Small Business Labs

Landlords Rolling out the Red Carpet for Dogs

Regular readers know we love pet trends here at Small Business Labs.

The New York Times article Pet Amenities for New York's Lucky Dogs covers how NY landlords and developers are adding pet friendly amenities "to entice renters and buyers devoted to the four-legged members of their families."

One of the leaders in dog friendly housing is Related, which has rolled out a concept they call Dog City to several of their housing developments. 

Key quote on Dog City from a Related press release:

Encompassing 800 square feet, Dog City at Abington House will offer an indoor play area, state-of-the-art grooming and training facilities, and a wide range of services, from luxurious pooch-pampering treatments to veterinary care with an onsite AAHA-certified practitioner providing both conventional and alternative therapies.

“For a dog owner in Manhattan, there is no better perk or anything more convenient than having a dog-walker, dog groomer and vet all right in your building; it’s the ultimate luxury."

The release goes on to talk about some of the other services being offered:

Pet owners at Abington House will also be able to take advantage of Dog City’s services, including overnight dog-sitting, cat nanny, a solo or buddy dog walk. With an expert Dog Concierge on-staff to help coordinate everything, being a pet owner has never been easier. From scheduling treatments to arranging for boarding at the city’s esteemed crate-free facilities to overseeing exercise and nutrition regimens while you’re out of town, pet owners can rest assured their pooch is always in the best hands.

Dog City will even post your dog's activities to social media.

The article picture below shows a Dog City employee posting a picture of play time. I assume it's for the for the pets’ owners to see - I don't think we've reached the point where the dogs are following Instagram feeds. 

Dog City membership is not cheap. The NY Times article reports:

Members pay a $250 annual membership fee plus monthly add-ons ranging from $40 (for self-service use of the facilities in the off-hours) to $750 (daily day care with walks and report cards written by handlers, plus an ear wash and “pawdicure”).

When we first started covering pet trends years ago I would have poked fun at the idea of an on-staff Dog Concierge. 

I also would have laughed at doggie report cards. 

But dogs are people these days and many dog owners are insulted when you make fun of these things. So I try not to.

1 Billion Digital Nomads by 2035?

I ran across a really fun and interesting presentation on digital nomads. It was created by the founder of Nomad List, which is a site catering to digital nomads. 

Digital nomads are people who live a location-independent lifestyle that allows them to travel and work anywhere in the world. 

The Future of Digital Nomads - How Remote Work Will Transform the World in the Next 20 years suggests that by 2035 there will be 1 billion digital nomads.

My first reaction to this forecast was "no (insert bad word) way".

But I have to say this compelling presentation got me thinking, which is the ultimate measure of success for any futures work. 

What makes this presentation so interesting and compelling is it blends social, demographic and technology trends to explain why there are going to be so many digital nomads. The presentation chart below summarizes the covered trends.

We're in agreement with many of these trends. And please do go to the presentation for more details - it's well worth it.

But 1 billion is a lot of people.

The Rise of Corporate Independent Worker Talent Pools

Spend Matters' PwC Launches its Online Talent Exchange to Join the Independent Workforce Platform Economy covers a new initiative by the consulting and accounting giant, the PwC Talent Exchange. 

PwC describes their Talent Exchange as a platform that provides registered independent consultants and freelancers:

“a single, integrated platform that facilitates the project lifecycle from searching for open roles, to joining a project, to submitting hours and expenses, to networking.”

In other words, it connects independent workers to PwC and lets them find, apply for and secure work with PwC. 

According to the Spend Matters article, PwC created this exchange for these key reasons:

• A growing number of talented professionals are choosing to become independent workers. The Talent Exchange allows PwC to more easily tap into this increasingly important labor pool.
• PwC wanted to develop direct relationships with these talented professionals instead of working through staffing intermediaires.
• To provide broader and easier access to independent workers with specialized skills while increasing PwC's business agility and flexibility.

PwC's Talent Exchange is not the only example of corporate online talent pools.

Last week Upwork (the entity formerly known and Elance and oDesk) announced two new products:

Upwork Pro targets mid-market firms and provides access to to pre-screened, top-rated professional freelancers that meet the specific needs of the hiring firm. It also comes up an account and support team to assure the proper freelancers are selected and the work gets done as needed.

Upwork Enterprise is freelancer management system that lets enterprises design their own talent pools by blending their own independent talent with talent provide by Upwork.

Others are also offering freelancer management systems, with examples including MBO Partners and Work Market .  MBO Partners (an Emergent Research client) is also partnering with PwC on their Talent Exchange.

We think PwC's Talent Exchange is a watershed moment for independent workers who serve the corporate market. 

That a leading professional services firm like PwC is embracing independent workers will not go unnoticed by other large enterprises. We expect to see many other large corporations developing independent workers talent pools over the next 2 years.

This, of course, means more opportunities for independent professionals serving corporations.

Study: Gig Economy Growing Fast, Creating Mostly Part-Time Jobs

JP Morgan Chase Research Institute's study Paychecks, Paydays, and the Online Platform Economy uses a random sample of 1 million bank accounts to analyze workers participation in the on-demand economy.

According to the study, nearly 1% of U.S. adults earned income in September 2015 via one of the growing number of firms that are part of the sharing, gig or on-demand economy.

This works out to about 2.5 million Americans.

Regular readers will likely notice this is close to our estimate of 3.2 million, which we developed in partnership with Intuit and released last August. 

Our number is higher because JP Morgan Chase looked at just one month's activity while our survey asked respondents about recent activity.

Given that many people pop-in and pop-out of on-demand economy work, it's not surprising data from one month would be a bit lower than data spanning several months.

JP Morgan Chase also found while small, the on-demand economy is growing very rapidly.

As the chart below - which is taken from the Wall Street Journal's excellent summary of the study - shows, the number of Americans working in the on-demand economy has increased almost 10 fold since 2012.

The study also found the vast majority of on-demand economy jobs are part-time. Key quote from the study:

In the months when individuals were actively participating, platform earnings represented a sizable but still secondary source of income. Average monthly earnings in participation months was $533 for labor platforms, representing 33 percent of total monthly income, and $314 for capital platforms, representing 20 percent of total monthly income

This is inline with our research on on-demand economy jobs (see Most Workers in the On-Demand Economy Are Looking for Highly Flexible Part-Time Work for more details).

This study adds to a growing body of research showing that most workers in the on-demand economy are looking for highly flexible part-time work.

It also echos our view that the on-demand economy is creating an important new source of work. Key quote from the report:

The Online Platform Economy also adds an important new element to existing labor markets, where finding new or additional work typically involves a lot of effort and high transaction costs. Simply put, landing a platform job is often easier and quicker. Likewise, individuals can, and do, generate additional income on labor platforms in a timely fashion when they experience a dip in regular earnings. This is a potentially far better option to mitigate or weather volatility if the alternatives are to constrain spending, to take on additional (potentially high-cost) credit, or to become delinquent on existing loans.

For another analysis of these studies, see Bloomberg View's Your Uber Driver Probably Has Another Job.

Is it the Gig, Sharing, Access, 1099, Freelance or On-Demand Economy?

KQED's The Movement to Kill the Phrase ‘Sharing Economy’ points out an issue that has many perplexed, including us. This is what do we call what continues to be commonly called the  "sharing economy""?

As the article points out, there's broad agreement that most of the sharing economy companies - Uber, Airbnb, etc. - have nothing to do with sharing. 

The article references the Harvard Business Review's The Sharing Economy Isn’t About Sharing at All which makes the point that the sharing economy is really about paying for access to an asset or service. 

We've long felt the term "sharing economy" was a misnomer. Back in 2012 we suggested "rental economy" was a more accurate descriptor. But, needless to say, this was not popular with sharing economy supporters at that time (nor today).

So the what do we call this segment of the economy?

We use a combination of "gig economy" and "on-demand economy". 

We define the "gig economy" broadly and include all economic activity done by independent workers (freelancers, contractors, self-employed, temps, etc.). 

We define the "on-demand economy" as economic activity generated by independent workers who secure work via online work intermediation platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Fiverr, etc. Under our naming convention, the on-demand economy is a subset of the gig economy.

While this seems like a trivial issue, it's not. 

A lack of a consistent, commonly used set of terms for this type of economic activity leads to much confusion. 

So we collectively need to decide on a set of terms and common definitions. Unfortunately, we don't see this happening anytime soon.

The On-Demand Economy Coming to Many Professions

Work intermediation platform expert Andrew Karpie has a series he calls the WIP of the week. 

Regular readers know Small Business Labs is G Rated, so no worries - Andrew's articles are not on that kind of whip. They're on "work intermediation platforms", which Andrew describes as:

... configurations of digital technologies that enable those in need of labor services and those providing labor services to directly engage in work arrangements, typically from sourcing to payment.

Last week he covered Experfy, which is:

... a work intermediation platform that allows businesses and expert data scientists to engage one another, conduct a project and complete the payment cycle. Experfy describes itself as a “Managed Marketplace [that] brings experts on-demand to solve [businesses’] pressing data, analytics and business intelligence problems.”

The series points out an important aspect of the on-demand economy - it crosses many industries and professions.

In Experfy's case, they provide on-demand data scientists. 

The rest of the relatively new series covers a broad mix of industries and types of workers. These include:

• Coworks - creative talent
• Visually - creative talent
• Gengo - language translation talent
• Applause (uTest) - software testing talent
• 99designs: designers of all kinds
• Gigwalk: business task talent

I'm sure future covered WIPs will include sites like Upcounsel (lawyers), HourlyNerd (MBAs) and the growing number of on-demand sites offering doctors and nurses. In fact, there are very few professions where there isn't at least one on-demand site catering to it.

So as we think about the on-demand economy, let's not limit our thinking to drivers and delivery people. Yes, drivers and delivery people are a big on-demand economy segment, but as Andrew's series shows the on-demand economy cuts across many industries and professions.

BTW, I just noticed the LinkedIn pulse article How to Become an On-Demand Consultant. It explains how one person found success through working as a consultant via HourlyNerd. 

Startups are Everywhere in the U.S.

CB Insights The United States Of Startups: The Most Well-Funded Tech Startup In Every US State illustrates that there are tech companies all across America.

The article chart below (click to enlarge) shows the tech startup that has raised the most money by state.

In addition to pointing out there are tech companies everywhere in the U.S., the article also shows how quickly things move.

Since the article was published on January 25th, Florida's Magic Leap announced a $793 million dollar C round. This means it replaces Fanatics as Florida's most funded startup.

CB Insights is a great site and anyone interested in startups should definitely at least subscribe to their free newsletter. For those who want more, they have paid subscription services that provide deep dive data on all things related to tech startups.

The Five Faces of the On-Demand Economy

Last week Intuit released The Five Faces of the On-Demand Economy, which covers 5 common profiles of on-demand workers.

This is a follow on report to their On-Demand Workforce report from several weeks ago, which covers the motivations, attitudes and demographics of those working via on-demand economy (ODE) work intermediation platforms such as Uber, Upwork, Fiverr, etc.

The Five Faces and their percentage share of all on-demand economy workers are:

• The Business Builders – Primarily driven by the desire to be their own boss, they represent 22 percent of on-demand workers.
• The Career Freelancers – Happily building a career through independent work; 20 percent.
• The Side Giggers – Seeking financial stability by supplementing existing income; 26 percent.
• The Passionistas – Looking for the flexibility to do something they love; 14 percent.
• The Substituters – Replacing a traditional job that is no longer available; 18 percent.

These profiles were developed using cluster analysis to group ODE workers who share similar motivations and attitudes. 

As Intuit VP Alex Chriss points out in his article The Future of Work Doesn't Look Like You Think it Does, these groups are not fixed. Key quote:

The data shows five different faces. But in meeting hundreds of our customers I have come to appreciate that these profiles are fluid and there are often several motivations that influence people’s decisions on how to own their own career.

This is an excellent point. These "faces" - much like the pirate's code - should be seen "more as guideline than actual rules".  

The reason these faces are important is they show how differently ODE workers view ODE work.

Satisfaction is a good example. As the chart below shows, most Substituters are not sastified with ODE work while the vast majority of Business Builders and Career Freelancers are.

See the report for more differences and details by segment.

Emergent Research worked with Intuit on this study.

Interesting Academic Paper Deep Dives on Coworking

You rarely sees the words "interesting" and "academic paper" in the same sentence.

But despite its title, Coworking: A Transdisciplinary Overview is one of the best and most interesting articles I've read on coworking. 

Key quote from the paper's abstract on what it covers:

... It argues that coworking is a complex social phenomenon that can be differentiated from other spatial concepts that relate to work, learning and social interactions. The paper provides an historical account of the origins of coworking and reviews the existing scholarly and popular literature, offering a theoretical distinction between coworking spaces and serviced offices that hinges upon the degree of social collaboration versus the importance of location and facilities of the office environment. An overview of recent data on the number and location of coworking spaces across the world is provided ...

I particularly liked the section on "coworking's origin stories" and, of course, the various data presented in the paper.

We read lots of academic papers here at Small Business Labs. Most are written in a manner that makes them very hard to wade through. 

This paper is an exception and well worth reading for anyone interested coworking or the the broader shared workspace industry.

Virtual Reality Hype Hits New Highs

We too believe virtual reality is going to be big - eventually.

But the hype around virtual reality seems to be getting ahead of the actual reality these days.

A big driver of the excitement around VR is Facebook's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. It has gone on pre-sale with a ship date of the end of March.

The price is $600, leading some to wonder if this is too high for the product to be successful. 

It's even being compared to Google Glass, a former virtual reality darling so unsuccessful that Google is burying it. 

However, most think the Oculus Rift product will be successful - including us.

We're also seeing virtual reality make headway elsewhere. For example, Google recently announced they've shipped over 5 million units of the VR device Google Cardboard. That's pretty impressive. 

Apple is also apparently getting in the VR game and is rumored to have "hundreds of people" working on VR. 

There are a wide variety of other applications and players also entering the VR space. One interesting example is VixenVR, which is creating a virtual strip club. Since Small Business Labs is G-rated, you'll have to visit VizenVR's site for details. 

But my favorite example comes from Samsung's article Using Samsung Gear VR to Revolutionize the Restaurant Experience and illustrated in their picture below.

I know I can't wait to wear a VR headset at my favorite restaurant. 

Expect to see VR successful in gaming and entertainment in the near term (over the next 2-3 years). Also expect it to be increasingly used in vertical industrial applications.

Don't expect it to be widely used in restaurants anytime soon.