Since summer, I’ve been interim COO at RelayRides, the world’s first neighbor-to-neighbor carsharing service. I work for founding CEO Shelby Clark. Yesterday we announced funding from August Capital and Google Ventures.
RelayRides is an innovative twist on the traditional carsharing model, ala Zipcar. I believe our business model will have an important impact on the young and rapidly growing $12.5B global carsharing industry. Adding neighbor-to-neighbor carsharing to a community with traditional carsharing is one of those instances when one plus one equals more than two, as detailed here.
RelayRides is a perfect example of Collaborative Consumption. Rather than putting new cars on the road like other carsharing services, RelayRides goes the eco-friendly route by leveraging existing, often idle autos. Neighbors help each other. Car owners recover some of the costs of owning an expensive asset while they simultaneously provide a new, convenient transportation option for their neighbors in need of a car.
After operating in Cambridge for six months, Tuesday we launched our second city, San Francisco, generating a slew of great press.
Change Agent 