3 ms·

Good riddance, gig economy

• taxicabjesus 11y ago
  Most of these companies just 'reinvent the wheel', and do so poorly. The company I used to drive for has taken the 'embrace and extend' approach to respond to the venture capitalists' attack.
• msellout 11y ago
  > just a like an old-fashioned temp agency, but online. That's exactly what many online businesses are: It's a bookstore, online! Being like a good old-fashioned business, but online shouldn't be a criticism, but a business plan.
• norea-armozel 11y ago
  I think some things can never lend themselves to the 'gig' sort of payment system because certain things aren't merely 'gigs'. This is especially true with the reference of SpoonRocket which seems to be fighting against another business (BiteSquad) for the same demand under food delivery/pick-up. Granted, the price of a restaurant cooked meal will be higher but when you're just hankering for a banh mi from Lu's Sandwiches you don't bother with something like SpoonRocket. It just doesn't make sense. As for the other examples, I can't say why they failed but I'm going to say there had to be some mismatch between factors of production and the demand/consumption of what's served/produced therein. I do think SV's would be startup darlings aren't taking a hint in this regard of doing good research on these matters but some things don't need 'disruption' if they're as old as time. Just a suggestion.