i3 - November/December 2019 - 55

By Jim Harris

Business

T EC H TACT I C S

The Sharing Economy

he gig economy is here to stay. It's cheaper, more convenient and a better experience. Take a look at Airbnb,
which has six million listings in 190 countries and
81,000 cities. By contrast, Marriott operates 7,000 properties
with one million rooms in 130 countries. Airbnb has grown six
times larger than Marriott in one tenth the time.

In September 2019, Marriott was valued
at $41.5 billion while Airbnb, which is
still private, was valued at $38 billion
based on 2019 private stock transactions.
What's more, the average room in
North America is 325 square feet.
Would you rather stay in a hotel room in
Amsterdam or a $1 million houseboat
on one of the city's canals?

Unique Experiences

Airbnb is increasingly overlaying experiences on top of property listings.
For example, when you rent the stone
farmhouse on Airbnb from Chef Hebert in
Provence, France, you can also choose
experiences to go with it. Chef Hebert will
take you to visit the kitchens of his Michelinrated friends and you can sit at a chef 's
table in the kitchen to enjoy your meal.

Sharing Construction Equipment

Kevin Forestell used to own a construction company. He was on a beach

A benefit of the sharing economy is that
it allows owners to get value from underutilized assets. And for those who rent
from Airbnb or DOZR it allows them to
get access to expensive assets at a tiny
fraction of the capital cost of ownership.

No More Traveling Alone

ARK Invest predicts the explosion of the
autonomous vehicle market in 2021. The
cost of vehicle ownership has remained
consistent from 1934 to 2016 at about 70
cents per mile. With the emergence of
holiday in Florida staying in a $3 million Airbnb home paying $500 a night. autonomous fleets of vehicles - whether
it's Uber, Lyft, Tesla or Waymo - the cost
He thought, "This is crazy. I have
per mile drops to 26 cents a
access to this multi-milmile, about three times
lion-dollar asset for a
few hundred dollars a
Do you know cheaper than car ownership
and 10 times cheaper than a
night. And it has far
that the
taxi. At that point, demand for
more value that staying
average car
car ownership likely will colat a hotel."
is only used
lapse. What will replace car
Then he thought, "I
4% of the
ownership is Mobility as a
have million-dollar
time at just
Service (MaaS).
pieces of heavy conThe chart on Uber and Lyft
struction equipment. I
20% capacity?
shows how profoundly the
need them in case I win
sharing economy is impacting
a bid for a job, but most
industries. It also shows reimof the time they're idle.
bursed corporate expenses so it's easier to
Why don't I create an Airbnb of heavy
see the impact Lyft and Uber have had
construction equipment?"
on cab companies and car rental firms.
So, he did. It's called DOZR - like
If something is easier, cheaper,
bulldozer - and it's so successful that he
faster, more convenient and offers
sold his construction company. He now
superior value, don't be surprised if
has $300 million of construction equipconsumers shift to it. And the shift
ment for rental and thousands of concan be quite rapid.
tractor customers.

Uber & Lyft Crush Taxis and Rental Cars

Personal Travel Cost Per Mile

% of Ground Transportation Travel Reimbursements

Inflation Adjusted

Uber & Lyft

Rental cars

Taxis

72.5%

80%

$1.70

60%
40%

$0.70

22.3%

20%

$0.26

5.2%
0%
Q1 2014

Q1 2015

Q1 2016

Source: Wolfstreet; Certify
C TA . t e c h / i 3

Q1 2017

Q1 2018

1871

1934

1950

2016

2021p

Source: Big Ideas 2019: Autonomous Taxi Networks/ARK Invest
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

https://cta.tech/i3

i3 - November/December 2019

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