_________________________________________________________________
THE MESH: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing by Lisa Gansky
CHAPTER ONE
'Getting to Know the Mesh'
WHAT'S HERE: two parts data and a pinch of social; better things,
easily shared; wear your mesh lenses; my date with mini mucho;
welcome to the mesh buffet.
"What's good for General Motors is good for the country," CEO
Charles E. Wilson bragged to a Senate subcommittee in 1953. Although
popular cartoonist Al Capp subsequently used the comment to satirize
Wilson as "General Bullmoose," the boast was not unfounded. GM
reigned for decades as the titan of the leading industry, envied for
its brand and business model. Three years after Wilson testified,
Fortune magazine began publishing their list of the five hundred
largest corporations in the United States. General Motors came out
on top, and stayed there for the next twenty years. For another
twenty-six years, GM vied with two other auto-related corporations,
Exxon and Ford, for the top spot. When GM was forced to beg Congress
for a bailout in late 2008, and then went into bankruptcy, it drew
the curtain on an industrial model, centered on cars, that had
dominated business for much of the twentieth century.
Meanwhile, far from the national spotlight, a different kind of car
company was quietly breaking business records. That company, Zipcar,
had established itself in less than nine years throughout the United
States, Canada, and Europe. From its inception in 2001, Zipcar had
one of the decade's fastest growth rates. Revenues doubled and
tripled in the second and third years. In 2009 it generated over
$130 million in revenue, up over 30 percent from the previous year.
Zipcar is a near perfect example of a successful Mesh business. It
doesn't make, sell, or repair cars. It shares them. The Boston-based
company was the brainchild of two friends who first met in
kindergarten. While sitting in a cafe in Berlin in 1999, Antje
Danielson saw signs for a service that shared cars. She became
interested and then enchanted. She discovered that the service was
easy to use and made enormous sense. Unlike traditional rental car
companies--an old-fashioned share platform--the cars could be
conveniently located and distributed throughout the city. You could
locate and reliably reserve the precise car you wanted on the Web,
and use it for an hour or for a day or more. That made the service
practical for ordinary day-to-day use, not just for travel.
When she returned to Cambridge, Antje shared her discovery with her
friend, an MIT business school grad. "A lightbulb went off in my
head," says Robin Chase today. "I thought: This was what the
Internet was made for." From that conversation, the two made plans
to launch what was to become the largest car-sharing service in the
world.
'learning to conjugate Zip.'
Zipcar's founding wasn't always a smooth ride. First, the pair had
to face down the doubters. When they pointed to the runaway success
of car sharing in Switzerland, potential funders were dismissive.
"Now car sharing seems commonplace," Robin says. "But at the time
the venture capitalists told us, 'Well, that's the Swiss, but it
will never work here.'" Ironically, many years later she would hear
from a business group in Paris: "Sure, that works fine in America,
but it will never take off in France."
Zipcar's first car was a brand-new VW Beetle, a model that had just
reentered the market. The company founders deliberately picked
brands different from those the rental car companies supplied, and
gave each car a name. They dubbed that first Beetle "Betsy." The
name was practical for identifying an individual vehicle, and helped
bond the customers with the car and brand. They called their
customers "Zipsters" and gave each a membership "Zipcard," a hip-
looking, wallet-size plastic card. They made sure the cars were
clean, well maintained, well located, and in every way reliable. And
from early on, Zipcar grew at a brisk pace, and acquired
competitors. It invested in Avancar in Spain, and took over
Streetcar in the U.K., to become the fastest-growing car-sharing
network in Europe. Zipcar based this success on a simple formula:
Create an easy and efficient way for people to share cars rather
than own them. The service is convenient, fast, and affordable.
'it's about information, not transport.'
The company's founding team included Roy Russell, who is Robin's
hu*****and, as the tech lead. Russell designed the IT infrastructure,
which was built to scale up, yet excruciatingly attentive to every
detail of marketing, technology, and operations. The details
included things like how and when the cars would be washed, finding
and negotiating just the right parking spots at the right cost, and
figuring out the basic rules that drivers would find reasonable, and
honor. The robust information platform and focus on building the
brand distinguished Zipcar from early car-sharing companies that
were merely long on good intentions, many of which failed.
In fact, Zipcar is primarily an information business that happens to
share cars. The company collects information about who is using the
car, and when, how, and where it's being used. That data makes the
business work and generates the greatest value. As the number of
people using Zipcar grows, the collected data enables the company to
better know specific groups of customers, defined by demographics or
location. That in turn creates opportunities to extend the brand to,
say, bikes or clothes. Other services can be offered directly by the
car-sharing company or its partners. Over time, Zipcar has developed
partnerships with food and wine, hotel, fitness, and even ink
cartridge recycling companies. Ancillary services might include
traffic and transit advice, restaurant reservations, suggested local
events, or help in finding gear for your journey. In Portland,
Zipcar has outfitted a couple dozen of their cars with bike racks,
and partnered with state and national parks to offer free passes.
Each new service creates opportunities to grow with like-minded
business partners. As this "ecosystem" of businesses grows, the
network delivers better, more personalized services to customers.
And when customers appreciate the service, they tell their friends.
Zipcar has built a brand, challenged formerly entrenched business
models, and helped create a new category in personal transportation.
A measure of its success is that Hertz, Enterprise, and Daimler have
all launched car-sharing services. But Zipcar remains the largest
car-sharing company, and recently filed an initial public offering
for raising additional funds to scale the service.
THE MESH: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing by Lisa Gansky
CHAPTER ONE
'Getting to Know the Mesh'
WHAT'S HERE: two parts data and a pinch of social; better things,
easily shared; wear your mesh lenses; my date with mini mucho;
welcome to the mesh buffet.
"What's good for General Motors is good for the country," CEO
Charles E. Wilson bragged to a Senate subcommittee in 1953. Although
popular cartoonist Al Capp subsequently used the comment to satirize
Wilson as "General Bullmoose," the boast was not unfounded. GM
reigned for decades as the titan of the leading industry, envied for
its brand and business model. Three years after Wilson testified,
Fortune magazine began publishing their list of the five hundred
largest corporations in the United States. General Motors came out
on top, and stayed there for the next twenty years. For another
twenty-six years, GM vied with two other auto-related corporations,
Exxon and Ford, for the top spot. When GM was forced to beg Congress
for a bailout in late 2008, and then went into bankruptcy, it drew
the curtain on an industrial model, centered on cars, that had
dominated business for much of the twentieth century.
Meanwhile, far from the national spotlight, a different kind of car
company was quietly breaking business records. That company, Zipcar,
had established itself in less than nine years throughout the United
States, Canada, and Europe. From its inception in 2001, Zipcar had
one of the decade's fastest growth rates. Revenues doubled and
tripled in the second and third years. In 2009 it generated over
$130 million in revenue, up over 30 percent from the previous year.
Zipcar is a near perfect example of a successful Mesh business. It
doesn't make, sell, or repair cars. It shares them. The Boston-based
company was the brainchild of two friends who first met in
kindergarten. While sitting in a cafe in Berlin in 1999, Antje
Danielson saw signs for a service that shared cars. She became
interested and then enchanted. She discovered that the service was
easy to use and made enormous sense. Unlike traditional rental car
companies--an old-fashioned share platform--the cars could be
conveniently located and distributed throughout the city. You could
locate and reliably reserve the precise car you wanted on the Web,
and use it for an hour or for a day or more. That made the service
practical for ordinary day-to-day use, not just for travel.
When she returned to Cambridge, Antje shared her discovery with her
friend, an MIT business school grad. "A lightbulb went off in my
head," says Robin Chase today. "I thought: This was what the
Internet was made for." From that conversation, the two made plans
to launch what was to become the largest car-sharing service in the
world.
'learning to conjugate Zip.'
Zipcar's founding wasn't always a smooth ride. First, the pair had
to face down the doubters. When they pointed to the runaway success
of car sharing in Switzerland, potential funders were dismissive.
"Now car sharing seems commonplace," Robin says. "But at the time
the venture capitalists told us, 'Well, that's the Swiss, but it
will never work here.'" Ironically, many years later she would hear
from a business group in Paris: "Sure, that works fine in America,
but it will never take off in France."
Zipcar's first car was a brand-new VW Beetle, a model that had just
reentered the market. The company founders deliberately picked
brands different from those the rental car companies supplied, and
gave each car a name. They dubbed that first Beetle "Betsy." The
name was practical for identifying an individual vehicle, and helped
bond the customers with the car and brand. They called their
customers "Zipsters" and gave each a membership "Zipcard," a hip-
looking, wallet-size plastic card. They made sure the cars were
clean, well maintained, well located, and in every way reliable. And
from early on, Zipcar grew at a brisk pace, and acquired
competitors. It invested in Avancar in Spain, and took over
Streetcar in the U.K., to become the fastest-growing car-sharing
network in Europe. Zipcar based this success on a simple formula:
Create an easy and efficient way for people to share cars rather
than own them. The service is convenient, fast, and affordable.
'it's about information, not transport.'
The company's founding team included Roy Russell, who is Robin's
hu*****and, as the tech lead. Russell designed the IT infrastructure,
which was built to scale up, yet excruciatingly attentive to every
detail of marketing, technology, and operations. The details
included things like how and when the cars would be washed, finding
and negotiating just the right parking spots at the right cost, and
figuring out the basic rules that drivers would find reasonable, and
honor. The robust information platform and focus on building the
brand distinguished Zipcar from early car-sharing companies that
were merely long on good intentions, many of which failed.
In fact, Zipcar is primarily an information business that happens to
share cars. The company collects information about who is using the
car, and when, how, and where it's being used. That data makes the
business work and generates the greatest value. As the number of
people using Zipcar grows, the collected data enables the company to
better know specific groups of customers, defined by demographics or
location. That in turn creates opportunities to extend the brand to,
say, bikes or clothes. Other services can be offered directly by the
car-sharing company or its partners. Over time, Zipcar has developed
partnerships with food and wine, hotel, fitness, and even ink
cartridge recycling companies. Ancillary services might include
traffic and transit advice, restaurant reservations, suggested local
events, or help in finding gear for your journey. In Portland,
Zipcar has outfitted a couple dozen of their cars with bike racks,
and partnered with state and national parks to offer free passes.
Each new service creates opportunities to grow with like-minded
business partners. As this "ecosystem" of businesses grows, the
network delivers better, more personalized services to customers.
And when customers appreciate the service, they tell their friends.
Zipcar has built a brand, challenged formerly entrenched business
models, and helped create a new category in personal transportation.
A measure of its success is that Hertz, Enterprise, and Daimler have
all launched car-sharing services. But Zipcar remains the largest
car-sharing company, and recently filed an initial public offering
for raising additional funds to scale the service.
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