I attended the TEDx Presidio, where the real question that speakers illuminated was: What is capitalism becoming? The theme was Reinventing Capitalism. I have posted before about social ventures, which form one broad new sector (See here). Here are some additional ideas from TEDx that you may find interesting and useful as you think about how to evolve your business model. You are thinking about that, aren’t you?
1. Share Economy
Speaker: Van Jones, Founder and President of Rebuild the Dream
Van noted that changes in capital are coming from the bottom up. That has been the source of the new Share Economy—spurred by tight budgets and also by enjoyment (“Sharing: If you have to do it, it sucks. If you get to share, then it feels good.”). Examples:
- Sharable cars, sofas, equipment
- Crowdsourcing
- Kiva, Kickstart
He noted that some of these are trendy “lifestyle” ventures and that as the trend matures it needs to increasingly tie in and serve people with very real needs.
This may seem remote from your business. You may even think that it would be foolish to encourage shared use of your product. But what if a research center could afford a massive investment in scientific instruments by starting a service business for other departments or institutions? It is twist on the shared economy that has worked well around the world. There are probably others. Read More →
AffectiveAction 