Blog 3 - Top 3 Learnings

I thoroughly enjoyed my course in San Francisco and learnt a lot.  However, the top 3 learnings would have to be as follows-

1 - The original problem/opportunity is not usually the biggest problem/opportunity

I learnt this during the Uber site visit as they discussed their double diamond analysis method.  As Uber is a young start up company, they are constantly running into new and evolving problems.  In order to find the solution, they employ the double diamond method where they unpack the problem, find the larger problem and then piece together a solution.  The natural instinct would instead be to immediately find a solution for the first problem, however by unpacking the original problem they are able to find the real underlying issue/opportunity and capitalize on it.  The example they gave us was a son unable to call an Uber for his mother, then upon unpacking the problem, Uber found that the real opportunity was to have businesses be able to hail an Uber for their customers.  As a result they built in a functionality to do just that for business owners.  I will take this double diamond approach and use it in my future career.

2 - The peer to peer economy needs a review system to survive

As the peer to peer economy is largely built on trust without a formal regulatory/standards environment that existed in the old brick & mortar businesses, any new company in the sharing economy needs a strong peer to peer review system to survive.  This keeps checks & balances on both buyers and sellers that a regulatory or standards environment would otherwise implement.  The case & point is AirBnb that relies on a review system of both hosts & renters in order to build a reputation and brand, without this system, no one (or very few) would be willing to stay at a strangers home.

3 - The sharing economy does not mean the end of traditional business

The key takeaway from the book Peers, Inc is that the sharing economy is all about taking advantage of excess capacity that exists in our economy (empty car seats, empty rooms, full kitchens etc.).  This excess capacity has always been around and creates new markets that do not always directly compete with old established businesses.  In the case of Airbnb, their research has found that most renters who use their service instead of a hotel are medium to long stay (3 days to two weeks) renters and do not impose a threat to the hotels traditional customer who only stays under 3 days.  While there will inevitably will be some entrenchment, the overall economy will still require both traditional and peer to peer businesses.

Air Bnb HQ