‘WeCrashed’ on Apple TV+ tells the story of the shared workspace company WeWork’s turbulent days. The show is a blur of high valuations and gross misuse of company funds, following the intrepid co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann as he raises billions for his company even as chaos ensues behind the scenes. As WeWork expands, more people are drawn into its sphere of influence.
Bruce, through his firm, Benchmark Capital, is one such venture capitalist who invests early in the company. Even as the company loses millions of dollars every day, he tries to justify Adam’s actions. However, at the start of the show, Bruce is the one who leads the charge against the irresponsible co-founder and CEO. Given that many of the characters are based on real people, let’s examine whether Bruce is based on a real person.
Is Bruce Based on a Real Benchmark Partner?
Bruce appears in one of the opening scenes of the film ‘WeCrashed,’ which is set in 2019. He wrests control of the board of directors from an incredulous Adam Neumann, declaring the company no longer his. In flashbacks, we see how Bruce first meets Adam at an event where the latter gives a confident speech about WeWork’s future. Following the event, Bruce quickly introduces himself, and WeWork receives a substantial financial investment from the firm in which Bruce is a partner (Benchmark Capital).
Of course, over the next few years, Bruce and his colleague, Cameron Lautner, become increasingly concerned about Adam’s increasingly chaotic spending behaviour and aggressive expansion plans. Bruce eventually refuses to participate in additional rounds of funding for WeWork, telling Adam that he needs to better manage his company’s finances.
Bruce appears to be based on Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bruce Dunlevie, who is a founding partner of Benchmark Capital and has served on the board of directors of WeWork. However, the show appears to leave out a lot of information about Bruce. When Adam Neumann was bombarded with calls from investors looking to fund what they thought would be the next unicorn in 2014, the co-founder insisted on only working with investors who would give him majority control of the board of directors.
Bruce appears to be one of the few who has spoken out against such unchecked power. But, in the end, he agreed with the rest of the investors and gave in to Adam’s demand. When the company’s questionable aspects were brought to light a few years later, in 2019, it appeared that Bruce was the one who persuaded Adam to resign. The venture capitalist is regarded as a silicon valley intellectual who has helped companies such as eBay achieve breakthrough success, earning Benchmark Capital billions.
In the end, it appears that Bruce Dunlevie’s character is based on the real Bruce Dunlevie, but the show does not include many of the details about the latter. The real Bruce is the Lead Independent Director of WeWork and has over thirty years of high-tech investing experience.