Small Business Labs

"Hotel on Wheels" #VanLife Firm Cabana Raises $10 Million

Cabana rents custom-built Ford Transit vans that include beds, storage, bathrooms, and Internet access.  Their tagline is "a hotel that travels with you". 

They're hoping to tap into the large and growing number of #Vanlifers. These are digital nomads who travel in vehicles that have been converted into roaming residences. 

In the digital nomad study we collaborated with MBO Partners on, we found 1.9 million Americans describe themselves as VanLifers. 

The LA Times article Shower? Check. Flat-screen TV? Check. Try ‘roughing it’ in a tricked-out camper van covers the growing high-end camper van market.  Key quote:

"The snowballing demand for vans — and recreational vehicles in general — can be traced in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire to stay safe while traveling. Outdoorsy, an RV and camper van rental site, saw a 4,500% increase in bookings in the last year. The RV Industry Assn. estimates record sales of nearly 600,000 units in 2021, including vehicles as long as 50 feet."

According to Geek Wire, "Cabana currently has a 35-van fleet and 15 employees. With the new funding, Cabana wants to add more than 100 vans to its fleet and expand to more cities. It also plans to offer four-person vans that can accommodate more families and small group trips."

Cabana isn't the only van rental business reporting raising money. The above mentioned Outdoorsy recently announced they raised $120 million.  

See our prior post on Outdoorsy for more on the company.

We are forecasting the number of digital nomads - including VanLifers - will continue to increase over the next few years.  The shift to remote work has untethered workers, many of whom are hitting the road.

And some of them will do so in rental vans like the ones from Cabana.

Google Opens a Retail Store

Google opened its first retail store in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. 

Google has done pop-up retail stores in the past, and they even considered opening a store on a barge in San Francisco Bay.  But this is their first traditional, long-term retail location.

The timing is interesting in that it makes clear that Google thinks traditional retail is coming back post-pandemic. 

It's also interesting because Google is in many ways the ultimate Internet brand.  So Google following other online brands in opening a retail store shows that hybrid commerce continues to be the preferred path.

According to Fast Company's Google's First Retail Store is the Anti-Apple, Google's store:

"... ends up feeling more like an interactive museum or an exploratorium than a retail store. There’s a wall featuring every single product within the Nest family, with the name of the object underneath, like you might see at a natural history museum. In the middle, there’s furniture designed to mimic a particular room of the house, from the children’s playroom to the kitchen, interspersed with Google hardware. And along the windows, there are 18 “discovery boxes” featuring 3D animations that tell stories about a particular Google product, like the recycled materials that go into the Nest speakers."

Apple, of course, has a highly successful retail chain.  But Microsoft was less successful with their retail store effort.  Last year they announced they would close all 116 of their stores.

So the jury is out as to whether or not Google's experiential retail concept will work.

But Google going into retail shows that while ecommerce continues to grow, even the most ecommercy firms see a future in traditional retail.

The Flying Car Dream Continues

The first flying car prototypes were produced over a century ago.  And yet here we are, 100+ years later and still no flying cars.

But as the New York Times article What is a Flying Car points out, the long term dream of flying cars continues to get closer:

That dream, most experts agree, is a long way from reality. But the idea is gathering steam. Dozens of companies are now building these aircraft, and three recently agreed to go public in deals that value them as high as $6 billion. 

The New York Times likes writing about flying cars.  Just last November, they had another article on flying cars.  

Of course, flying cars have long been popular with the media. 

Our favorite example is Smithsonian Magazine's 1955 article predicting nuclear powered flying cars would be common by 2000.  What could possibly go wrong with lots of nuclear powered flying cars zipping around?

But as we said in our 2017 article Flying Cars May Finally Happen, non-nuclear flying cars may finally take off over the next decade.

But there's still a ways to go. As TechCrunch's The Air Taxi Market Prepares to Take Flight points out, "Electric air mobility is gaining elevation. But there’s going to be some turbulence ahead."

One of the companies covered in the NY Times articles is Kittyhawk.  Their aircraft is shown in the YouTube video below.

CB Insights Creator Economy Map and the Rise of Content Monetization

CB Insights is a technology analyst firm covering emerging technologies and tech startups.  They just released a creator economy market map, which is below (click to enlarge).

CB Insights points out that digital content creators have had to cobble together various tools to build and monetize their activities.  This is quickly changing.  Key quote:

"... a slew of startups are looking to disrupt the way creators make content, develop their audiences, or grow their businesses beyond advertising. Examples include video editing software Kapwing, personalized video app Cameo, and creator credit card startup Karat — companies spanning use cases like content creation, fan interaction monetization, and financing solutions."

We like their map's focus on content monetization, which we see as the biggest challenge for most digital content creation.

In addition to the map, CB Insights produced a spreadsheet with the funding details on about 150 venture backed creator economy startups.  It provides interesting insights on who is investing in what in terms of the creator economy.

The CB Insights map is similar to the creator economy market map released by the VC firm Antler, which we covered last week.  But both have insights the other doesn't have and both are interesting.  

BTW, CB Insights is an excellent source of information on technology and startups.  They also provide a lot of their information for free. 

So if you're interested in technology or startups, you should at least get their free newsletter.

The Swoosh Recovery Continues

Last year early in the recession, there was quite a debate about what shape the U.S. economy pandemic recovery would take. The two candidates that got the most support were a V-shaped recovery and a swoosh-shaped one.

A V-shaped recovery indicated a steep, but very short recession with a quick and robust recovery.

The swoosh-shaped recovery was named after the famous Nike logo. This shape indicates a steep decline followed by a gradual recovery.

As far back as last August it appeared the swoosh recovery was likely.  And the evidence now shows the swoosh is the winner.

The chart below (click to enlarge) is from the Oxford Economics Recovery Tracker, and shows the swoosh pattern.

The chart showing total U.S. non-farm employment *blow) is even more swoosh like.

It seems like one of the lessons from this recession is it's easier to shut down an economy than it is to restart it. 

But the good news is that the economy is clearly recovering.

Mapping the Creator Economy

The venture capital firm Antler recently released The Ultimate Guide to the Creator Economy.

The guide includes the map below (click to enlarge), which shows, by category, "the 220+ platforms that are empowering creators to make an income by doing what they love." 

We like their taxonomy, including their category descriptions:

• Audience curation: The platforms that are enabling creators to build foundational audiences. This allows creators to turn casual fans into super fans. 
• Audience monetization: The platforms that support creators to monetize their audience once they have a following.
• Vertical platforms: The platforms that are niche but potentially mega players. They focus on one vertical area for the creator, such as Fitness or Gaming.
• Community management: The platforms that supports creators to own their audience. 
• Creator tools: These are tools that creators can use to build and grow their businesses.

Each of these areas is described in much more detail, including examples, in the Antler article.  It's well worth reading if you're interested in the creator economy.

Online Platforms Supporting Digital Nomads

Platform Professional's Platforms and Digital Nomads covers online platforms supporting digital nomads. Key quote:

"Platforms may not have created the phenomenon of the digital nomad, but they are making it easier to become one."

The article focuses on the challenges digital nomads face and how platforms help digital nomads overcome them. These include:

• Finding places to stay
• Finding and managing remote work
• Finding unique and exciting travel and cultural experiences
• Avoiding loneliness and finding community

Despite its title, their chart below (click to enlarge) shows 11 platforms that provide services that help digital nomads.

Another interesting article on digital nomads is Work and Wander: What Today’s Digital Nomads Signal for the Future of Travel, from Adventure Travel News. 

It's targeted at the travel industry and how it can better support the needs of digital nomads.  Key quote:

Although digital nomads may not be a traditional target market for adventure businesses, their very nature makes them adventure travelers. This group wants to truly experience a destination by staying for an extended period of time. Their ability to work from anywhere means they are also generating income while they travel. Therefore, attracting digital nomads is one way destinations, accommodations, and activities can support their recovery.

Our first reaction when COVID-19 hit was it would greatly reduce the number of digital nomad.  Instead, their numbers skyrocketed.  

And while we don't expect the growth rate in the number of digital nomads in 2021 to be nearly as strong as 2020, we expect the number of digital nomads to continue to increase over the next 2-3 years.

What are Gigfluencers?

Influencer marketing has become a popular way for companies to promote their brands.  According to Influencer Marketing Hub, brands are expected to spend $13.8 billion on influencer marketing programs in 2021.

As their chart below shows (click to enlarge), influencer marketing spend has been rapidly increasing.

Of course, you can't have influencer marketing programs without influencers.  

These are people who have an online audience that they monetize by getting paid to promote products and services.  

And, according to a recent study by the influencer platform ShopStyle Collective, the pandemic created a new group of influencers they're calling gigfluencers.

Key quote from a Rakutan's Meet the “Gigfluencer,” a new generation of influencer for the work-from-anywhere era:

According to ShopStyle, a Gigfluencer is a U.S.-based influencer — often focused on the retail category (apparel, footwear, beauty and sportswear) — who began monetizing their content for the first time (or re-attempted to monetize their content) around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. True to their name, Gigfluencers are more likely to be monetizing their content as a side gig or “side hustle” during the pandemic, viewing their content creation work as a source of supplemental, non-primary income.

We've long covered the growth of side gigs and the growth of low friction, highly flexible supplemental work options - and the rise of gigfluencers is another example.