Paul Holland of Foundation Capital shared his thoughts on the backlash against the sharing economy in a guest post on Venturebeat. He wrote that this is a reoccuring cycle of innovation and compared the sharing economy struggles to what eBay experienced in the 90's."First, everyone loved the new model. It came at the right time, when everyone was getting online (in the same way that Uber hit as smartphones became ubiquitous). Then came the backlash. Some sellers had scammed consumers by not delivering merchandise, while others sent the products but held their feedback as ransom, refusing to give a five-star rating until the buyer did so first and threatening to leave the lowest possible rating if the buyer did otherwise."
He finished the article with his comments that these startups and others will rise up and make the changes needed to address the issues that come up.
"eBay swiftly strengthened its buyer protection efforts and built teams to more actively manage the seller side of their marketplace. It dedicated a team entirely focused on Trust and Safety. By earning the trust of more buyers and attracting new ones, it also improved prospects for quality sellers — including many individuals and small business owners who were able to meaningfully earn or supplement their income on the platform."
At Near Me, we think he's right.
New ideas will face challenges as they become mainstream, but how they handle the opposition will determine if they'll be here to stay. And from the looks of it, the sharing economy is not going away.
Read the source article at VentureBeat
