Tag: reid hoffman

• The second coming of the car

  

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  As a kid growing up in the suburbs of Toronto, I remember when getting my driver’s licence and getting a car were some of my biggest priorities. 

  As soon as I turned 16, I went immediately to get my learner’s permit and then enrolled in a driving school so that I could shorten the time required until I could drive on my own. Every month counted at that age.

  It was such an important milestone that people born earlier in the year were seen as lucky. Because someone born in January, for example, could gain their driving independence before someone born at the end of the year even got their learner’s permit. As silly as it sounds to me right now, that spread was huge back then.

  But the world has changed and we are at the dawn of a new era: driverless cars. 

  Sooner than most people think, we are no longer going to drive ourselves around cities. I absolutely believe this. That means no more steering wheels. No more traffic calming measures on quiet residential streets. Safer streets. Perfect traffic information because all the cars will be networked. And a dramatic increase in urban efficiency. (Relevant post: The tragedy of the commons.)

  I can’t wait for this happen.

  Reid Hoffman, who is the co-founder of LinkedIn, recently wrote a fascinating article on autonomous vehicles called, Driving in the Networked Age. And in it he argues that cities should be starting to look at banning human-driven cars and generally putting in place policies to support networked autonomous cars. In fact, he sees it as an opportunity for Detroit to reestablish itself as the 21st century motor city.

  Again, I don’t doubt that this transition will happen. I think it’s a question of when, not if. But I also think that it’s going to be incredibly important to think about what driverless vehicles will mean for our cities and the built environment. 

  It’s once again an example of Marshall McLuhan’s famous phrase: The medium is the message. 

  Cars as a medium have had a profound impact on the way we live and the way we build our cities. We know this. But the medium is now changing. And while simply taking out the driver may seem like a small change, it is not. Have a read of Hoffman’s article.

  I’m excited about the possibilities. I don’t really like driving anymore. But let’s make this second coming of the car more positive for cities than the first. Deal?

  2015.07.25

• Blogging is helping my startup idea

  Background

  I started blogging about Dirt (my startup idea) a few weeks ago in the hopes of finding a technical cofounder to join me in my journey to change the real estate industry. And while I am still searching, perhaps one the biggest benefits of blogging about my idea is that it’s forced me to bring additional order to my various sketches, wireframes and UX designs. It’s also forced me to clearly articulate what I’m trying to do.

  I spent a number of months working with Toronto-based agency Jar Creative on Dirt and at the time we were fixated on “real estate activity.” Specifically, finding a way for people to discover, track and share the real estate activity happening all around us. I still think this is a valid objective, but I’ve been questioning how exactly to go about this. One way to do it, is how I’ve outlined here: by having a property-only newsfeed. Users would follow properties and people and this would create a custom newsfeed surrounding their interests. 

  Evolution of the idea

  But the other thought I’ve been having is to allow people to build their own property portfolio, just like real estate companies and moguls do. The effect would be similar to above (users would receive updates on the properties they’re interested in), but it would be done through a kind of virtual property ownership.

  This is what I was getting at with this sketch:

  

  Here’s an example: I’m walking down the street and I see a property I like. It’s not for sale and so there’s little information available online. There’s no MLS listing, although if I google it, I may find an old one. Similar to when I described the Problem on Greenlaw, I may have a bunch of questions surrounding this property: Who owns it? When was it built? What was the last sale price? 

  Solution

  So what can I do? Let’s add it to my virtual property portfolio. I take a picture of it and locate the address/property in the Dirt database (or ideally it’s done automatically from the photo). It then gets added to my Dirt property portfolio, such that when updates do become available (for example: it goes on the market), I get notified. It would also allow me to socialize/network around the property to find the information I’m looking for — a forum, if you will, for these discussions to take place.

  Why is this better?

  One of the big things I think this subtle change does better, is that it taps into an innate desire to own stuff. Home ownership is heavily subsidized and promoted, particularly in the US, and this would allow people to build virtual property portfolios. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, once argued that the best social networks tap into one of the 7 deadly sins (WSJ):

  “Social networks do best when they tap into one of the seven deadly sins. Facebook is ego. Zynga is sloth. LinkedIn is greed.”

  Putting this spin onto Dirt would do exactly that. People would be given a quick and simple way to collect properties they like — without all the messy legal fees and mortgage commitments. It would also help to create a unique brand for Dirt. Instead of “user x is following property y”; it would be “user x has added property y to his/her portfolio.”

  Of course, these properties are actually owned by somebody in real life and so that’s a consideration, but could this not be the way to truly socialize the real estate industry?

  2012.07.21