The Change in Driving

Fred Wilson writes about his observation that in LA there is a shift happening to more ride sharing and less driving a car. And how some kids are not even learning to drive. (Parents are saving on insurance!)

I know a few people in their 40s in Tampa who gave up their car. All ride share or a private driver.

AngelList has a write up on the number of companies (and the immense funding) going into driverless cars.

There is a shift happening that insurance companies, car manufacturers, financial institutes and the ancillary businesses better pay attention to. It will disrupt them all - and sooner rather than later. (I won't have to hear any more GEICO commercials soon!!!)

Why should you care?

Retail, Restaurants, Hotels, Cabs and more are being disrupted by Amazon, Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, UberEats and more.

How will any of this affect your business?

Well, if Comcast is any indication, they are selling 4G and broadband access together under their SD-WAN bundle. Other providers are too. Some analysts think that apps will sell access (or include it). If that's the case, 4G/5G will become the primary ISP.

In other disruption, Workplace by Facebook has signed up WalMart, Farmers Insurance, Starbucks Corp. and 30,000 other organizations! According to the WSJ, "Launched in October 2016, with 1,000 commercial users, Workplace has since attracted more than 30,000 organizations, together forming over 1 million separate user groups, Facebook says. They include small and midsize ventures … as well as Wal-Mart Stores Inc."

Be flexible. Listen to your customers. Innovate.