{"id":18335,"date":"2018-09-27T17:35:54","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T14:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/?p=18335"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:44:55","slug":"expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_18399\" style=\"width: 206px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18399\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/mark_hemmeter_headshot_small.png\" alt=\"Mark Hemmeter, Founder and CEO of Office Evolution, the coworking space\" width=\"196\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/mark_hemmeter_headshot_small.png 196w, https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/mark_hemmeter_headshot_small.png?resize=137,150 137w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-18399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Hemmeter<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After seeing a big increase in popularity over the past couple of years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/commercial-real-estate-news\/coworking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">coworking<\/a> companies are not planning to slow down any time soon. Despite only accounting for only 1-1.5% of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/office\/us\/\">office space in the US<\/a> right now, some experts go as far as forecasting huge growth &#8211; 10-30% &#8211; in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p>WeWork recently tried to become Manhattan\u2019s largest office space occupier by leasing space at 1 World Trade Center but the deal didn\u2019t go through. If it had, it would have pushed WeWork past JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. as the company with the largest amount of office space in that borough.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve recently had the pleasure of speaking with <strong>Founder<\/strong> &amp; <strong>CEO<\/strong> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.officeevolutionfranchise.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Office Evolution<\/a> &#8211; a Colorado-based national B2B franchise offering coworking spaces &#8211; <strong>Mark<\/strong> <strong>Hemmeter<\/strong> about how they plan to stay competitive in the constantly evolving field of shared coworking space.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Tell us a bit about your background and what made you want to start a coworking hub.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>I was a real estate developer with three young daughters working out of my house, but as many who work from home know, it was hard to stay focused. Then, I found a small, virtual office company down the street and remained a client there for two years. The support that they offered really impressed me; I held my meetings there, they answered my phone calls, and handled my mail. I fell in love with the concept and, after a while, I left and started Office Evolution.<\/p>\n<p>Being surrounded by &#8211; and serving &#8211; small business owners is what I love. Every single person who comes to us, whether as a franchisee or a client, wants to be a successful small business owner. They are brave\u2014our heroes. That\u2019s ultimately the reason I do what I do. We are helping thousands of entrepreneurs across the country achieve their dreams.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>You have been in the coworking business for more than 15 years\u2014how have you seen it evolve during this time?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>In the past 15 years I\u2019ve seen two main changes. First, there is general awareness and acceptance, and I want to give Regus and WeWork a lot of credit for that. Second, we are seeing a lot more specialization. Remember when there used to only be Bally\u2019s and Gold\u2019s Gym? Now you have Orangetheory, pilates, spinning, etc. Our industry is evolving the same way.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>What makes Office Evolution stand out from other coworking networks?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Among national operators in the shared office industry, Office Evolution has a unique business model. First, its target market is small business owners in the white-collar services sector with one to five employees, like lawyers, accountants, financial planners, insurance brokers, therapists, and so on. Second, Office Evolution develops its locations in the suburbs and secondary markets, not the urban core. Third, locations are locally owned and operated via the franchise model. Fourth, the culture of Office Evolution also helps it stand out from other brands. From the corporate office staff to its franchise system, Office Evolution accommodates a group of people working together toward a common goal. I was born and raised in Honolulu, and its guiding principle of Ohana (or \u201cfamily\u201d) perfectly describes the brand\u2019s approach to business.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Recently, WeWork tried to become the largest office space tenant in Manhattan. And although the deal fell through, what impact do you think deal activity like this could have on the entire industry?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Today the shared office space industry only accounts for 1.0% to 1.5% of all office space in the U.S. I\u2019ve seen forecasts of 10% to 30%. There is a lot more growth ahead!<\/p>\n<h5><strong>What are your plans to remain a competitive force in coworking?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>We stick to our model because it works. We target micro businesses, build in suburbs and secondary markets where our members live and leverage local ownership through franchising. All of this contributes to our \u201cOHANA\u201d culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After seeing a big increase in popularity over the past couple of years, coworking companies are not planning to slow down any time soon. Despite only accounting for only 1-1.5% of the office space in the US right now, some experts go as far as forecasting huge growth &#8211; 10-30% &#8211; in the foreseeable future.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":18408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[37,2256,1335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commercial-real-estate-news","category-coworking","category-qa","wpautop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market - CommercialCafe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Office Evolution&#039;s CEO shares strategies for staying competitive in coworking and explains why the franchise model is gaining traction in flex office.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Office Evolution&#039;s CEO shares strategies for staying competitive in coworking and explains why the franchise model is gaining traction in flex office.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CommercialCafe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-27T14:35:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T11:44:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/shutterstock_585914405.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lorena Tivadar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lorena Tivadar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/\",\"name\":\"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market - CommercialCafe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-27T14:35:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T11:44:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b68aad6a9eabaf8e5e74716b4c138fd\"},\"description\":\"Office Evolution's CEO shares strategies for staying competitive in coworking and explains why the franchise model is gaining traction in flex office.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Multiracial group of people sitting at a table in a coworking hub\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"CommercialCafe\",\"description\":\"Your Commercial Real Estate Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b68aad6a9eabaf8e5e74716b4c138fd\",\"name\":\"Lorena Tivadar\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f6dc9409116130d1db0ef2082117010e10d97f57bc819dadc99d1ef4ef6d2ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f6dc9409116130d1db0ef2082117010e10d97f57bc819dadc99d1ef4ef6d2ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lorena Tivadar\"},\"description\":\"Lorena is a marketing communications specialist and writer at CommercialCafe. She discusses topics such as commercial real estate, office design &amp; architecture, mental health, career development, marketing, and more with various industry experts\/ professors through interviews and expert roundups. You can reach out to her at Lorena.Tivadar@Yardi.Com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"lorena.tivadar@yardi.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/author\/lorena-blaga\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market - CommercialCafe","description":"Office Evolution's CEO shares strategies for staying competitive in coworking and explains why the franchise model is gaining traction in flex office.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market","og_description":"Office Evolution's CEO shares strategies for staying competitive in coworking and explains why the franchise model is gaining traction in flex office.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/","og_site_name":"CommercialCafe","article_published_time":"2018-09-27T14:35:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-07T11:44:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/shutterstock_585914405.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lorena Tivadar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lorena Tivadar","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/","name":"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market - CommercialCafe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-27T14:35:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-07T11:44:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b68aad6a9eabaf8e5e74716b4c138fd"},"description":"Office Evolution's CEO shares strategies for staying competitive in coworking and explains why the franchise model is gaining traction in flex office.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg","width":1280,"height":500,"caption":"Multiracial group of people sitting at a table in a coworking hub"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-insights-office-evolution-ceo-staying-competitive-coworking-market\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Expert Insights: Office Evolution CEO on Staying Competitive on the Coworking Market"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/","name":"CommercialCafe","description":"Your Commercial Real Estate Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b68aad6a9eabaf8e5e74716b4c138fd","name":"Lorena Tivadar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f6dc9409116130d1db0ef2082117010e10d97f57bc819dadc99d1ef4ef6d2ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f6dc9409116130d1db0ef2082117010e10d97f57bc819dadc99d1ef4ef6d2ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lorena Tivadar"},"description":"Lorena is a marketing communications specialist and writer at CommercialCafe. She discusses topics such as commercial real estate, office design &amp; architecture, mental health, career development, marketing, and more with various industry experts\/ professors through interviews and expert roundups. You can reach out to her at Lorena.Tivadar@Yardi.Com.","sameAs":["lorena.tivadar@yardi.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/author\/lorena-blaga\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/coworking.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18335"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18573,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18335\/revisions\/18573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}