WeWork is growingrapidly, and while they are relatively new to the market, they aretaking a long-term view of the office industry. At the annualCRETech conference in Los Angeles yesterday,WeWork leaders opened the event with a look inside the company'sbusiness model and perspective, including its growth, the future ofoffice and how WeWork is impacting the office market. Panelistsincluded Sarah Pontius, SVP and global head ofreal estate partnerships; Granit Gjonbalaj chiefreal estate development officer; Rohit Dave,senior director of mergers and acquisitions; CraigRobinson, global head of powered by We Services.Michael Beckerman, CEO of CRETech, moderated thepanel.

The firm launched as an office services company first andexpanded into a real estate company as it grew, but today, it stillfocuses on its core mission: to create energy where people work andspend the majority of their time, according to Robinson. As aresult, the firm is always looking for ways to add value tocustomers and is focused on the future: what will office look likein 10 years; what will employment look like in 10 years. In thesame vein, WeWork is asking where it wants to be as a company in 10to 15 years, and how to position itself today to achieve thatgrowth. In many ways, it is similar to any other real estateinvestment company. In fact, Pontius, who joined the company threemonths ago and formerly worked at Brookfield, drew comparisonsbetween the growth strategies of the two companies. “People say weare growing fast. I have had the time to get under the hood andthere is a lot of diligence happening. This is a long-term play andwe are long term players,” she said on the panel.

The majority of WeWork's growth has come in the last two tothree years, and today it is working with several fortune 500companies and 35% of members are large companies. “The intent isdifferent,” said Robinson, who reminded the audience that WeWork'sultimate mission is to elevate the world's consciousness. “60% ofpeople are looking for a job. If you are unfulfilled, you are notgoing to be a high performing worker,” he added.