The Business of Sharing: Making it in the New Sharing Economy

by Alex Stephany

Providing a colorful insight into the people at the forefront of the emergent Sharing Economy, a movement predicted to already be worth around $26B a year, this book gives vital advice to anyone thinking of starting or investing in a collaborative consumption business. The first of its kind, written by an author on the forefront of this new trend.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 2015

Reviews

[Julia Astakhova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharing economy became a big part of the industry nowadays but how well do we know it? How much we are conscious or unconscious participators? Is there any value for us in it? What are the ways to benefit from what is already happening? Alex Stephan gives a well-defined, well-structured, detailed answer. What he envisions is the collaborative consumption that may reduce our burden of owning stuff and lays at the basis of the new economy. Society can collaborate on redistribution of good and also living collaborative lifestyles. Businesses benefit by crowdsourcing and trendwatching. The need for strong regulations in order to maintain the quality of products or services could be substituted by radical transparency which in its turn may create a culture of extreme accountability. Alex traces all possible outcomes and influences of the new order of human exchange and depicts a pretty desirable future. It's interesting and intriguing to follow.
What also strikes is that this book gives a ton of references to existing shared economy companies covering all possible domains of human experience that has anything potentially to share.

[Paco Nieto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed very much reading this book because Alex has a very clear way to take into a journey of understanding everything about the Sharing Economy using real-life examples, using anecdotes. Nonetheless, the coolest things is that in a humble way he tells you his experiences from meeting with key entrepreneurs from top Sharing Economy businesses.

2 things I think this book could go in depth around the business of Sharing: 1) Online Reputation for individulas, corporations, etc., 2) Regulation. Even though self-regulation is reviewed and has good examples, I think it lacks of elements that challenges regulations like burocracy, corruption, lobbying, safety.

I highly recommend this book

[Anjar Priandoyo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit outdated, but still interesting historical pieces on "sharing economy". As a term, I think "sharing economy" is overrated, it actually defines as "anything that created after 2010 after Uber" can be defined as sharing economy. Ebay, a marketplace that created in 1995 is, of course, will be fit in this category which actually marketplace, the same as Airbnb. However, this book presents two potential problems for the government which are transportation and P2P financial. Transportation is heavily regulated, the same as the finance industry that heavily regulated. If the question asked whether we need more government intervention or not, the more appropriate question is does the government has money to do it or not, if not then nobody can do nothing.

[Karolína Hájková · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for the Sharing Economy and Smart Cities course at Bocconi

[Arash Narchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no better time for Alex's book to be written. The sharing economy is growing locally in many cities and globally for a few companies like Uber and Airbnb. This means many people still have no idea what it is. From consumers and individuals (or micro-entrepreneurs) to founders and investors of these startups, and even the governments included - he covers the whole spectrum of the sharing economy. He also does a good job of covering both sides of the table (including a foreward by Mark Suster), addressing the issues of skeptics and one-off media stories while firmly being grounded on his stance for the sharing economy. Even though it is implicitly implied by writing the book, it would have been nice to more ways we can share the sharing economy as individuals (especially those new to it).

Having personally done business with Alex, I am glad this book is coming from him - someone in trenches of the sharing economy as the CEO of JustPark. This book is well thought-out, well-researched and should be one everyone reads in 2015.

[Mike Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really fizzes: well-researched, colorful and readable, so much so that I finished it in a handful of sittings. It tells the story of "the sharing economy" - a term that I've seen splashed across The New York Times on many an occasion but this book gets very impressively under its skin.

What helps is that the writer, Alex Stephany, is an entrepreneur who runs a sharing economy company based in England. So he's able to give you as reader something of an inside scoop. Stephany has also managed to include an impressive cast of other entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley folk to help him tell his story, though I would have been interested to have seen the inclusion of the founders of Lyft (he does however cover the company).

This is a book that will speak to people, whether or not they work in technology because the changes that Stephany describe will touch almost all sectors of the old economy and almost all societies around the world. With subtle and complex points, I'm still enjoying this book in my head almost a week after finishing it.

[Michael Layden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent review of the current herd of business involved in the sharing economy. I was surprised how many of the companies mentioned I hadn't heard about.
Alex Stephany doesn't just review the sector from a business perspective but discusses the deeper implications to society and the environment. Unusually for someone who has direct involvement in the sector he is equally as comfortable discussing both the pros and cons of many of the new businesses. It is an excellent well written reference book to this evolving sector.

[Tommy Nakamura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is really informative. Alex CEO of Just Park does a good job summarising the sharing economy.

[Juho Makkonen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive book on the current state and all the various aspects of the phenomenon commonly referred to as the sharing economy.