18
de Març
de
2016
Act.
18
de Març
de
2016
Six months ago, Frenchman Vincent Rosso (@vincentjj), former director general of BlaBlaCar in Spain and Portugal, the platform that brings users together so they can share travelling expenses, decided to go it alone. After attaining 2.5 million users for the car-sharing business, Rosso wants to continue as an entrepreneur with the aim of finding businesses that make an "impact".
We spoke to him during the 4 Years From Now (4YFN) where he had a number of meetings with different entrepreneurs as part of his new role as an investor. "It is a way of seeing the other ideas of the sharing economy that are emerging and getting to know them," he tells VIA Empresa.
How has the transition from Blabacar to this new role as an investor gone?
In one way I left because after six years Blablacar had reached a sufficiently mature stage, with a community of 2.5 million users. I held on for a bit longer than I expected because I wanted to tie up all the loose ends, because in 2014-2015 there was a lot going on with Uber and the sharing economy and I wanted to make it clear, on a communicative and institutional level, that the Blablacar model was legal; that's why I waited. I found a way to do that and so went on to devote myself to other projects.
So, what are you involved in at the moment?
In different projects about investment, consulting… I still do not have a completely defined idea but I am working on it. What interests me is how to apply the technology to a more efficient, fairer, more balanced, more transparent society. And if I could find businesses through the digital world that can pull these levers, I would be very interested. I think that in a way I am looking for things that can help a lot of people and cause a change that is not merely mercantile.
Some Catalan business initiatives might fit the bill. How do you see the sector?
Very active. I think that we are experiencing a very sweet moment because a great many people have identified entrepreneurship as a way of realising their potential and finding new professional oxygen, the chance to be their own bosses –which for many is a dream- bringing us together at a mature level of technology, users, Internet, while the capital is also there... In the past five years we have seen a lot of projects and a lot of growth. In fact, Barcelona, Catalonia, at the beginning was one of the places with the most sharing economy projects out there, though now this is also to be found in many other places. Also before, London was the city with the largest turnover of companies but since 2015 it has been Berlin, which means that there is movement in other European markets. Why not Spain? If you raise capital a little, as an incentive, it could also become an interesting market.
So, what are your short-term plans?
Entrepreneurship is something that once you have tried it, it is hard to give up. You never stop doing business, even when you go to work in another country. I will try to find businesses that could end up being lucrative, but above all that allow me to make an impact, which is what I am looking for.
After the success of Blablacar, do you see anything that could be similarly successful?
Yes, for example, MyTwinPlace that, even though it is still young as a community, represents a change of mentality in the public that I think will come to happen, because it is only a question of time before people accept a new way of travelling. There are also companies like Social Car, which also interests me a lot because it is a peer-to-peer collaboration between people renting a car, as well as other models, but what I do see is that there are models with a lot of leisure resources that have not been optimised. It is supply and demand that does not sit well together and with a level of intermediation that often applies one-sided conditions that, above all, obstructs the market between supply and demand. I think that digital has the potential to bridge this intermediation to make things more fluid.
You mentioned before the controversy with Uber and examples in the sharing economy. How do you see this model today?
When we got the idea for Blablacar six years ago, there was no talk of the sharing economy, but the model began to take shape and in less than three years more than two million users signed up to the platform. There is interest, people need it, they see it as valuable and, what's more, managing everything from a phone makes access easier, and especially, if the public needs it, it shows it will only get bigger. But society is not ready for innovation; it consumes first and regulates later. I think that we have entered this phase of asking ourselves what we are going to do, how to regulate, what limits to place, because in the end the State needs a market and regulation.
Is Blablacar an example of the sharing economy?
Yes, of course.
And what about those detractors who say it isn't because it is monetised?
You can't really be against Blablacar for making money out of the platform because the entrepreneurs who set it up have 400 people who have to be paid, as well as servers, etc., and there has to be some fee to cover these expenses, as well as the fact that obviously it is a private company that wants to make profits. But its users make no profit and it is this aspect that defines the borders between what the sharing economy is and isn't. MyTwinPlace is a pure model, without any profit. SocialCar is the sharing economy but there is profit, as there is with Airbnb, and don't get me started on Uber… The model of the sharing economy is when this supply and demand is made more agile, but when the users make a profit, it stops being the sharing economy.
What is your evaluation of the pace of regulation we are experiencing?
What is happening here is also happening in other countries. For example, England is very advanced in these new economic models because they see it as an opportunity for the market to become much more liberal, open, with more investors, business opportunities for others and where the consumer also benefits because average prices go down. In a way, I see this as a positive thing but, obviously, there is regulation. Cases like Uber, which wants to try and make this market more fluid, for the moment clash heavily with regulation, and in our country more than others. However, I think that in the end it will become what people call for, sooner or later. It is a question of years, but at the end of the day you wonder why wait so long to change the regulation if this can make our country more efficient and productive. With better productivity we will be competitive, if not, we are out of it. We have to begin with transport, housing, with many things in life, but not only because we want to be more competitive, but because the market demands it.
We spoke to him during the 4 Years From Now (4YFN) where he had a number of meetings with different entrepreneurs as part of his new role as an investor. "It is a way of seeing the other ideas of the sharing economy that are emerging and getting to know them," he tells VIA Empresa.
How has the transition from Blabacar to this new role as an investor gone?
In one way I left because after six years Blablacar had reached a sufficiently mature stage, with a community of 2.5 million users. I held on for a bit longer than I expected because I wanted to tie up all the loose ends, because in 2014-2015 there was a lot going on with Uber and the sharing economy and I wanted to make it clear, on a communicative and institutional level, that the Blablacar model was legal; that's why I waited. I found a way to do that and so went on to devote myself to other projects.
So, what are you involved in at the moment?
In different projects about investment, consulting… I still do not have a completely defined idea but I am working on it. What interests me is how to apply the technology to a more efficient, fairer, more balanced, more transparent society. And if I could find businesses through the digital world that can pull these levers, I would be very interested. I think that in a way I am looking for things that can help a lot of people and cause a change that is not merely mercantile.
Some Catalan business initiatives might fit the bill. How do you see the sector?
Very active. I think that we are experiencing a very sweet moment because a great many people have identified entrepreneurship as a way of realising their potential and finding new professional oxygen, the chance to be their own bosses –which for many is a dream- bringing us together at a mature level of technology, users, Internet, while the capital is also there... In the past five years we have seen a lot of projects and a lot of growth. In fact, Barcelona, Catalonia, at the beginning was one of the places with the most sharing economy projects out there, though now this is also to be found in many other places. Also before, London was the city with the largest turnover of companies but since 2015 it has been Berlin, which means that there is movement in other European markets. Why not Spain? If you raise capital a little, as an incentive, it could also become an interesting market.
So, what are your short-term plans?
Entrepreneurship is something that once you have tried it, it is hard to give up. You never stop doing business, even when you go to work in another country. I will try to find businesses that could end up being lucrative, but above all that allow me to make an impact, which is what I am looking for.
After the success of Blablacar, do you see anything that could be similarly successful?
Yes, for example, MyTwinPlace that, even though it is still young as a community, represents a change of mentality in the public that I think will come to happen, because it is only a question of time before people accept a new way of travelling. There are also companies like Social Car, which also interests me a lot because it is a peer-to-peer collaboration between people renting a car, as well as other models, but what I do see is that there are models with a lot of leisure resources that have not been optimised. It is supply and demand that does not sit well together and with a level of intermediation that often applies one-sided conditions that, above all, obstructs the market between supply and demand. I think that digital has the potential to bridge this intermediation to make things more fluid.
You mentioned before the controversy with Uber and examples in the sharing economy. How do you see this model today?
When we got the idea for Blablacar six years ago, there was no talk of the sharing economy, but the model began to take shape and in less than three years more than two million users signed up to the platform. There is interest, people need it, they see it as valuable and, what's more, managing everything from a phone makes access easier, and especially, if the public needs it, it shows it will only get bigger. But society is not ready for innovation; it consumes first and regulates later. I think that we have entered this phase of asking ourselves what we are going to do, how to regulate, what limits to place, because in the end the State needs a market and regulation.
Is Blablacar an example of the sharing economy?
Yes, of course.
And what about those detractors who say it isn't because it is monetised?
You can't really be against Blablacar for making money out of the platform because the entrepreneurs who set it up have 400 people who have to be paid, as well as servers, etc., and there has to be some fee to cover these expenses, as well as the fact that obviously it is a private company that wants to make profits. But its users make no profit and it is this aspect that defines the borders between what the sharing economy is and isn't. MyTwinPlace is a pure model, without any profit. SocialCar is the sharing economy but there is profit, as there is with Airbnb, and don't get me started on Uber… The model of the sharing economy is when this supply and demand is made more agile, but when the users make a profit, it stops being the sharing economy.
What is your evaluation of the pace of regulation we are experiencing?
What is happening here is also happening in other countries. For example, England is very advanced in these new economic models because they see it as an opportunity for the market to become much more liberal, open, with more investors, business opportunities for others and where the consumer also benefits because average prices go down. In a way, I see this as a positive thing but, obviously, there is regulation. Cases like Uber, which wants to try and make this market more fluid, for the moment clash heavily with regulation, and in our country more than others. However, I think that in the end it will become what people call for, sooner or later. It is a question of years, but at the end of the day you wonder why wait so long to change the regulation if this can make our country more efficient and productive. With better productivity we will be competitive, if not, we are out of it. We have to begin with transport, housing, with many things in life, but not only because we want to be more competitive, but because the market demands it.