Part 6 of 7 — A Gig Economy Owned and Governed by its Workers

For these next few posts, I’m going to take you on a bit of a journey through time. Specifically, I want you to see what I see: a future for the gig economy where workers own the fruits of their labor.

Although most industries rely on labor to produce and sell their products, the gig economy is particularly unique. In essence, labor is the product. That’s to say that what Uber is selling to its customers is access to someone who’s willing to drive them or deliver them food — you.

Labor is so fundamental to these marketplaces that we believe the economic distribution of the value they create and capture should be shared and reflective of that.

In other words, we believe gig workers should own the gig economy.

Obviously, that’s easier said than done. And we’ve seen well-intentioned efforts by worker cooperatives to build products that might directly compete with Uber, Lyft, and their peers. But ultimately, we don’t see those leading to large-scale change.

We approach this problem from a different angle.

To start, we’ve broken out the gig economy into 2 parts:

1. The labor marketplaces that connect gig workers to “gigs” — owned by Instacart, DoorDash, Uber, etc.; and
2. The financial marketplaces that manage the flow of money between “gigs” and gig workers — the debit cards you all have in your wallets, etc.

Both of these should be owned by gig workers.

On 1, I’ve told you in previous posts how we intend to start shifting that ownership to gig workers through stock*. Together, gig workers will increase their percentage of ownership in the gig economy and earn a share of its continued success. Billions of dollars of value has been created in these companies.

On 2, we see an even bigger opportunity. Today, there is no coordinated or efficient financial marketplace for gig workers at scale. That’s what we’re building at Moves. But more importantly, we want to build it with you in the driver’s seat.

We want any value that we create to be shared with you.

We call this the Moves Collective

Click here for Part 7 of 7 — Digital Ownership in a Digital Collective.

Disclosures:

Moves Financial is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Banking services provided by Blue Ridge Bank N.A; Member FDIC. The Moves Financial Visa® Debit Card is issued by Blue Ridge Bank N.A. pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Cash advances are provided by Moves Financial, not Blue Ridge Bank N.A.

Brokerage services and products are provided through Bumped Financial LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. More about Bumped Financial LLC is available on FINRA’s BrokerCheck. Mention of any specific stock or holding is for illustrative purposes only and not an investment recommendation. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities, or to open an account where Bumped Financial LLC isn’t registered. The Bumped app and website are operated by Bumped, Inc. Bumped Financial is a wholly owned Subsidiary of Bumped, Inc. Moves is not an affiliate or subsidiaries of Bumped Inc or Bumped Financial.

Investing in securities involves risk, including possible loss of principal: Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Neither Moves nor Bumped financial offers investment advice. Accounts are self directed. Individual investors should consider the risks and benefits associated with any investment or strategy and weigh potential benefits of investing against the risks associated with any investment. Risks include loss of the total value of the investment.

*Accumulation of collective voting shares is not a consideration when determining the appropriateness of owning a particular stock. Investors should prioritize their individual investment objectives and personal investment considerations when deciding whether to buy, hold, or sell any security. Individual investors should consider the merits of a particular investment as it relates to their individual investment goals, overall financial situation, and appetite for risk.