access to make up 5% of all of its occupancy by the end of this year, and 10% by the end of 2024, netting the company almost $500 million in revenue that year. They expect about $90 million by the end of this year. According to the presentation, WeWork pre-pandemic made up about 25% of the total flexible workspace market. The company expects flex office to grow rapidly over the next ten years, eventually making up somewhere between 13.3% and 22.2% of the US office space market.For comparison, Ismail said that Green Street projected before the pandemic that flexible workspaces would grow from about 2% of the office market nationally to 10% by 2030 and that the firm still holds to that level of growth for the industry. "We still believe that that's a reasonable expectation post-Covid," Ismail said.

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