As a tech executive who often traveled on business, Aaron Easterly was constantly asking friends and family to care for Caramel, his beloved Pomeranian. “I would never take her to a kennel, so I’d go frantically down the list of family, friends and neighbors every time a business trip came up,” he says. “This was just one of those areas that felt frustratingly broken.”
Intrigued by the growing popularity of peer-to-peer platforms like Airbnb and Uber, Easterly sensed that there was an untapped market for other dog owners who didn’t wish to utilize commercial kennels or daycare services.
In 2011 he launched Seattle-based Rover, which connects pet owners needing boarding or sitting services with a network of prescreened dog lovers for hire. Today, Rover has roughly 25,000 approved sitters in more than 5,000 U.S. cities.
Easterly is not alone. After seeing how Airbnb and Uber can turn any house into a hotel and any car into a cab, many entrepreneurs have been hoping to discover the next peer-to-peer market—one they can leverage to enable members to monetize not just their possessions, but also their resources, talents and passions.
Beth Buczynski, author of Sharing Is Good. How to Save Money, Time and Resources Through Collaborative Consumption, credits the growing popularity of sharing-economy startups to a consumer base that’s fed up with corporate domination and has shifted its values toward more mindful choices.
“We’re choosing to support people-minded companies and products that provide real value, prioritize efficiency, slash waste and cultivate solutions,” she says. “We’re finding this in peer-to-peer models that cut out the middle man and allow us direct access to each other and the goods or services we need.
“We realize we don’t each need a cordless drill sitting on a shelf in the garage gathering dust,” she adds. “What we do need is access to that drill for the 30 minutes when we’re putting a bookcase together. In the meantime, why shouldn’t it be available to others?”
Two essential elements of successful peer-to-peer ventures are community and density. “[These businesses don’t] work without people who care, are committed to the behavior and trust each other,” Buczynski says. “And sharing is easiest when the space between us is smallest. That’s why cities like San Francisco and New York have become hotbeds of peer-to-peer sharing.”
Think you know what will be the Airbnb of fill-in-the-blank? Relying on independent contractors to deliver the experience and service you need to succeed takes careful planning and execution—much of it different from that of traditional businesses. Whether it’s dog-sitting or car rental or handyman services, the launch of a successful peer-to-peer platform depends on sharp screening, extensive training and streamlined delivery.
“Take the time to look for real problems that need real solutions—problems that can be best solved by communities themselves,” Buczynski advises. “Then provide the infrastructure so they can.”
Here are some factors to consider.
1. Start with supply.
While many entrepreneurs assume that identifying (or creating) robust demand is the first requirement of a viable peer-to-peer launch, it’s equally important to cultivate a ready stable of suppliers, says Jamie Viggiano, vice president of marketing at San Francisco-based TaskRabbit, which enables users to outsource household errands.
“You need to get the supply infrastructure in place before you can push the demand side, and make sure the market is in equilibrium,” Viggiano says. Her company targets prospective suppliers (known as “Taskers”) through Facebook and Google advertising focused on the company’s core demographic and ZIP codes.
The same principle applies to scaling, she notes. Before TaskRabbit considers expanding into a new city, it ensures that the necessary suppli
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