It’s all about Peepl.
Jackie Weaver might not have much authority, but Jackie Weaver showed a nation how to deal with old power…lets follow her example!
I am a 2% shareholder of Peepl.
I like to think of myself as somebody who thinks rationally, and is not impulsive by nature. However, I spent two days last week fantasising about hiring a van, and taking it (illegally) on an 18 hour road trip from Liverpool to Javier in Spain, crossing two borders, while pretending to be a freight driver.
All of this just for four days in the sun. I even looked up ‘what do freight drivers wear’ on google.
Answer? Chequered shirts and denim jeans, mainly.
Of course, sanity prevailed and I didn’t hire the van as I am an upstanding member of society 👀. But, what surprised me was how much fun I had dreaming up this little endeavour.
I think a lot of us are imagining similar scenarios at the moment, and the idea that we need to sack everything off and do something drastic is one that resonates with many, just ask this guy:
‘People are at best an asset to be exploited, and at worst a cost to be endured. Everything is optimized for capital, until it runs out of world to consume’ —
Douglas Rushkoff (also a 2% shareholder of Peepl)
So, What is Peepl?
Now you might be thinking that we are some rogue organisation that is about to do something mad and drastic. Well, we are a bit mad in some ways, but really we are focusing on building technology for lasting change, using New Power thinking to disrupt the old power systems.
At our core, we are a Liverpool based technology startup that is looking to use innovative, open source technology, to empower local communities.
In simpler terms, we are fed up with old power.
The game really is rigged, just look at the Robin Hood fiasco! They can now boast the most ironic trading name in the world.
If you want to think further into how the game is rigged, or how messed up our society is in some ways, have a watch of The Social Network on netflix (you’ve probably seen it already).
Essentially, we (Peepl) are trying to be the opposite of the companies that programme exploited.
Peepl really is different to your average user obsessed, grow at all costs technology startup! For a start, the founders have equally shared the whole company out to 50 diverse shareholders.
There is a capital gains limit in place (as, like every start up, changing the world is the aim) whereby once a certain threshold is met, all extra profits are redistributed and reinvested back into the network, locally. More on that here.
The first project on our agenda in Liverpool is Peepl Eat. How often are you using Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat at the moment?
Me too!
They’re fucking great!
But, whenever you order from an independent food vendor on there, these platforms usually take around 25–35% of that order value. For an independent restaurant, with slim margins as it is, that’s… forked.
Enter Peepl Eat!
We are offering independent food vendors in Liverpool a food delivery service with significantly lower fees than those currently on the market.
Indeed the largest share of the fees back to the customers who order the food!
Peepl Eat will reward customers for spending locally by giving them 10% of their spend back into their Peepl wallet, for them to spend again within the network. This way, customers are incentivised to spend again, and more money stays within local communities.
Peepl’s technology and infrastructure:
Transactions on the Peepl network are facilitated on the blockchain. This is the underlying technology that powers many digital currencies operating globally, such as Ethereum and Ripple.
For those of you unfamiliar with the technology, here is a Ted Talk I enjoyed from Don Tapscott.
Don’s a legend.
Transactions on Peepl are very cheap, usually costing around $0.1 per transaction.
We are very keen to provide the same level of security that the likes of Visa and Mastercard do, but not charge the local independents a premium for doing so. At the moment, your local store or restaurant will pay 5–20 times more than a Walmart, Tesco or Mcdonalds for the exact same service.
Simply put, the reason Bitcoin was originally created (as the first decentralised currency of its type) was to bypass the major banks and old power institutions, allowing citizens to freely transact value between each other, without the need for a middleman.
Bitcoin was a ‘stick it to the man’ project.
We believe now is a better time than ever for ‘stick it to the man’ projects, as most people are fed up with our ‘leaders’ outdated views on value, climate and money.
Have a listen to Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England talking about this, if you’ve got some time (I know you do).
The Peepl token & business model:
Every time a customer spends in the Peepl app, they receive 10% of that spend back in the form of Peepl tokens, to be spent again within the network.
For the customer, this is similar to loyalty points.
For businesses and entrepreneurs, having a stake in the Peepl token is like joining an early stage startup, one that you can own, take in your own direction and influence its governance.
In the short, medium and long term, we hope local communities large and small, can benefit from the network’s proliferation and join us in dreaming up different ways our planet, and all of us on it, can live more prosperously.
The token will be locked within the network for at least five years, holding a set exchange rate to the Pound, Euro and Dollar within communities throughout that period.
The more the token circulates and is used within those five years, the higher the demand for the token. This demand creates more economic incentive for entrepreneurs to develop services on the Peepl network.
For Peepl to be a success, we will need multiple apps and partners building along with us in the coming years.
If you found any of this post even remotely interesting, or know someone who would, please do get in touch with me!
Why? Because I am really lonely.
But also, because we can and want to work with all types of projects and entrepreneurs, sharing our technology with as many people as possible. Slide into my DMs, I beg you.
Peepl in five years?
Peepl is, in my opinion, a really exciting and ambitious organisation.
With so many moving parts and potential use cases for the technology, it is hard to say where we will be in five years.
What I can say is that we believe the company’s core values are in line with what many are starting to value now more than ever; sustainability, empowering local communities, and working towards a fairer society.
Who knows if Peepl is the start of something great, or if we are another deluded tech start-up, thinking they can nudge the world into a better place.
Time will tell.
If you would like to join our community, build an app on our network, use our rewards system for your customers (we can build you your own networked app, no matter the size of your local business), or you simply want to learn more, you can have a chat with us by joining our Telegram group here.
PS. If anyone has Jackie Weaver’s number, please pass it on, we could use someone like her as an advisor!
PPS. Think I should probably leave the last word to Jackie, so here’s an excerpt from her recent Vice interview…
Thanks very much for your time, Jackie. Before I let you go, is there anything else you’d like to share?
I would really, as a counterpoint to what people have seen, would like to encourage young people and women — although they might be both — to come forward and change local councils. Work with us, bring us forward into the 21st century. Rather than look at the video and think, ‘That’s not something I want to be involved in,’ get involved and change it.
Here. Here.
