I love the engagement y’all have had with me about WeWork, particularly how the question has been raised on whether or not WeWork should be considered a tech company. Let’s chat? I’ll start. No. And here’s why:

Modern tech companies — think Uber, Amazon, Apple, Google, Yelp, Tesla, and Facebook — collect, store, organize, and analyze years of user data.

This data is not only virtual gold for those companies, as it enables targeted ads and the sale of tailor-made products; it also increases users’ switching costs as people use the service and get customized solutions in return.

So you people who say WeWork is a Tech company, please explain to me how WeWork would collect this kind of data and how it would use that data to develop customer-intimate solutions. Too much monitoring and intrusion in an office location could violate privacy laws, not so?

Point 2: For most modern tech companies, the bigger the network, the more valuable the company, but on an exponential scale. Each new customer joining Facebook, even if remotely located, creates value for an existing customer, because it extends the existing customer’s network.

Same goes for the rest. Any new customer joining Uber or Amazon improves the value proposition for an existing user by improving the feedback quality, logistics optimization, and number of suppliers addressing the market.

But it’s hard to see how someone joining WeWork in, say, Pretoria creates value for an existing member in Texas. The member doesn’t need WeWork’s network to collaborate globally, because there are bigger and better platforms (such as LinkedIn) to serve that purpose.