The gig economy. Uberization. These are two expressions that have defined an entire decade of new applications that is drawing to a close, now that we can see the extent of the means deployed during this golden age of disruptive technologies to thwart the rules, if not outright the laws governing certain industries. What comes next?
Of the start-up who want to smash everything in their sector, “it may still exist, but we feel a certain shortness of breath”, notes the expert and professor in entrepreneurship and innovation at HEC Montreal Jean-François Ouellet. “We have come to understand that what seemed revolutionary a few years ago ended up being expensive. »
High costs that are not always expressed in financial terms, as demonstrated by the documents contained in the Uber Files published in early July. There are also human, political and social costs to wanting to turn everything upside down.
A culture of failure
The Uber app was born in California in 2009. Over the next decade, it infuriated, shuddered and feared the worst among taxi drivers, city officials and governments around the world. She broke the codes and rules of the passenger transport market which, at that time, was still operating with call centers and hand-scribbled receipts.
A year earlier, three friends, also Californians, wondered why it wasn’t easier to go through classified ad sites like Craigslist or Kijiji to offer their accommodation for short-term rental to tourists. A few lines of code later, Airbnb was born. The tourism and hotel industry had better watch out.
A particular mentality emerged from Silicon Valley after the financial crisis of 2008: you had to dare. In the worst sense of the word. We were talking about the importance of disruptive technologies at the time. The objective: to apply mobile and digital to bring down sclerotic giants in their old analog and overly regulated practices.
It is quite commendable. The methods ? We realize a little more since July 11, with the publication of the Uber Files, that they were perhaps not so legitimate after all. In dozens of countries, Uber has lied to the tax authorities. The company knowingly created chaos in cities around the world to promote the implementation of its business model, a strategy internally dubbed “shitstorm”. She bought politicians left and right.
Airbnb may not have the same track record, but the rental service is hurting the quality of life in many rental properties around the world. Users are partying a little too loudly. Porn content creators shoot loud and disturbing videos. Entire neighborhoods become inaccessible to their residents who are looking for affordable rent.
Like other tech entrepreneurs, Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber, probably took a bit too literally a phrase known to computer scientists and echoed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who says that to be successful, you you have to “move fast and break things”.
Kalanick was kicked out of his job as CEO of Uber after destroying not only the careers of many taxi drivers, but also the lives. His negligence in sexual assault cases that occurred in Uber cars weighed heavily in favor of his firing.
During this time, the consumer has also become more refined. Phone in hand, whether to hail a taxi or book accommodation, he expects a minimum level of quality which is not always there, adds Jean-François Ouellet. “It’s a bit like McDonald’s: the customer expects a certain standard of service from time to time. And when things go wrong, it’s the company’s reputation that suffers.
Now that the Uber and Airbnb of this world are listed on the stock exchange, keeping a good reputation becomes even more important to satisfy shareholders…
From jobine to telecommuting
Many have seen in Airbnb, Uber and the others the emergence of a new paradigm for the average worker: he could combine two or three of these odd jobs offered by these applications and become his own boss. The others could secure a small extra income by occasionally renting their accommodation or by driving people home from time to time.
This is what has been called in English the “gig economy”, the economy of odd jobs. Jobs that were not enough on their own to guarantee a decent income to their users nor working conditions comparable to those of a better job: no insurance, no retirement plan, etc.
There too, the revolution ended with the last decade. If two years of pandemic and confinement have not finished burying the concept, let’s say that it has lost a lot of luster. Since spring 2020, we talk less about the importance of making ends meet with Uber than about the need to do everything remotely: work, groceries, school…
“We have gone from a jobine economy to a remote economy,” summarizes the partner of the Montreal venture capital investment firm iNovia Capital Chris Arsenault. Mr. Arsenault has seen several cohorts of young companies born since his co-founding of iNovia in 2007. He has also seen the change take place in the desire of entrepreneurs.
In the “gig economy”, companies promised to make a little more money with a second job. With the pandemic, the priority has instead been to create “remote-first” services and applications
“In the ‘gig economy’, companies promised to make a bit more money with a second job. With the pandemic, the priority has instead been to create “remote-first” services and applications, accessible remotely. Applications of all kinds, ranging from business management systems to meal delivery services.
While health measures against COVID-19 are disappearing one by one, telework remains. Some habits adopted over the past two years seem to want to stay. This is where a critical mass of entrepreneurs is concentrating, adds Chris Arsenault.
“Working from home has created a whole range of new needs for people and for businesses,” he says. We are no longer breaking up the economy, we are decentralizing it. It adds a layer of flexibility where the rules were once strict and rigid.
In short, we bend where before we would have broken. This is another lesson learned from the Uber Files: everything there is to know dates from before the end of 2017, when current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi cleaned up. He recalled earlier this week that 90% of current Uber employees were not there before his appointment.
For their part, hotels bought rental properties and added short-term accommodation to their offer. Some even offer house rentals. The industry has adjusted. Innovators have taken notice.