Peers Inc: How People and Platforms Are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism

by Robin Chase

When Robin Chase cofounded Zipcar, she not only started a business but established the foundation for one of the most important economic and social ideas of our the collaborative economy. With this important book, she broadens our thinking about the ways in which the economy is being transformed and shows how the Peers Inc model is changing the very nature of capitalism.

When the best of people power is combined with the best of corporate power to form "Peers Inc" organizations, a potent creative force is released. The "Inc" in these collaborations delivers the industrial strengths of significant scale and resources, and the "Peers" bring together the individual strengths of localization, specialization, and customization, unlocking the power of the collaborative economy. When excess capacity is harnessed by the platform and diverse peers participate, a completely new dynamic is unleashed.

In Peers Inc , Robin Chase brings her provocative insights to work, business, the economy, and the environment,
How focusing on excess capacity transforms the economics of what's possible and delivers abundance to all
How the new collaboration between the Inc and the Peers enables companies to grow more quickly, learn faster, and deliver smarter products and services
How leveraging the Peers Inc model can address climate change with the necessary speed and scale
How the Peers Inc model can help legacy companies overcome their shortening life cycle by inviting innovation and evolution
Why power parity between the Peers and the Inc is a prerequisite for long-term success
How platforms can be built within the existing financial system or outside of it
What government can do to enhance economic possibility and protect people working in this new decentralized world

Chase casts a wide net, illuminating the potential of the Peers Inc model to address broader issues such as climate change and income inequality, and proves the impact that this innovative economic force can have on the most pressing issues of our time.

Genres: Business, Economics, Nonfiction, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Education

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2015

Reviews

[Kdolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really interested to read this book from the cofounder of Zipcar to get some insight from a woman's perspective of the start up experience and to get some observations for the sharing economy.

Unfortunately the book is full of her own personal views and her research was weak in backing up her claims. Given her access she really should have been able to write this book with more academic rigor and insight. Instead she really doesn't seem to understand business models so her views came across as both elitist and naive. Some were actually offensive.

Her passion for the environment and the impact the sharing economy might bring were admirable, but the expression for these ideas were both preaching and pleading.

What she does provide is a really great business slogan, "Peers Inc" that she will no doubt continue to promote.

[Luísa Lima · Rating 5 out of 5]

An optimistic solution to mankind’s biggest problems

Let me start by saying that this review might be biased since I really admire Robin Chase. Peers Inc is a peek into her mind. In short, it provides an overview of how to build a successful (or failed!) peer to peer platform, with its advantages for all its stakeholders - including some advice for governments too. In the end, the realization that only peer to peer platforms are able to scale as quickly as possible leads to the natural conclusion that they are the only way to solve the biggest problem of all: climate change. Although I have a more pessimistic view in this regard (I think we really need strong governmental involvement in this regard) she presents a very good (and inspiring) thesis of how this can be made reality.

[Joel Salazar · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are plenty of books about the topic. You can safely skip this one.

[Megan Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, Robin Chase sets out to accomplish what seems like the impossible in Peers Inc- how could a new type of economy even work in the 21st century. I think that Chase is overly optimistic in her ideas for changing the economy. The book is dense and filled with a lot of case studies. It takes a while to fully understand and capture the ideas that Chase shares. While the Peers Inc model relies on robust public policy at its foundation for success, Chase provides her readers with an inspiring take on a new form of business. Engaging with one another on platforms to utilize our excess capacity. Ideally, peers would be making money and creating a thriving economy from the things we own but do not use in our daily lives. Chase creates an idealistic vision of transforming industries, engaging everyone, and solving the world’s big problems, like climate change.

[Ignacio De Leon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high expectations with this book. However, I could not pass Chapter 3. The book is boring, despite the exciting topic that it covers. It tries to cover too much ground, from telling Chase's personal experience creating ZipCar to giving advice on public policies for the preservation of the environment (!). In the end, it attempted to be an academic book written to an audience waiting to hear a personal story. Thus, it failed to grab my attention.

Chase is an admirable businesswoman but is definitively not a good story teller.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peers Inc written by Co-Founder of Zipcar Robin Chase. Its basically her thesis on how successful Collaborative economy works. Peers(Individuals) Inc(Corporations) basically states that co-ordination of individuals/local community with Corporation/Government/Institutions will build the Collaborative economy and future start ups. Besides the coordination of Peers and Inc, three other components to this model: Excess capacity, Platform for participation and Diverse peers. Excess capacity (car/room/services) which are in abundance can be shared to anyone virtually thanks to the internet. Corporation (VC/Angel investors) will pitch in the resources to build the platform using the resources to simply complex and Standard application. The more censorship resistance the platform, the more market value and crucial final component is the diverse peers (individuals/local community) who come up with idea that can be localised, customised and specialised to complex problems. Overall a decent read on Sharing economy and decentralisation.

[Karmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, especially if you are new to the collaborative economy.
Robin Chase, Zipcar cofounder, provides an organization framework for use of excess capacity, in particular idle assets and readily available knowledge/skills.

The book is divided into 2 parts. The first part identifies building blocks of excess capacity and the second part talks about the execution.

The author provided a fair bit of information on crowdfunding (with and without equity stakes) which I find very useful for platform-based startups. Most resources mentioned in this book are still relevant to the time we live in, despite the fact that the book was written almost 6 years ago.

4 starts for this book because it is written from the company owner perspective. In my opinion, from the ethical point of view many of these platform - based business structures are necessary evils.

[Vanessa Princessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book thanks to Blinkist.

The key message in this book:

When we switch from a buying and owning mentality to a sharing mentality, everyone wins. Those who have an excess capacity of a resource make money; those who use that excess capacity save money. And the planet is exposed to fewer emissions. But there are still more resources with excess capacity out there, just waiting to be used.

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some topics and narratives don't age well. This includes "how the internet will change how we work together" (the premise of this book). And this is no fault of the author and had I read this book along with others like Macrowikinomics, I would have enjoyed it; but it's 7 years since this book was written and the examples provided already seem like ancient history and that's the only reason I didn't enjoy the book as much as I would have wanted.

[Carlosfelipe Pardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most insightful account of the world of sharing, with a special emphasis on transport (the author's main field of work)

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by the founder of ZipCar -- a new and different approach for us moving forward which makes good sense.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing to me, not because I agree with every point of view from the author, but because she articulates a view of the economy that is refreshing.

The author affirms that individuals, doing what they can do - yes, even what they want to do - on a small scale have value. From page 253:

While industrial capitalism evolved to put the corporation's survival at the center, the collaborative economy thrives by putting people at the center....The Peers Inc paradigm, with its different structure and means of value creation, will play an important role in transitioning world economies to a new value system and a new way of measuring prosperity.

I was encouraged by the many examples in the book of sharing for the greater good. The author talks a lot about harnessing "excess capacity". (I picture all the lawns across the country that are cultivated with chemicals, municipal drinking water, and biofuels just to throw away the harvested crop.)

Written by the the cofounder of Zipcar, the book also gives many examples of resources shared successfully for the benefit of everyone involved. Though the reading was tedious for me at times, these examples alone made it worthwhile. Here's a paragraph from page 254 that demonstrates why this ended up being a feel-good read for me:

Our past emphasis on ownership stemmed from our fear of scarcity. But the more we experience the availability, viability, and superiority of pooled resources, the more we will trust ourselves to share rather than own, give when we get, and teach when we learn. Imagine the feeling of potential in a world where so much is easily accessible in a huge shared network. Even things that were once considered "rivalrous" - where one person's use would diminish another's ability to enjoy it - are actually not rivalrous when you put them into a big enough pool. Zipcar is the proof of this.

The fact that someone sees this in our future gives me hope.

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book because I had heard Robin Chase speak about how the collaborative economy might help resolve some of the challenges presented by climate change. Chase's ideas are interesting, but in many ways, far-fetched. Her ideas are grand but without plans for execution. Much of what she describes in her model are disturbing because they will further erode our privacy as individuals. She does present some of the downsides of the shared economy, but fails to consider pressing social issues such as health care. I appreciated her brief discussion at the end of her book on how the peer economy could become the of victim capitalization (as have many past and more recent innovations brought about by digital technology).

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entire industry has sprung up around creating platforms for people to sell and/or share their extras. From selling their extra bedroom for a night to sharing a car ride to writing open source software, this new space is huge and what these peers create is changing the world. The part of the book on this was good.

But there were whole chapters on government policy, from phasing universal health care to climate change solutions. Way, way off topic and they dragged the book down.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes the case for networked platforms, with a large organization “Inc.” investing in the technological infrastructure that connects people “Peer” for economic transactions, many of which capture value form otherwise unused excess capacity. Author Robin Chase was co-founder of Zipcar. This book makes me more conscious of the the network platform as a fundamental change to markets and the economy. Good perspective as I think of my own path in the next 10-15 years.

[Ninos Youkhana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wondering about Chase

I wonder if Chase open her house for Airbnb and share her personal luxury car. To me, companies who build their business model on share economy use my profile and clicks, likes, shares, and comments are no different than a capitalistic cooperation. Just a few CEOs who become rich. Now, can they give back part of those billions to the peers who made them rich, when they sell their platforms? That is a share economy.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Find a copy and read this! Engaging explanations of business models - and operating models - of some of the big name "sharing economy" companies, with examples of how they can help us towards a more sustainable world. Particularly good at examining the good and bad of the models.

[Risto Kärkkäinen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this if you are interested in creating a web platform. Building up a platform is an extremely difficult endeavour. This book doesn't give you definitive answers how to do it. It mainly gives you a mindset and plenty of case studies of successful and not so successful web community startups.

[Lloyd Fassett]

5/10/15 found it on Confused of Calcutta blog. http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2015/05...

[Kavita Gaitonde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired!

[Brian Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read on building platforms and the collaborative economy, but the bits on climate change seemed to be shoehorned in there.

[Weiping · Rating 4 out of 5]

像是一本应景的书，不过其中的理论确实是一种发展趋势。得想想自己能在这个发展过程中做些什么。

[Shawn Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, lots of examples - tends to "beat a dead horse" after a while but the intent is good.

[Craig Mcfadyen]

Really liked the concept for this book, spare capacity is everywhere and startups such as Zipcar and AirBnB are tapping into it using rental models and SaaS.

Overall the content was good, makes you think about the possibilities and opens your eyes to potential spare capacity going unused in personal and professional life. The writing style dipped into crusading at some points (to save the planet for example) but overall a good read.