Tavern wins WeWork’s old slogan as it builds an asset-light coworking network

Tavern Community Coworking Corp. has secured the service mark for WeWork’s former slogan, A Physical Social Network®, as the New York startup expands a membership network for founders, entrepreneurs and remote workers. The move underscores a broader shift from expensive office leasing to community-building in underused spaces across New York City.

Why it matters: - Tavern is trying to revive WeWork’s original community-first pitch at a time when remote work has made social isolation a business problem for many founders and workers. - The trademark win gives Tavern a brand tied to the early coworking era while it builds a lower-cost model around relationships, not real estate.

What happened: - Tavern Community Coworking Corp. secured the service mark A Physical Social Network® (99003160), the slogan WeWork used in its early growth years. - The New York-based membership network serves founders, entrepreneurs and remote workers. - Tavern is building local hubs across New York City by partnering with businesses that have underutilized space, including restaurants, hotels and office-based companies. - The company’s model avoids leasing office space.

The details: - Tavern says its approach is asset-light and centers on member relationships rather than physical infrastructure. - CEO Benji Schwartz said Tavern is investing in “social infrastructure” through structured routines like weekly communal lunch, where members share wins, make asks and give props. - Tavern CTO and Y Combinator alum Frank Albanese built the Tavern Community app. - The app lets members create and host their own communities through in-person meetups in spaces that might otherwise cost thousands of dollars to produce. - Tavern’s first office-based partnership is with EdgeStudio.com in Times Square. - EdgeStudio.com CEO David Goldberg said Tavern members have made the office livelier and helped the company connect with founders who might not have found it otherwise. - Goldberg called the arrangement “basically free marketing.” - Tavern organizes smaller niche cohorts inside a larger network, including pre-seed and seed founders, solopreneurs, and AI researchers and builders. - Tavern founding member Lucia Mari Sanguino said the community helped make one of the best warm introductions she has received to a top-tier VC. - Paula Rodriguez Jou, cofounder of AIVA Tech, said Tavern feels warm and supportive beyond just the founder experience. - AIVA Tech is an agentic intelligence platform for hotels and recently closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round.

Between the lines: - WeWork shifted away from its original community branding after cofounder Adam Neumann’s departure in 2019 and toward a more transactional office-space model. - WeWork let the service mark expire in April 2022, creating room for another company to file for it. - Schwartz was the first to file for the mark, positioning Tavern as a symbolic successor to WeWork’s original vision. - Schwartz said he first conceived Tavern in 2021 while working remotely as a consultant at Deloitte. - He started hosting coworking events at his synagogue on the Upper West Side after finding work-from-home isolation hard to تحمل during the pandemic. - The early events gained traction and showed demand for consistent, community-driven work experiences.

What's next: - Schwartz and Albanese founded Tavern in February 2023. - The founders spent two years hosting events before launching membership in July 2025. - Tavern says it will keep expanding its hybrid coworking and in-person community model through partner spaces and niche cohorts. - Learn more at Tavern Community.