THIS IS FROM AN OLD POST.
500,000 bookings per night on Airbnb, we spend most holiday seasons into the New Year in Amsterdam. Of course, we tend to use airbnb as one of those bookings. Fascinating direction the world is taking thanks to technology, and a vision that the world can indeed benefit from a democratization of access. This again is the new economy, the sharing economy, based on collaborative consumption that enables people turn idle capital into revenue sources. Despite what the old guard — politicians, baby boomers, old economy business stalwarts, and the under informed — might stubbornly believe, the sharing economy is the new economy….and it’s here to stay!
Within 30 minutes of arriving at Schiphol Airport Uber rides waiting, Airbnb sub economies (bnbmanager etc) signs, car sharing companies, and even luggage pickup and dropoff services. Warren Buffett once said just look around you and if it requires fancy mathematics don’t even bother! This is as evident as daylight with the sharing economy. It’s so refreshing it’s scary.
Sharing Economy from Sharenl
I will be spending a day next week with the guys at Sharenl. Pieter Van de Glind and his team are bringing access and the sharing economy to scale in the Netherlands, specifically Amsterdam which in my opinion is one of the greatest cities in all of Europe. Sharenl and their value proposition is simple –
“We believe in a world where everyone has access to all products, services and knowledge, necessary for a prosperous, connected, sustainable and happy life.”
We are really looking forward to what’s cooking with Pieter and his team!
At Phlatbed we are working hard as proponents collaboratively with our partners and counterparts within the ecosystem of the Sharing Economy to ensure openness, visibility, and access in an increasingly interconnected world. 2018 will be no different at Phlatbed, there will be new developments, scaling our platform, overhauling our design, working our product road-map to ensure qualitative improvements and cross platform usability, in addition to continued product improvements.
Cheers!