The Secondary Market

The more I travel the more amazed I am at the ‘secondary market.’  I’m defining that as the commerce that happens with a low barrier to entry, with no governance.  At a low end, think of a lemonade stand.  On a different end, think of motorcycle taxis and street side car washing by someone who ‘protects’ your car as you dine.

I’ve seen homeless men find cardboard to put on peoples windshields in Colombia (for a tip, hopefully).  I’ve seen taxi drivers offer free rides to the airport, then drop off and desert their passengers in a bribing jewelry shop for gas vouchers (Thailand).  There are full service street captains that will go buy you a beer if you yell out your window (Panama).

All of these things would be illegal in the US.   They are the Secondary Market.  I almost wrote a post on this, how the US needs a Secondary Market system.  Let those that are unemployed or wanting to do something new sell water on the street, provide guiding services for tourists or find a niche, and without property ownership or licenses, see what they can get up to.

Then I realized we already have this, we just hide it.

We are scared shitless of it, it seems.

Housecleaners, pool maintenance, freelancers, car mechanics, chefs, dishwashers, janitors and painters all seem to have a quite thriving market skirting many laws (immigration, employment, taxes).

It seems we have not solved it, we just hide it and are astonished when the truth bubbles up.

Look at Meg Whitman’s house cleaning staff, for instance.

Shocked I tell you, shocked.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with these markets at all, as long as they are not predatory or exploitative (the power for them to be is amazingly strong, think of the sex trade).

Does it happen in startups?  This got me thinking.

Airbnb

Airbnb is illegal in most places they operate (most towns with a college and hotel industry ban under 30 day private sublets / rentals).  They know this, but still operate, hedging that they won’t get sued.  There is too much of a land grab going on to worry about laws, their upside is far greater than their downside.

It is odd that someone providing a service better than the rest would have to take such a strategy (sad actually).  I’m still not sure if ‘lets copy couchsurfing and charge’ is a noble quest I should defend, but it sure is interesting to view.

UberCab

San Francisco based UberCab (or Uber now?)  had a pretty damn angry and legally binding letter sent to them demanding that they take down their app.  Their app made it easy to book a private town car in a way that you would book a taxi.  San Francisco has a small amount of cabs per capita, and there is a huge pain point.  They went out and ‘fixed’ the model, and without a license got shut down (to be honest I just followed this story to the point, don’t know what ended up happening to them).  Their site now reads ‘UberApp.’

There are tons of Secondary Markets in the world.  They are interesting, can be amazing drivers of employment and community.  They can also be used for evil, which is why, for good reason they are banned to oblivion.