Caterina Rindi

LAB Radio Interview with CoinStructive

2016-06-27T19:33:00.003-07:00

I was asked to speak on a panel at Inside Bitcoins San Diego this past December 2015, on Making Bitcoin Easy for Small Business, and shared the stage with Chris Groshong of CoinStructive.

After meeting several of the other CoinStructive team members, I had a blast doing this LAB Radio interview with Chris and Aaron Mangal. We covered basic definitions of bitcoin and blockchains, and we discussed the need for diversity in the industry. A few noteworthy shout-outs for Tone Vays of BraveNewCoin, Patrick Byrne of Overstock, and Dawn Newton at Netki. And apologies for a few excessive um's - I blame the Corona.

Listen to the 22 minute interview here.

And check out the whole LAB Radio Episode 1 podcast on the CoinStructive site to hear other great interviews with Pamela Morgan, Joe Colangelo, Sheree Ip, and Spencer Bogart, amongst others.

Review of OuiShareFest 2016, by other smart people

2016-05-26T13:44:00.002-07:00

I'm just back from a great month in Europe, a mix of business and socializing, including time spent in Germany (Mainz and Berlin), Italy (with family), Belgium (Antwerp and Ghent), and France (Paris).

The last bit in Paris was as part of the OuiShareFest, the excellent yearly conference put on by the collaborative economy folks at OuiShare.

Ariane S. Conrad, the brilliant Book Doula, wrote a lovely review of this year's OuiShareFest, wherein she calls me "refreshingly plainspoken" in explaining blockchain technology.

Read the whole piece on her blog, and watch the adorable video recap of Day Two of the conference, with Ariane and I laughing around minute 1:30.

Other memorable bits of the conference included the work being done on Platform Coops, much of it led by the thoughtful and principled Nathan Schneider, whom I was incredibly excited to finally meet in person, as can be evidenced by the goofy look on my face, below.

No question, I'll be back for next year's OuiShareFest for sure. Join me?

Keynote at JAX conference in Mainz, Germany

2016-04-22T05:08:00.001-07:00

I was invited to do a keynote presentation at JAX conference in Mainz, Germany, to an audience of enterprise software developers on 19 April 2016, and this is what they had to say about it:

The Future Belongs to Bitcoin and/or Blockchain

Caterina Rindi, a consultant and multilingual speaker, took the floor and talked about how blockchain can and will be part of the future through projects from different industries, including lottery, energy and Internet of Things. She addressed the most sensitive issues of Bitcoin and opined that the identity of this cryptocurrency’s founder is not relevant anymore because Bitcoin has been created “for the people.” Bitcoin and blockchain —not necessarily taken together— are threatening traditional institutions, but Ms Rindi is convinced that this digital currency “or a variation of it will be in our future."

JAXenter and S&S Media Group ran a great event and it was a pleasure to work with all the organizers and team. Hope to join them again in the future!

Watch the video here:

JAX 2016: Keynote Caterina Rindi from JAX TV on Vimeo.

Huge says you should come to our blockchain session at SXSW

2016-03-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

Nice to get a shout-out from Huge, encouraging folks to come to our South by SouthWest session in Austin on Bitcoin and Blockchain for Beginners - Sunday, 13 March, 3:30pm.

Jef Cavens, the crazy Belgian and I will cover blockchains most heavily, with an eye on how they're going to impact everyone's lives, and what's already in development.

Would love to see you there!

The Block Chain Conference Brings Finance Industry and Blockchain Companies Together

2016-02-13T14:18:00.001-08:00

The Block Chain Conference, held in San Francisco on February 10, billed itself as the first event to address the intersection of business and blockchains, bringing together the IT establishment and innovative startups. While it’s unclear whether the lofty goal was accomplished, to “accelerate the development, deployment and leverage of block chain-based approaches by global business,” it definitely brought together finance industry and blockchain technology companies in conversation.

The first presenters and keynotes opened with discussions on the nature of the blockchain industry and its strengths and weaknesses, admonishing the audience to think beyond the bitcoin blockchain and short term uses. Spencer Bogart, Equity Research Associate for Block Chain & Software (SaaS) at Needham & Company, championed public, permissionless, and open-source network. He sees them as being the best to build upon, highlighting their resilience, security, and anti-fragility as features that organizations need to resist the potential shocks of exploration and growth. He imagined a future of multiple blockchains and continued disintermediation.

In a slight contrast, keynote speaker John Wolpert, Global Blockchain Offering Director at IBM, argued that networks should be “permissive,” or a combination of centralized and decentralized services, much like ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Wolpert also made a case for standardizing communication protocols, and insisted that IBM’s strategy of open innovation supporting projects like Java and XML would be the way to build the economically-aware “fabric” upon which interoperable platforms would grow. Wolpert also called out the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Project, a cross-industry collaboration that includes IBM, DTCC, R2CEV, and Digital Asset, amongst others.

Judd Bagley, Director of Communications at Overstock.com and Chief Evangelist of t0.com, referenced US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s 2008 speech to give historical economic context for the development of bitcoin and then presented some statistics on who is using bitcoin for transactions and what they’re buying. Bagley also described t0’s crypto-finance unit as an example of how the path forward must be grounded in regulatory compliance.

The conference was occasion for several startups to launch new products, notably Ascribe’s BigChainDB, and Tendermint. Bruce Pon, Founder & CEO of Ascribe, was very well received, explaining how BigChainDB was designed to address the roadblocks to blockchain enterprise adoption, namely scalability, latency, and query. Special guest Leanne Kemp, Founder & CEO of Everledger, announced their partnership, using BigChainDB as a database for diamond certification and fraud detection.

Tendermint described their new Open Blockchain Platform, or “Trust as a Service,” promising to simplify blockchain application development for enterprise developers. Both products spoke to the needs of large-scale organizations for security, decreased latency, and improved throughput.

There were two jam-packed afternoon streams, one for Wall Street and financial services and the other for the New Business World, both tapping the implementations of smart contracts, integrations with Ethereum, and current development in practical applications.

Highlights included presentations from Ryan Singer (Blockchain Clearing) calling for an interledger protocol, Cheryl Gurz (The Bankcorp) encouraging the growth of global micropayments, Micah Winkelspecht (Gem) breaking down smart networks, and Tiana Laurence (Factom) showcasing how they track mortgages. Gideon Greenspan of CoinSciences sent a valuable video message on Avoiding Pointless Blockchain Projects. The entire conference live-tweet stream can be seen at the TBCCSF hashtag. Some notable tweets came from Michael O'Loughlin, Jen Massing Harris, and Caleb Chen.

All in all, the speaker list could have benefitted from more varied representation in other industries (not to mention gender and ethnicity). Other global businesses could have included media and hospitality, transportation, communications, law, or governmental organizations and NGO’s (for example, BitGive Foundation is currently building a Donation Transparency Project with BitPesa). The continued focus on finance and IT applications of blockchain technology is understandable, but to John Wolpert’s point, we need to think about more than just immediate networks, and recognize that we’re building new environments and tools for the future, for everyone.

This article was originally published on BraveNewCoin.

World Citizens

2015-12-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

"Our values call upon us to care about the lives of people we will never meet."

Excerpt from Remarks by President Barack Obama, at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany, on June 19, 2013.

Tapping Bitcoin and Blockchains to Support the Solidarity Economy

2015-12-22T14:43:00.001-08:00

(excerpt from application to present at The Global Social Economy Forum - GSEF 2016 - in Montreal, Canada)

A revolutionary peer-to-peer technology was created in late 2008: Bitcoin and its underlying software, the Blockchain. Its creator's intention was to offer people a tool to circumvent the hold that financial systems had on their populations, and to prevent the corruption, mismanagement, and exclusion that governments, banks, and corporations were perpetuating.
Since then, Bitcoin has been embraced worldwide by early adopters, technologically savvy individuals, and more recently, those same financial institutions that were meant to be disrupted.

It is vital that more people understand how to use bitcoin and blockchains so that they can benefit disenfranchised communities, and so that the development of these technologies include more diverse perspectives than just software engineers and economists.

The Bitcoin blockchain and others such as Ethereum offer opportunities to disintermediate contracts and transactions, giving people the power to interact without lawyers, notaries, banks, realty agents, and other middlemen. These are tools for empowering and increasing social solidarity at both the local level and worldwide. Blockchains and digital assets can be used for encrypted online voting and shared governance, true peer-to-peer online marketplaces, crowd-funding and crypto-equity, and so much more.

My role is to educate and inspire more people to learn about bitcoin and blockchains, so they too can benefit and shape our future. Ongoing partnerships are informal and include educational groups (eg. CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium; Diginomics; College Cryptocurrency Network; Bitcoin Meetups worldwide), as well as small businesses and non-profit organizations (eg. Empowered Law; BitGive Foundation; Factom).

The adoption of Bitcoin as a currency is growing worldwide, but is still primarily used by the privileged, despite efforts to integrate better remittance options and improved micro-transaction tools for less wealthy populations. Similarly, bitcoin is also being used quite a bit for speculation rather than actual transacting. These factors are unfortunately concentrating its use rather than spreading opportunities for those who need them most. Along the same lines, large financial institutions (eg. Goldman Sachs) are experimenting with private blockchains to tap into their potential efficiencies, thereby recreating the exclusionary nature of our current financial systems. But the ability to create useful and open blockchain networks is available to all of us, if we work together and engage invested communities well.

Blockchains are the future - let's make sure everyone has access.

Talking bitcoin and blockchain in Moscow, Russia!

2015-11-01T17:02:00.001-08:00

I spent the week in Moscow as an invited panelist for the Open Innovations Forum and Technology Show. I spoke on FinTech 2020, about bitcoin, blockchains, and "how the digital revolution will change the financial industry".

I also did a TV interview (forthcoming) and spoke with Elisaveta Vereshchagina of CoinFox, on making bitcoin and blockchain growth accessible to everyone. That interview is copied below.

Вы, Москва, для вашего хлебосольства!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the “Open Innovations” show in Moscow CoinFox spoke to Caterina Rindi, the bitcoin enthusiast and educator who works on enlightment in the sphere of collaborative economy.

Coming from San Francisco, US, she has been the Community Manager for bitcoin startup SWARM and spent the whole 2014 travelling across Europe and talking to people about bitcoin.

CoinFox: Let’s start from the very beginning. Could you elaborate on what has led you to the industry?

Caterina Rindi: The economic downturn in the United States in 2008-2009 made me and many of my peers re-examine what we were doing with work and finance. At this time I discovered the sharing economy, collaborative economy, a lot of peer-to-peer types of interactions and the work around that. That is how I discovered bitcoin. Bitcoin is completely peer-to-peer, decentralized, and it’s worldwide. Before, when our world was smaller, I could exchange some goods, say, clothing, with my neighbours only. Now I can exchange things on a larger scale.

And I like the opportunity bitcoin offers to the people who don’t have money, who don’t have bank accounts or IDs. In the US, we have a lot of immigrants from other countries. Some arrive legally, some “not legally”, but they are all there and they’re all working. And those working don’t have access to bank accounts or any other services, as they are considered “illegal”. With something like bitcoin anybody can do financial transactions and use these kinds of services. It is an equalizer, in fact. And that’s what was very appealing to me.

CoinFox: So you decided to dedicate yourself to promoting this kind of technology...

Caterina Rindi: My personal background is in education, teaching children, so when I realized I could understand the technology and teach it to more people, I went that way. My last position was with a company called SWARM which is doing peer-to-peer crowdfunding using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. My title was the Community Manager, so it was all about communication and education. As our community was worldwide, I was travelling everywhere to meet people and to talk to people.

CoinFox: Do you then see bitcoin as something which is more about people and their ability to rely on each other than just about money? Not long ago a prominent Russian economist called cryptocurrencies “the material embodiment of mutual trust”…

Caterina Rindi: It’s interesting because in a way it is trustless, there is no trust, you don’t even have to know the other person, as bitcoin transactions are cryptographically secured and private. But at the same time they come out of a notion of peer-to-peer communication instead of trusting a government or a bank or a corporation. It is indeed about trusting our peers and other people as individuals, as opposed to large organizations and institutions, but the technology itself does not require trust, so it is sort of an interesting mix.
Banks and leading corporations have traditionally ignored the bottom socio-economic portion of our society, and I think that’s a mistake and they will lose opportunities in the long run. I think that if they learn to adapt, if then they learn to listen to and to engage and to appreciate their customers and clients, then they can stay relevant. But right now many of them are building private blockchains, which, I think, is completely missing the point.

CoinFox: How do you assess the emerging cooperation between the companies which specialize in cryptocurrencies and some governmental bodies, specifically in the field of what is called national security?

Caterina Rindi: I think that the organizations like the NSA and the FBI are interested in controlling information. They are interested in surveillance of individuals and not even individuals — they do mass surveillance instead of supervising just one potential criminal. So it depends on whether the businesses consider the needs of their customers when they collaborate with said services or not. If not, they are not actually serving the best interests.
People have been launching services like Facebook on blockchain because people want to have social interaction without the exposure, without being controlled… For example, Synereo.com.

CoinFox: So the technologies are being used much broader than just for the purposes directly related to money, aren’t they?

Caterina Rindi: Yes, absolutely yes, they have been used for many purposes now. There are social interactive networks; there is a company called Lazooz which is similar to Uber, with people driving cars and taking passengers, but it is all built on blockchain and they are using cryptocurrencies. It is peer-to-peer, there is no corporation making money out of this.

CoinFox: Though it does sound quite inspiring, both bitcoin and blockchain are still too far from getting really widespread. What do you think can be done to promote the technology to a wider audience?

Caterina Rindi: I’m optimistic. I think, education, which I am trying to do, is essential. But in general it is all very technologically complicated, and it really needs to be simplified. Now there are many software engineers working on the technology. They are a minority of the world but they are the ones who know the most. So we need to translate what they are doing for the rest of the world, for everyone who does not speak computer languages. The thing is to make it accessible for an average person, to make it easy to use.

We also have to involve more people in the process of creating these different uses for the technology. We need to involve philosophers; we need to involve artists, lawyers, teachers and everyone. If there is only a software engineer designing something, then it will look like a software engineer’s screen. But if we have an artist in there or we have an architect, then it is more likely to look like something that other people can also use.

Maria Rudina

Subrahmanyam KVJ tells it like it is

2015-10-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

"The sort of people who understand blockchains don’t usually want to put on a suit and go work for a bank"
— Subrahmanyam KVJ (@SuB8u) May 10, 2015

Keynote 2015

2015-08-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

I was invited to Los Angeles as the keynote speaker at Keynote 2015: How to Harness the Distributed Ledger.

My presentation introduced blockchains to a diverse audience of fintech professionals as well as the bitcoin industry, and then proceeded to give people some good examples and ways to communicate about this decentralized technology. My goal was to help us all talk about and make bitcoin and blockchains and ethereum and smart contracts much more accessible to the general population, so that everyone can benefit from and guide their creation.

Rindi Blockchains Keynote simple slides from Caterina Rindi

3 Questions Bitcoin Beginners Ask

2015-07-02T20:13:00.004-07:00

I recently did a workshop at OuiShareFest conference in Paris, an introduction to bitcoin and the blockchain for a non-technical audience. I loved it. The attendees were from all over the world - many had signed up for my session in advance, and several more came after we met at the conference and I told them about my presentation.

ChangeTip integrations

At the end of the session (and for the rest of the week) I sent everyone their first bitcoin, €1 worth. For most people I sent it via ChangeTip, the great app that uses bitcoin for tipping, supporting writers, artists and charitable organizations, and making the world a genuinely nicer place in the process. I also tied the giveaway in via Twitter, since that's a simple way to send and receive tips, though ChangeTip is integrated with many apps, making it as easy as possible.

One of the best parts about the workshop came afterwards. People approached me and thanked me profusely, in Italian and Spanish and French, telling me that they had tried to understand bitcoin but it had been too dense and confusing. That this was the first time someone explained it clearly enough for them to grasp. That they were starting to see how the blockchain could offer all these other potential uses. And they asked questions - three of which stood out:

Why should we use bitcoin instead of fiat currency, especially when it's so volatile and insecure?

In my talk I discussed the climate in which bitcoin was birthed, the disillusionment and distrust of governments, banks, and large corporations without the best interests of its users in mind. I brought up the economic struggles in Argentina and Greece, and the bank bailouts in the US and UK. The 3-day OuiShare conference itself addressed the conflicts between big "sharing" companies like Uber and the people who provided the services, not to mention others impacted negatively. So this audience had the background already, but had heard all about bitcoin's price volatility, Mt. Gox, and Silk Road. They believed the negative hype, repeatedly trumpeted in the news, and thought that bitcoin wasn't going to last anyway.

I could have also emphasized that the people who can most benefit from using bitcoin as a currency, however, aren't attending conferences in first-world nations. I'm talking about the unbanked and underbanked, populations that transact in micro-payments, who use their cell phones to pay bills, or who send remittances to their families back home every month. These individuals are laboring under exorbitant transfer fees, lack of access to credit or loans, and limited technological infrastructure. Check out some of the efforts of 37coins and BitPesa for examples of how bitcoin is another tool helping narrow the wealth gap around the world.

Who is running it all?

Even though I explained the peer-to-peer network, and this was a Sharing+Collaborative Economy conference, it was still very hard for people to grasp that this technology is truly decentralized. There continued to be a suspicion that someone somewhere can shut it down or break it or manipulate it all. Maybe I should have added this image of active bitcoin nodes to my presentation?

Source: getaddr.bitnodes.io

Why isn't it easier to use?

This question made me laugh every time I heard it, because I agreed. Why isn't it all easier to use? It reminds me that to use a tool created by brilliant engineers, we still need designers and educators and economists and writers and philosophers and more. It's also fair to note that we are in the early stages of this technology. I've heard it compared to the internet in the 1980's, which in the beginning utilized strings of numbers for email and dial-up modems to connect. Look how far we've come in 30 years!

The focus now is on the layers and services being built upon bitcoin and the blockchain. So the more people know about it and support its development, the more that momentum and engagement will propel it forward. This is exactly why I presented the workshop in the first place, and will continue to speak and educate the populace wherever I'm invited (check my Twitter for upcoming talks). I encourage you to come 'drink the lemonade' - it's delicious and exciting!

Photo credit: Scott Kennedy

Addendum 6-July-2015: This post has also been published on the Coin Congress Events blog - check it out and share it there!

Introduction to Bitcoin+Blockchain for a Non-Technical Audience

2015-05-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

I enthusiastically returned to OuiShareFest in Paris last week and gave this presentation to an eager and very appreciative audience. At the end I gave everyone their very first bitcoin too (thanks ChangeTip)!

Testimonials (in French, Italian, Spanish, and English) went something like this: "Oh my god I am so grateful to have someone explain this stuff in a way that I can understand! Thank you thank you!"

Want me to come speak to your organization or at your conference? I'll happily travel. Sample slides below.

Introduction to Bitcoin/Blockchain for a Non-Technical Audience from Caterina Rindi

Recap of OuiShare Fest 2014, The Age of Communities

2014-05-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

OuiShare Fest 2014 brought together 1,000 sharers from 31 countries under the big tent of the Cabaret Sauvage in Paris. On May 5, 6, and 7, we met in the middle of Parc de la Villette, by the scenic Ourcq Canal. Titled The Age of Communities, the five themes spurred us to Inspire, Debate, Co-Create, Connect, and Play, offering sessions ranging from the hands-on fabrication of furniture with a laser-cutter to philosophical explorations asking Is the Collaborative Economy a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? (Short answer, yes-ish.)

Conference co-chairs Francesca Pick and Benjamin Tincq of OuiShare opened the event by urging the crowd to create the event attendees want with the “platform” that OuiShare provided. After Tomás de Lara’s meditation on moving from an Egocentric to an Ecocentric Economy, the enthusiasm was palpable, embodied by Rachel Botsman’s declaration that the empowerment we gain from sharing will drive the momentum of this worldwide collaborative movement. The rest of the day was packed with activities and speakers in four different venues around the Cabaret Sauvage: The Circus, The Boat, The Camp, and the Factory, not to mention the pedicabs and vendor stands outside, along with the solar and pedal-powered generator providing music and phone recharging.

A few highlights from Day One:

Tomás de Lara opening the fest with a heartfelt talk framing the shift to sharing as a spiritual one.
Liam Boogar interviewing Airbnb Europe/Africa Managing Director Olivier Grémillon.
Manjil Rana’s creation of the first free educational institution in Nepal.
Lisa Gansky emphasizing the business value created by the collaborative economy.
Professor Arun Sundararajan suggesting the role that sharing platforms like Airbnb and Uber can play in clearing regulatory challenges for the collaborative economy at large.
Economic historian Alexa Clay calling out the “misfit” personalities driving much of society’s experimentation and change -- and that was all before lunch!
After lunch, Ariane Conrad led a special conversation on the “Love Story” between OuiShare and Shareable concluded with the audience singing happy birthday to Shareable and the presentation of an amazing French birthday cake for Shareable's five beautiful years of existence. It was one of many thoughtful acts of love that brightened this year's OuiShare Fest.

Afternoon sessions brought in:

Discussions with French VC’s investing in the collaborative economy.
A bio-hacking presentation demonstrating bacteria pens that produce their own ink.
Open-source beehives.
The “manically positive, professional try-er” Nils Roemen inspiring us with his celebration of the abundance economy.
The day closed with P2P Foundation’s Michel Bauwens on-screen from Ecuador via Google Hangout, explaining FLOK, a national project introducing commons-based solutions for areas like agriculture and education.

European ride-sharing platform Blablacar bookended the second day with a morning session and a party at night, both headlined “Fun & Serious” -- a good description of the day’s tone. Several other large companies discussed their involvement in the growing collaborative economy, including supporting start-ups as a low-risk exploration of innovative economic solutions.

There was also a focus on cities in the collaborative economy. Shareable’s Neal Gorenflo exhorted us to “rethink cities as commons instead of markets” and invited the audience to join the effort to build sharing cities with a new video; Vincente Guallart, Chief Architect of Barcelona, showed off several great projects they’re instituting; Michele D’Alena of Bologna impressed us with his vision of using government as a platform; and April Rinne gave some more examples of successful city programs worldwide. This seemed to also be a day to connect with people -- in sessions, in bathroom lines, during lunch, while watching performances, and working together. And, speaking of connection, one particularly notable and well-attended session pushed the boundaries of the sharing economy by creating a forum to discuss “new models and social contracts for love and intimacy” -- props to the organizers!

The third day of the conference brought a solid confirmation that this is a movement and not just a trend in Europe: France’s Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Axelle Lemaire, came to OuiShare Fest “to learn, to meet, and to get feedback from people on the ground,” interviewed by OuiShare co-founder Antonin Léonard.

The Future of Currencies panel demonstrated the world’s first live payment of university fees in Bitcoin. Peers.org’s Natalie Foster named Sara Horowitz and the Freelancer’s Union in New York as a prime example of the kinds of mutual aid circles needed for P2P entrepreneurs. Zero waste and circular economy speakers Robin Chase (Zipcar + Buzzcar) and Helen Gould (Nesta) focused on the dangers of climate change. Pearl Werbach (daughter of Yerdle’s Adam Werbach), one of the youngest OuiShare Fest attendees at eight years old, read her essay urging grown-ups to share more. Ariane Conrad declared us all champions of this new economy, and Benita Matofska, of The People Who Share, insisted that the movement provide equal and open access to all. Sessions on co-working and co-living presented various sharing models throughout the world (and internationally, like Copass), and the day wrapped up with exhausted attendees catching cat-naps before the awards ceremony and dance party.

Questions of definitions came up throughout the three-day conference, as well as debates over the tensions around corporate backing of the movement, efforts to change financial and economic systems from within, and outsiders wanting to create altogether new communities. I saw big companies discussing how to adapt to economic changes and met people living without money. The atmosphere was positive and driven. This was an assembly of doers, creators, and thinkers. The thoughtful planning was matched by playfulness and generosity throughout, embodying abundance over scarcity. We ate well, laughed, and shared joyfully, learning, connecting, and recharging to take this energy back out to the rest of the world.

The challenge for next year will be how to bring more people into the circle, how to engage disenfranchised communities (scholarships for those unable to afford the registration fees?), and how to address the social and economic needs arising from a growing freelance workforce. I’m already looking forward to it! You can read more on the OuiShare blog, watch the wrap-up OuiShareTV videos, see the full schedule on the OuiShare Fest site, and find better photos as well as podcasts and tweets here and here. OuiShare is also hosting a Berlin Summit, June 4-8. See you there!
Images by Stefano Borghi.

This article was originally published on Shareable.net.

Paris car borrowing - Drivy

2014-05-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

I borrowed Elodie's car via Drivy to drive from Paris to southern Belgium. It's a French version of RelayRides. My quick synopsis: it worked great, included additional insurance options; the required actual paper paperwork for owner and borrower to sign was funny but effective; appreciated the flexibility on owner's part to charge more/less for return with more/less gas and more/less mileage.

Conclusion: I'd do it again if necessary but with the rental/insurance/gas (expensive)/highway tolls it was more costly than taking a train. With such a competent public transportation system in Paris/France/Europe, it doesn't make much sense to use cars most of the time.

OuiShare Fest 2014

2014-05-08T16:11:00.001-07:00

OuiShare Fest 2014 conference in Paris, France.

I presented on shared mobility - specifically car-sharing.

Here's a sweet little Day 1 wrap-up video with yours truly at 0:54.

Full summary to come on Shareable.net, with highlights and my impressions here later.

Sharing is Caring!

2014-04-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sharing is Caring!

How to Share Your Car Like a Pro in 5 Easy Steps

2013-04-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Find out how to share your car... and make money doing it! (Photo by Toby Sanderson)

So, you want to dip your toe into this sharing economy thing, but you don’t know how to start? Peer-to-peer car sharing is an easy and safe way to do it. Follow these 5 easy steps from an expert and in no time you, too, will be making money with that under-utilized vehicle, connecting with your community, and joining a powerful movement.

My story: I’ve had my car since 2005, and as my jobs, projects, and schedule have changed, so has the frequency of car use. I’m now down to driving it only once or twice a week, but since I started sharing it in 2010, I have made about $10,000 off its use, which is its approximate current value. So, financially it has made sense for me to keep the car, use it occasionally, and share it the rest of the time, rather than sell it. My car has been borrowed over 250 times, and I have done between 10 and 15 interviews on television and in print talking about it.

There are now over 15 companies world-wide facilitating car sharing (a list is compiled below). They traditionally offer insurance coverage while your car is being borrowed and most of them have smart-phone apps for easy management. Car sharing reduces traffic congestion, oil consumption, and air pollution.

(Infographic courtesy Fast Company)

Ready to give it a go? Let’s get started.

1. Make sure you and your vehicle qualify*:

Are you at least 18 years young?
Do you have a driver’s license and good driving record?
Is your car less than 15 years old, has less than 150,000 miles, and runs well?
Does your vehicle have a value of less than $50,000?

*These details vary a bit by company, so be sure to read the fine print before signing up.

Pro Tip: If the company you choose gives you the option to have a GPS kit installed in your car, do it. The keyless entry makes borrowers happy, reservations instant, and the company can easily find your car at any time.

2. Take photos -- lots of photos! Show people what both the inside and outside of your car look like. People like to see what they’ll be getting into. You can photograph your car in fun environments, put a local monument in the background, or take pictures from interesting angles. Basically, it helps to give your car a personality and make it look appealing. This is also a good way to track the condition of your car and make yourself and future borrowers aware of any pre-existing scrapes and scratches.

Pro Tip: Clear out and clean your car inside and out before taking the pics, and on a regular basis, to keep your borrowers happy.

(Photo courtesy Getaround)

3. Name your car and write a catchy listing. My car is The Proton, because it’s a Prius and part-electric and I’m a nerd. You can name your Mini “Minny,” or your Subaru “Shazam” or your green van “Godzilla.” Get creative!

a) For the general info you’ll need:

Make, model, year, mileage, and VIN (Vehicle Identification Number).
Color, features (e.g. moon-roof, audio-input, bike rack, all-wheel drive, etc.), condition, and a description of any pre-existing damage.
Any specific times or days of the week that your car is not available -- plan ahead for when you’ll need to use it.

Pro Tip: Inside your vehicle, occasionally leave special items or notes for your borrowers, like a picnic blanket in the trunk, or a list of good non-metered parking streets for the return. You can mention these in the listing or hint that there may be a special surprise for borrowers.

(Photo courtesy Wheelz)

b) Set the rental price for your car -- you will receive about 60% of this. In some countries you should plan to pay taxes on it. Set an accessible price to start. Compare your car with other similar cars in your city (this makes a difference -- Honolulu and Paris have different needs!), and price yourself either below or at the average. Here is a handy chart from RelayRides with some suggested rates that I think are too high.

Pro Tip: Once you’ve had several successful borrowers and you start getting positive reviews, then you might want to increase the rates. Don’t be afraid to change the price up and down to find your sweet spot. You first want to get more people borrowing your car so that you get plenty of reviews.

4. Advertise! Many car owners forget this part. You have to tell people that your car is available. Several car sharing platforms offer referral credits, and some will even give you flyers to distribute.

Good online venues to post a listing are Craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media you use. Don’t forget to spread the word to your friends and local network. And take this opportunity to tell them how righteous it is to minimize the number of cars on the road, how much money they’ll save by not buying themselves a car, and how they’re contributing to a more livable city.

Pro Tip: Since immediate neighbors are the most likely to benefit from the available car, I used to walk around my neighborhood with a stapler and put flyers in my local laundromat bulletin board, at the library, in corner stores, and pizza parlors. Remember to ask the establishment if it’s okay, and be prepared to do some educating about car sharing too.

5. Lastly, COMMUNICATE. (Good advice for all kinds of relationships!) Talk to your borrowers -- send them a short email or text when they reserve your car.

During the reservation, be sure to respond quickly to any inquiries. Answer the phone when an unknown number comes in because it could be your borrower. Make a good first impression by sorting out key exchanges easily, and setting clear expectations. This has been reported as the number one way to encourage more borrowers for your car, and Response Rate is often tracked in your owner profile.

Pro Tip: I have a brief script that I use whenever someone makes an instant reservation. It welcomes them, lets them know to expect the car to be tidy and clean, and that the tank should be full. Apart from being friendly, this alerts them to how they should treat and return the car.

So, now that you see how easy it is to get started, are you ready to join other sharing smarties?

To make it even easier for you, see below for an international list of peer-to-peer car sharing companies.

Tell us in the comments if we’ve missed any. We’d also love to hear about your experiences sharing your car, or if there’s anything still stopping you.

Have a good ride!

(Photo by Toby Sanderson)

United States

France

Germany

Belgium

tapazz.com

Denmark

minbildinbil.dk

Spain

Australia

Singapore

icarsclub.com

Martinique, Caribbean (!)

carfully.fr

This article was originally published on Shareable.net, an excellent resource for all things shareable.

Interview with Colleen Sollars, Community Outreach Manager, Couchsurfing

2013-03-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

Host and couchsurfer in San Francisco

Though the practice of opening one’s home and hosting family when they’re in town has likely existed since the first humans traveled away from their parents, the generosity of offering a bed to outsiders has not been as widely observed. Couchsurfing.org was one of the first online platforms that made it easier for travelers to meet local denizens and experience their native culture by staying with them. Couchsurfing has been called the “grandparent of the collaborative consumption” movement and continues to serve as an introduction for millions of people into sharing their lives with strangers.

I recently connected with CS’s Community Outreach Manager, Colleen Sollars, to find out some of the history behind CS’s mission to “create inspiring experiences”, and learn a little more about its evolution and growth. She also talked a bit about her new role and the developing need for Community Managers at CS.

Caterina Rindi: Let's get a little background on Couchsurfing itself. 5.5 million members, including every country in the world. That's amazing! What is the Couchsurfing family tree, going back to its inception in 2003 or so? Who else was promoting this kind of sharing of "cultures, hospitality and adventures"?

Colleen Sollars: When the Couchsurfing website became public in 2004, there were a couple of organizations that were connecting people for home exchanges, but in a low-tech way. In the case of Servas, exchanging information involved getting a list via the postal service, and Hospitality Exchange came into existence online about the same time as Couchsurfing.

A group of dedicated volunteers worked in collective households to build the early Couchsurfing site collaboratively, but without much organized planning or architecture. Couchsurfing began offering something unique, leveraging technology to give people an opportunity to see more information about potential hosts and guests, including photos; information about their home, their city, and the things to do there; and references from others in the Couchsurfing community who had significant experiences with that member.

CR: What do you think made the existence of Couchsurfing possible? For example, many analysts of the sharing economy cite the recession, and the growing ubiquity of social media and tech+mobile communication platforms for its appeal, but that came several years later. Couchsurfing started before that, right? So which technologies, movements or companies led to Couchsurfing?

CS: More than anything, what made, and what makes Couchsurfing possible is the deep desire in people to connect with others and have richer experiences when they travel. There was really no mechanism by which people traveling could meet locals without starting random conversations in hostels, hotels, pubs and the like. In some cultures, it’s impossible to break into local culture without an introduction from someone inside it.

Also, Couchsurfing is free, and that facilitates travel for many people who would not be able to travel as broadly, were they paying for accommodation, but it’s really a side benefit of a network that is, essentially, a global community of like-minded friends you just haven’t met yet. Upon using it, people quickly become aware of the meaningful connections that are possible through Couchsurfing.

Couchsurfing has been called a grandparent of the collaborative consumption movement, and we are honored to be thought of in that way.

CR: Lastly, recognizing that your mission is to "create inspiring experiences" who do you think are CS's contemporary peers, either in the sharing economy or not?

CS: In my view, our closest peers are cultural exchange programs in schools and colleges, as we share a motivation: to bring people into better intercultural understanding. Lower-cost travel accommodation is a side benefit of the connections people make through our site. The real value comes with the exchange of hospitality and the shared adventures people have with no money changing hands. When someone hosts you purely because they want to meet you, and share their life for a brief period of time, you get a profound experience of the basic good nature of others. That creates lasting bonds between people.

Colleen couchsurfing in Turkey

CR: Now let's talk about you and CS. Can you tell us how this new community outreach manager role developed at CS and for you?

CS: Couchsurfing is operating in a fast-paced and dynamic way. Things change daily, and our organization has seen tremendous change in the past twelve months. I’ve been with the organization since 2009, and have worked in a number of roles, seeing the shift from a volunteer-run non-profit to a for profit corporation in the start-up fast lane, more capable than ever to continue fulfilling our mission.

As Community Outreach Manager, I do a huge variety of things including: working with the media, finding amazing Couchsurfing stories from our diverse and active community, working with Couchsurfers who take media interviews (as is sometimes requested), and with the broader Couchsurfing community as well.

Having spent the last seven years as an active Couchsurfer, and more than three of those years deeply involved in the evolution of this organization, I was ecstatic to be offered the opportunity to share my passion for Couchsurfing more directly with the public as the Community Outreach Manager, and to support our members who are creating amazing events all over the globe.

CR: How does this position differ from the more common community manager position that many sharing economy businesses are embracing, not to mention CS itself, with Sam Houston's and Martina Steinmann’s roles?

CS: The community management roles at Couchsurfing are focused on how to best to serve our community as we, the community and the company, continue to grow and evolve. In addition to the traditional community management concerns that I, Sam, and our new Community Manager, Martina Steinmann, work together to address, my role as Community Outreach Manager, encompasses a few externally-facing responsibilities, as I mentioned. Really, community management is about acting as a champion for your community members.

CR: Any other thoughts or impressions you'd like to leave with our readers?

CS: Couchsurfing is not just a place to share resources, it’s about sharing your life.

CR: Thank you, Colleen!

If you’d like to get involved and learn more, you can join the Couchsurfing community online, read some members’ stories, and follow the CS tumblr for travel tips and posts.

Couchsurfers from around the world

Share!

2013-02-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

Teenagers spreading the word

Sharing advocate Taylor Emerson sent me this great photo she had her students create using shadow art.

Find this and other inspiring images on my evolving Pinterest board (CaterinaShares).

RelayRides’ First Lady of San Francisco

2013-01-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

BORROW MY CAR! ;)

So apparently I'm RelayRides' First Lady of San Francisco!

Great title, eh? Lucky for me, writer Nicholas Pell has an excellent sense of humor. He slathered me with other complimentary titles, like "cultural shift early adopter", and "good at math".

Ok, I made that second one up, but take a minute to read the short article he wrote and get some tips on renting out your car through RelayRides or other car sharing services, something I actually AM good at.

Join me!

Shareable video

2013-01-02T17:10:00.001-08:00

In December, Neal Gorenflo asked me to do a video interview talking about why Shareable.net is important to me. I joined Shelby Clark (with his great new haircut) of RelayRides and April Rinne at the Hub and we had a blast talking about our passions for sharing and collaborative consumption. I was flattered by the smart company, and the video turned out really well!

Check it out, and then join me in making a donation. Shareable is a true hub of information and a brilliant resource for what's happening in the sharing economy. They're a non-profit, and your support means they can keep doing this important work in 2013.

Watch the happy video (I'M IN IT!) and donate whatever you can. Thanks!

Sharing vs Making Money

2012-10-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

This week I started a full-time job at Dolby, the famed audio company, as a project manager in the sound research department (update 2013: moved to Human Resources doing professional development). Though I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with smart people in a well-established and respected tech company, my move to full-time employment was not completely by choice.

For the past year or so I have been hashing out a living as a sharing micropreneur, sharing my car, rides, services, skills, and stuff, as well as doing contract work (bookkeeping, editing, research, translations) and I would have preferred to keep doing that. I love connecting with strangers, introducing them to collaborative consumption and the excellent city of San Francisco. I love sharing resources to reduce our environmental impact, and building community both in my immediate neighborhood and online. I'm thrilled to discover new tech sharing solutions that avoid waste and extend the life of our stuff. And I thrive in the schedule flexibility and variety of contract work.

But a few months ago our building was sold and the new owners moved themselves in and us out. After 8 years of living in Potrero Hill in a rent-controlled apartment, we were forced to find a new place in the toughest rental market SF has seen since the last tech boom. And with the increase in expenses came my need to have a steady and higher income. Thus, my move to Dolby for a temporary position (6 months) replacing an employee on maternity leave.

I feel quite lucky to have found this job so quickly, and to have the organizational skills and experience to be able to step easily into the position. I'm determined to make the best of it - to learn as much as I can, do a good job supporting the research department, and to save as much money as possible. And in keeping with my sharing evangelism, I am going to take this opportunity to see what kinds of sharing initiatives already exist at Dolby and, if the corporate environment is receptive to it, what kinds of sharing programs I might be able to introduce.

A quick brainstorm with the generous folks at Shareable (thanks Millicent, Neal, and Seth!) netted these ideas:

ride sharing
Scoot station
meal sharing
CSA box distribution point (a carryover from my Share | Kitchen plans)
media/book exchange.

What are some other possibilities? (Please leave suggestions in the comments.)

I may track this effort on my website, and try to balance my enthusiasm with an honest description of the results, be they successful or not. There are some interesting questions to be answered along the way: what factors motivate a corporation to institute sharing initiatives? How can we best elucidate the benefits? Is it all about the financial bottom line? How does sharing improve employee morale and how can we measure that? Within the corporate structure, who is responsible for bringing a sharing initiative to life?

On being a Micropreneur

2012-09-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

Leah Busque nails it in this Huffington Post article about the transformation of work today. She talks about our realizations, after the 2008 economic decline and loss of jobs, that job-hunting and employment would never be the same again. And how, in those challenging moments of disappointment and self-reflection, after we had sent out 20 cover letters, applications, resumes per week with no response, we had to reconsider what it was we really wanted. We could no longer define ourselves by our jobs because we didn't have one, and all we were left with was our values. Which sums up my journey pretty well.

I went from "being a teacher" for almost ten years, to "being a project manager", to "being an education and non-profit consultant", to not finding a full-time job as a project manager, to piecing together contract work and then starting my own artisanal food company based on my core values of sustainability, sharing resources, and community building. My transferable skills and ability to learn and adapt were what kept me challenged and earning money, and starting a small business was a wonderful culmination of those strengths. That experience shaped me powerfully, as has the privilege of living in San Francisco, a bastion of tech innovation and hopefulness, of open-mindedness and experimentation.

Leah Busque's creation of TaskRabbit was a great example of this evolution on a large, business-scale. I see it as a modern version of temp agencies, harnessing the speed of tech communication and networking to provide services immediately, and the variety of providers' skills to offer almost anything. Leah calls it a "new model of work", and she's right. Other companies recognized this pivot and are doing similar things, evolving their models as they learn (eg. Zaarly, Exec, Gigwalk).

"Some use our marketplace as a primary means of income, some use it to fill in the gaps between freelance work, some use it to add a layer of financial security to a traditional job, and others use it to pay the bills while they start a business. The thing all these people share is that they are no longer waiting for someone to create a job or a career for them; they're doing it themselves. The TaskRabbit community has swiftly and organically discovered something pretty monumental: The solution to the jobs crisis won't be found in figuring out how to bring the old jobs back. No, our collective task is much larger than that. We'll navigate the jobs crisis by embracing new models of work entirely. Simply put, we're all our own job creators now."

And that's where Caterina Rindi, Collaborative Micropreneur, is now. Except it's not quite enough. It's not quite enough income, not quite enough benefits, not quite enough retirement savings. Yes, I am living a life grounded in what's important to me, righteous in the work I do, but I am also getting priced out of my neighborhood and access to my community and resources. The dilemma has me vacillating from optimism to panic, scanning employment job boards at the same time as I sign up for gigs and jobs and tasks and teaching classes, looking for a new apartment in neighborhoods with long commutes and no local grocery stores. The hopeful part of me says that this is a new opportunity to bring sharing and collaborative consumption to neighbors who haven't heard of it. The frustrated side worries I'll be isolated and limited in what I can do and who I can access.

Busque ends her article calling for more people to take risks and live their lives with intention. "Revel in what it feels like to be the one who decides to take action, then ride that momentum to the kind of life you want. It's yours to create. The world will catch up with you." I'm definitely ready for the world to catch up, to appreciate what I can provide, and join me in spreading the word - sharing is caring!

Visiting with Leah and Kobi, the original motivator behind TaskRabbit

The Blue Economy

2012-08-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

In 2010 I started an artisanal food business called mo foods. We took surplus fruit from neighbor's backyards and turned it into value-added products. Our first sales at the local underground market consisted of Preserved Meyer Lemons, Meyer Lemon Marmalade, Lemon Flavored Kombucha, Meyer Lemon Sabayon w/Santa Rosa Plum Chunks, Nasturtium Pesto, and Hand-Squeezed Sparkling Lemonade. We sold out. And not only that, but our mailing list became overrun with people begging for us to come pick their fruit. We would bring finished products to trade, but it mostly didn't matter. They just hated to see the fruit go to waste and were eager for us to use it.

The second time we sold at market, we used meyer lemon rinds to make Limoncello, then took those vodka-soaked rinds out and made Limoncello Marmalade. The peeled lemons became lemonade, and finally, we composted whatever was left into our back garden, home to the Santa Rosa plums.

This ultra-efficient cycle of using pre-existing resources and being particularly creative about it, is behind the Blue Economy. I was introduced to this concept by Vivian Wang of TrustCloud, at a Shareable meeting - and apparently Gunter Pauli and ZERI are working hard to encourage innovation more sophisticated than my little food business.

In my mind, anything that switches us from a mindset of scarcity over to abundance, is worth paying attention to.

Here's a short video explaining the concept.

I look forward to seeing what comes out of it, and when the rest of the world embraces this idea too.

Google SHARING Search column

2012-08-01T11:26:00.001-07:00

I recently had a brilliant idea, brilliance being subjective of course, and I decided that I wanted to share it but I also wanted become known for coming up with this brilliant idea. I mentioned it to my partner, because he's a good person to bounce brilliant ideas off of, and he'll usually let me know when they're not that brilliant. And he won't steal my ideas either, because he's an architect and works in a different realm of relationships with material consumption (a topic for another column, I promise).

So I thought about it a little longer, and then I thought about who I could discuss it with, people with more knowledge, background, and information than me, but who would also hold my confidences. And eventually I found the right moment and mentioned it to one of the smart people, and he nodded and said, that's not a bad idea. Which was encouraging, but didn't explode into the potential brilliance I expected/hoped for. Then I told the other smart person, but it was in a loud club and he can't hear out of one ear and he too nodded and said that's a good idea but I wasn't sure that he totally heard me or if he was just being polite and wanting to go get another drink.

So then I went and told a whole bunch of people, people without the requisite technical background but people who would totally understand and get the intention and the huge potential of this brilliant idea and then, then I finally got some of the reaction I had been hoping for. And these smart people, they said yeah, we should talk more about that. That could turn into something big. And then we all went back to our daily lives and work and the idea didn't grow or get called in to Someone Important, someone with the power to make brilliant ideas become daily reality. Which is really what it should become: our daily reality.

So now I'm going to tell all of you about my brilliant idea, partly because I still want to be known as the person who came up with this idea (and yes, in my delusion I'm already imagining the Wikipedia entry), and partly because I want this idea to sprout and develop and flourish and propagate. Because we should all benefit from this brilliant idea, whether it's truly brilliant or not. Because what is sharing if not tapping resources for the greater benefit?

So, with no more fanfare or showboating, I present to you my brilliant idea:

I think Google should have a SHARING section in the left hand column.

To clarify, I give you a screenshot of the current Google Search screen.

This Google search could be even better

You see that list on the left side? The options to narrow your search? You could type in a topic and find Web, Images, Map, Videos, News, Shopping, More.

You see what's missing? SHARING!

Let's say I type in Power Drill because I need to assemble that Ikea cabinet quickly and my only screwdriver is a Phillips and it's too long and inefficient. Sure the search could direct me to buy a new one at Home Depot (Shopping) or watch a video on how to use a power drill (Videos), or find out what a power drill looks like (Images), or read Gizmodo's admonitions on how useful power drills are (News), and of course, where to buy it (Maps). And the More option in the column would give me Books on power drills, power drill companies (Places), Blogs on power drills (seriously), flights from San Francisco to Las Vegas (what?), Discussions on power drills, how to open a coconut with a power drill (Recipes), software related to power drills (Applications), and Patents on power drill technologies. But I'm only going to need that drill for an hour or so to assemble my cabinet, so how could a Sharing section help me instead?

Imagine if Google Search Sharing gave me a list of neighbors nearby who were sharing their drill (Neighborgoods), or companies from whom I could rent it (Rentalic), or brands that hold up best to repeated uses when shared. It could include collcons and peer-to-peer services with people who could bring that power drill to you (TaskRabbit, Zaarly) or teach you how to use it (Skillshare). Google could monetize the search the same way it currently monetizes other searches, by selling ads to all the current sharing services (eg. Zilok, NeighBorrow, Share Some Sugar, Friends With Things). Heck, if you already had a power drill that didn't work well, the Sharing section could include places to learn how to fix it (TechShop), barter for help (TimeBanks), sell it (eBay, Craigslist), or hack it into something cool (NoiseBridge). There really are a ton more options that could be added or included in the Sharing section, and they are growing by the day.

So, what would this mean for Google? One more useful resource to offer that will drive traffic to their site. What would this mean for the general public? This simple button could introduce a huge section of the population to the sharing economy and collaborative consumption movement. It could be a gateway into a sociological shift, the re-imagining of how we interact with tools, with stuff, with services, and with our neighbors. This brilliant idea has the potential to be more than just a practical tool, it could really get the rest of the Google-using world, the people who either can't afford their own power drill, or have a garage full of unused power drills, to rethink their roles and responsibilities with our diminishing natural resources. And I really think that's a brilliant idea.

Let's make it happen!