Living an On-Demand Life.
I gave away my clothes, sold my car, and dropped out of college because I want to live in the future.
Rise of the Peers.
The Sharing Economy, the Shareconomy, Collaborative Consumption, the Collaborative Economy, #collcons…whatever you may call it, chances are you have probably used a modern service recently. Maybe you took an Uber with your friends over the weekend, booked an Airbnb for vacation, or purchased a handmade item from a maker on Etsy. Peer-to-peer culture and commerce has arrived, and it’s here to stay.
Now imagine this:
7:00AM: You wake up in the Airbnb you booked, and go through your morning routine.
7:45AM: You text Magic to get you breakfast.
8:15AM: A TaskRabbit comes by to pick up and take care of your laundry.
8:30AM: You unlock a bike provided by the city’s bike sharing program and ride it to the WeWork office downtown.
12:30PM: You use DoorDash to pick up your favorite local dish and deliver it to you at work for lunch.
5:30PM: Your Instacart personal shopper is waiting for you with your groceries when you return to your Airbnb.
6:00PM: You reserved a spot and attend yoga class at a local studio thanks to ClassPass.
7:00PM: You booked a dining experience with a local and have an amazing home cooked meal via BonAppetour.
9:00PM: You whip out your smartphone and with one tap an Uber picks you up and takes you to meet friends at the bar.
Do you see the bigger picture here? Is this really what life may be like someday?
Essentially, you could outsource the tasks of everyday life to other people who are eagerly waiting to complete them, and get access to what you need, when you need it.
This is not just where technology is trending towards, this is where the world is trending towards. The modern village mentality lends to a new world of social and economic transaction, and it’s absolutely fascinating.
Peer-to-peer platforms GET SHIT DONE, plain and simple. If you need or want something specific, tapping into these on-demand networks gives you everything you need at the touch of a button to max out productivity.
What’s remarkable about this lifestyle is the total lack of ownership, and the constraints that come along with such a privilege are eliminated. No rent or utilities, no car payment or fuel, no harsh up front or one-off sunk costs.
When transitioning from an “ownership society” to an “access society” I can’t help but wonder about the implications of a sharing culture.
What are the environmental effects? Overconsumption has put us all at risk of global climate change, environmental degradation, and loss of resource bases. Sharing will start to reduce our footprint across a number of industries and the environment. For example, if there are less vehicles on the road because people are sharing their cars (whether that be GetAround or Lyft), there should be less pollution.
What are the cultural and societal implications? In a collaborative economy the principles of sharing are instilled into everyday life and society must understand and practice them in order to survive.
What are the financial implications? Is this financially sustainable? Does the cost of access prove to be less than the cost of ownership? What will this working class of on-demand contractors spend their money on? For instance, one of our Airbnb hosts is constantly reinvesting his profits into his home to maintain or improve it for his guests. In between bookings he hires a local woman to clean the house for $125. It takes about 3 hours of work to make the place spotless (compared to the $11/hr she made at the hotel she worked at)…that’s HUGE for the local economy.
What are the technological implications? The 90s were focused on getting people on the Internet. The 2000s were about connecting people on the Internet. Are the 2010s and 2020s about leveraging our newly established online social identity in order to bring us together for more personal interaction?
The Journey.
While embracing the future, we will be building Coral. We believe the assets and things people are sharing are incredibly unique, just like their owner. As more and more people continue to share their things and adopt the modern village mentality, we will need technology to facilitate the transaction in order to ensure a smooth experience. We are living, learning, and building this product and vision all day, everyday.
We will be in the following cities, let’s get together!
9/22–10/5: Boston, MA
10/5–10/18: New York City, NY
10/18–11/2: Philadelphia, PA
11/2–11/16: Washington DC
11/16–11/28: Nashville, TN
11/28–12/11: Atlanta, GA
12/11–12/22: Austin, TX
Winter 2016: West Coast — San Diego up the coast to Seattle.
Spring 2016: Mid-West US
Summer 2015: TBD
As our journey progresses, I will continue to write on medium. If you are excited about our mission and interested in keeping up with our travels and experiences follow @LiveCoralLife, subscribe at coral.life, or follow my teammates and I on medium!
If you are interested in meeting up in your city, email me at andrew@coral.life
Thanks for tuning in!
