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We are Chicagoans, for better or for worse. Our Midwestern heritage brings with it a few tendencies: we are great at keeping our heads down and powering through problems; we tend not to buy into (or make) the hype, and we don’t get overly left coast new-age hippie granola delusional. However, there are some downsides to our down-home, hard work mentality. In keeping our heads down to power through, we often miss things that we would have caught had our heads been up in the clouds. And we are more often looking for a double than a grand slam; we’ll take a likelier, smaller success over the prospect of something that’s either going to be a fantastic failure or an enormously world-changing winner.
In the context of the startup world, it’s easy to lose perspective. We, as entrepreneurs, figure since everyone we know knows about something, then EVERYBODY must know about it. But the ‘trep bubble is small and apt to bursting. Of course, everyone I know knows airbnb (and if you’re reading this, you probably do, too), but I’d say ~10% of the “people off the street” know about it. Our biggest challenge as people trying something new is arguably simple awareness and education. The general market doesn’t know what we’re up to and they don’t know the services, products, and options available to them.
So we’re putting a stake in the ground. This is official notice that Spare to Share and Meal Sharing are here saying “Hey, people are doing collaborative consumption, they’re living in the sharing economy, and it works!” We’re using resources more efficiently, we’re meeting all kinds of cool new people and making tons of friends, and we’re enjoying higher standards of living for no marginal cost. In fact, we’re living better than ever before, and cheaper!
The Collaborative Consumption scene is……effectively nonexistent here in Chicago; but it’s starting. Lyft and Airbnb are here; how can we make this our own? We have a great opportunity to shape it differently than the scene in SF. We can cherry-pick the best elements of their progressive thinking and openness to new ideas and marry them with our Midwestern ability to simply make things work through elbow grease and perseverance. It starts with making a statement and putting something out there, so I’ll say it again: Spare to Share and Meal Sharing are establishing the Chicago Collaborative Consumption scene. And it works.
Spare to Share is an online platform that enables users to share, rent, and sell their stuff within closed, known networks. We are deployed in residential buildings and co-working spaces throughout Chicago and we help people use their resources more efficiently and reduce their consumption. Why buy something when you can borrow or rent it?
Meal Sharing was just inducted into the 2nd cohort of Impact Engine after participating in Global Sharing Day in which we set the world record for most meals shared in a single day and gave a speech at British Parliament about community building through sharing food. We have Meal Sharers in over 350 cities worldwide.
If you like the movement, like the idea, have an idea, have a company, want some pointers…whatever, we’re putting ourselves out there to be the tent poles. Feel free to reach out. We’re hosting like-minded individuals for a Chicago Collaborative Consumption sharing dinner in conjunction with Peers.org on October 17th, but we’ve already reached our logistical capacity. Keep an eye out for similar events in the future, or let’s get together and host another one! Join our meetup group here
