The last decade of technological advancement has concerned itself, primarily, with advancement of “social features.” When one speaks of innovative web, it evokes memories of LiveJournal, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Yelp, Groupon, Wave, Google+, Twitter, the list goes on and on. But how much longer can this “social” thing last? Maybe someone can jolt Facebook from its current throne, but there certainly is no market in attempting to do so. The truth is, social technology is becoming mature, stable, the last kind of market that a startup wants to enter.
Instead of new social networks, today we see new social “features.” In fact, some people in Silicon Valley are catching on, and they aren’t very happy about it. The social niches have become so narrow that companies are started for the express purpose of being bought out by massive corporations like Google or Facebook. This phenomenon is so common that it is no longer for just acquiring users or infrastructure, but even to acquire new employees. Buying companies for new hires has become known as an acqui-hire, a process for which Facebook is notorious. This amounts to an “everybody gets a trophy” scenario for unprofitable social ventures, as IPO or acqui-hire is always there to well-compensate social media founders.
If you want a great example of a buy-out exit, look no further than Instagram. There is a strong argument to make that Instagram was never really an independent product. Instead, Instagram built a great feature addition to Twitter and Facebook and played those two companies against each other to the tune of $1 billion dollars [insert Dr. Evil reference].
Via: useradvocate.nl
If social is done, what’s next? Well, this entrepreneur has been watching the horizon and I believe I can tell you exactly what comes next. Get ready for the age of Person-to-Person (P2P) service networks. A P2P service network is a system which connects people who have things, to people who need things. Its not so different from the good ‘ol days of Napster and Kazaa, except today it’s not music you’re looking for, but goods and services.
I started a company last year called ParkSmooth. ParkSmooth existed to create a platform whereby people could list their driveway or yards as available parking spaces, and visitors to events – like a Gator Football game – could reserve those spaces. The people who needed to park could use our service to connect with the people who had parking to offer. That is a P2P service network. Consider some other examples right here in Gainesville:
Vroomie: A company currently developing at Founders Pad in downtown Gainesville, Vroomie offers a car-sharing surface whereby people in need of a ride can carpool with someone who is already going to the same destination. It’s a P2P carpooling network.
Feathr: Hailing from UF’s Innovation Hub, Feathr is a Gainesville company that is gaining some serious fame at the moment. The core essence of feather is a system which connects a person who has a business card with a person who wants that business card. Usually, the request goes both ways – exchanging business cards – but its really just 2 producer/consumer interactions in one.
Medlium: Heading up mobile development, Medlium is now the company I call home. At Medlium we are working to revolutionize medical records by connecting patients to their physicians, as well as one physician to another. Currently each medical office maintains their own copies of your records – physical requests must be sent from one office to sync up with another office. This massive infrastructure is nothing but a hindrance to the act of actually sharing information. While Medlium is not purely a P2P service network, it is a network which places patients and physicians on a level playing field. In this manner, healthcare is a much more straightforward and democratic process.
Leaving Gainesville and looking at large, one will find many more examples of P2P service networks:
Via: Google Play
AirBnB: Stands for Air Bed and Breakfast. AirBnB is a marketplace where a homeowner can list his/her property for rent, and a visitor seeking a place to stay can rent a house or apartment. Fun fact, I used to pitch ParkSmooth as “The AirBnB of event parking.”
Uber: Uber is a system which connects people who need rides with professional, independent drivers who can provide rides.
Lyft: Very similar in concept to Vroomie, Lyft is a car sharing service to connect people with a car, to people in need of a ride.
ParkingPanda: ParkingPanda is virtually identical in concept to ParkSmooth. However, ParkingPanda had the smarts to start in Chicago and that decision helped in raising a respectable seed round.
Bitcoin: Bitcoin is, in essence, virtual money. The system surrounding Bitcoin connects a consumer (who has Bitcoin currency) with a producer who is willing to accept Bitcoin currency as money.
Angie’s List: Helps people in need of contract work to find trustworthy, highly rated contractors in the area.
As you can see, P2P service networks constitute a blossoming industry. On the backs of all these social connections, we are finding that many productive connections can be made as well. Gone are the days of hiring people just to find things for us. Gone are the days of brick-and-mortar offices which exist to do nothing but connect you to me. Today, service and product discovery is becoming federated with the help of prolific mobile technology. If you’re going to start a company in 2013, or you’re going to invest in one, or even if you just want to know what to expect, think P2P. It’s back!
Image courtesy of: Start UK
We’ve really just been beta testers of the internet for the last 2 decades. The biggest disruptions are yet to come.
— Aaron Levie (@levie) March 8, 2013
