The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing

The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing

( her website is http://lisagansky.com/)

This was an interesting book in which the author explained the characteristics of what she defines is a mesh business (Lisa Gansky seems to kind of see this as web 3.0);

1. the core offering is something that can be shared, within a community, market, or value chain.
2. Advanced web and mobile data networks are used to track goods and aggregate usage, customer, and product information.
3. The focus is on shareable physical goods, including materials used, which makes local delivery of services and products, and their money, valuable and relevant.
4. Offers, news, and recommendations are transmitted largely through word of mouth, and augmented by social services networks.

I view the mesh as a infinitely connected and ever more complicated internet.

A mesh describes a type of network that allows any node to link in any direction with any other nodes in the system. Every part is connected to every other part, and they move in tandem.

Lisa Gansky believes Mesh businesses profit by streamlining access to physical goods and services. She sees them as easy to start and they leverage current available information infrastructure, and then they employ horizontal business to business services ( Fed Ex, Paypal). Mesh businesses all rely on the basic premise that when information about goods is shared, the value of the goods increases, for the business, for the individual, and for the community.

Mesh businesses are well positioned to constantly improve their customers experience by refining the overall experience and give long term savings - think items seldom used, high priced, high insurance ( cars, RV's, tools).

Here is Lisa Gansky at a TED conference;

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBGLHgIWJM?rel=0&w=480&h=390]
The authors believes in learn - test - play - engage - repeat, which is a kind of play on the entrepreneur's fire, ready, aim. She believes in the process of producing beta editions and then modify in response

Lisa Gansky sees that the challenge is to leverage an infrastructure for real time personalization

Mesh businesses are taking what we have learned collectively about what works in the web businesses and they are applying it to the sharing of physical products.

Mesh requires durable, flexible, reparable, and sustainable.

The era of disposal products is gone. Things need to be built to last, the goal is to create products and then spread the cost of the life of them over several transactions and over many people.

The mesh encourages open and agreed upon design standards.

http://meshing.it/ - the book web site

The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing-  the book on amazon

Cradle to Cradle - all products need to be designed so that they can be reused or reclaimed. I think this will be a major factor in business in the future.

5 vectors make the mesh viable; the current economic crisis has created distrust of companies,the crisis has also made people reconsider what is valuable to them, the climate change is increasing the cost of business, in addition greater populations and urban density favor mesh and information networks have matured.

You can create a flash brand that is finely tuned to a particular community at the key time it is needed. Mesh blends well withg other trends in changing to a more niche market. Think the Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Here is the link to Amazon;

Long Tail, The, Revised and Updated Edition: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

It is no longer critical to think what is next, instead think what is first in people's minds, what is important to them.

5 types of risk due to climate change:
regulatory risk
physical ( weather)
reputation
competitive
litigious

When looking for business opportunities she puts it in a simple and clear way - value unused = waste = food for a startup

7 keys to building trust in the mesh:
say what you do and manage expectations
use trials and tests ( Think Tim Ferriss tests)
do what you say ( credibility)
delight customers ( think zappos)
embrace social networks ( ex. Kevin Rose)
value transparency but protect privacy ( Facebook's issues)
deal with negative feedback quickly and skillfully

In today's world, advertising is less effective than word of mouth

Lisa Gansky states that Mesh businesses are information companies, but in reality today, all companies are information companies, and so are all people.

Mesh ecosystem;
1. nature is not only integrated, it abhors vacuums and it identify and then fills niches quickly
2. nature is resilient and adaptive
3. in nature waste is food

Think how Virgin creates a business after a business to see what sticks and what does not. I am reading his autobiography,

Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

and I comment on him later, but he is fascinating and a man way before his time.

Business opportunities occur in niches when customers are restless about current choices.

Open architecture can drive hyper innovation, transparency makes things become more efficient much faster and customers like transparent.

4 questions to ask yourself;
1. how could a physical asset be managed using technology that allows the entrepreneur to offer and track the asset.
2. what would you need to know about the customer that you wouldn't need to know if you sold outright
3. what kind of promise of service does it take to thrive and what can you do to reduce customer risk.
4. what are you passionate about? ( not sure this is necessary, passion can breed blindness to market viability.)

Define. Refine. Scale