San Francisco Wrap Up- Key Insights

Overall, I enjoyed my time in San Francisco.  Through this short-term study abroad I was able to explore a new city and participate in activities and events that I have never tried before.  My favorite activities of the program were our company visits to AirBnB, Uber and Feastly.  I really enjoyed touring their office spaces and listening to the people that worked at the companies.  Chris, Mike and Noah were all very impressive and engaging, and I am glad that I had a chance to meet them.  My biggest learning from these visits is that these services are not just going to stop at being “the best lodging service” or “the best transportation service” or “the best meal sharing service.”  Chris, Mike and Noah all expressed their intentions to expand their services and in some ways become a one-stop-shop for all lodging, transportation and dining needs.  As a result, it is clear none of these companies have lost their disruptive and innovative edge.

My second key insight is that in order to succeed in this startup world, having the best technology is not always enough.  While having high quality technology provides a competitive advantage, there are other components that determine a company’s success as well.  For example, customer service and usability.  Through our group presentations, it became evident that customer service and usability are integral to a P2P startup and are areas where many companies can improve.  From my classmates, I heard many frustration stories that ultimately ended in, “If I did not have to do this for class, I would have given up.”  Therefore, one of my biggest takeaways is that if a new company wants to acquire and retain users they must make their platform as intuitive as possible and provide excellent customer service. 

My last key insight is something that my group talked about quite frequently during our trip.  We often found ourselves asking the question, “Does the pendulum ever shift away from the sharing economy or is it here to stay?”  While the sharing economy provides numerous benefits and is the “new trend” right now, will people ever get sick of it?  Will people ever go back to wanting to own their own car, vacation home and not wanting to open up their home to strangers?  While we never came to a conclusion, I think that there is chance that the consumer pendulum could shift 40-50 years down the road due to just the cyclical nature of markets and people just simply getting tired of sharing.  Obviously, there are a lot of unknowns at play- economic climate, new technologies and political atmosphere- but I think it is an interesting question to think about.