An Ownership Economy Demands Increased Access (#79)

Historically, an individual consumer’s class, income and background played large roles in who became an investor. And while I wish I could say the demographic makeup of today’s shareholders in some of the largest corporations, technology companies and brands has changed completely in light of the fintech boom, unfortunately there is still a significant gap between owners and the everyday consumer.

We’re a country wherein only about half of Americans own stock, and while meme stocks and Reddit may have gotten more people excited about the market, it didn’t change the game for folks who are afraid to put their own capital at risk.

That means it’s up to all of us — fintech entrepreneurs, leadership at financial institutions and executives at publicly traded companies — to look at new ways of bringing ownership to Americans and to make the process less intimidating and more educational. 

Simplifying access points means more consumers can have a stake in the stock market, which means a more connected economy. As business leaders, we must ask ourselves how our organizations are meeting this new wave of retail investors.

How can we engage, educate and invite our everyday consumers to become a part of our story?

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Following the trend of crypto adoptions globally, the world’s tech giant Microsoft is now looking to hire a Director of Blockchain Business Development to build the fundamental infrastructure for its future web 3.0.

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This is based on one thing I believe about the music industry very firmly: ownership endows power. Typically, labels had ownership over the music, and thus, power over artists. But, now that's all changing.

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If last year brought the emergence of retail investors to Wall Street, I predict that 2022 will be the year of an even broader Ownership Economy, where every consumer — regardless of disposable income or background — will have an opportunity to get a piece of the economic pie. 

We need new infrastructure, something transparent, ownable, accessible, financially sustainable, where we can share the value we create, something for the community, something that’s ours. It’s not mine, it’s not yours, it’s definitely not theirs, it’s ours. We have the tools, we have the moment, and we have the power. We can take on humanity’s greatest endeavors. We could build cities. We can create so much more.

In the digital world, user rights are civic rights, and creator rights are worker rights. Despite the democratization of creative tools and platforms and the lower barriers to becoming a creator on the internet, financial success is concentrated among just a small segment of top creators, and the middle class of the creator economy remains elusive.

From crypto to consumer, ownership is emerging as a new tool for bootstrapping network effects in new software platforms that are increasingly operated by their users.

Ads and sponsorships are no longer sufficient—it’s time for social networks to build tools that allow influencers to make money on-platform.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) offer fundamentally better economics for creators by removing rent-seeking, enabling granular pricing, and reducing customer acquisition costs.

A couple of months ago, while I was doing my usual Twitter scrolling I stumbled across this tweet from James Muldoon, a researcher at Autonomy, an independent research organization and consultancy focusing on the future of work and economic planning. From the title of the book alone I was sold. I needed to read this and so should you...

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