The Guardian interviewed Jeremy Gutsche, founder of Trend Hunter, in a piece published this week on future trends.
Here’s an excerpt from James Harkin’s piece, The shape of things to come:
Peer-to-peer lending
“Jeremy Gutsche, a Toronto-based trend-spotter who runs the website Trendhunter.com, is a good example of a new breed of trend-spotter who collects insights by cultivating an online community of trend-watchers around the world. In keeping with the egalitarian ethos of the web, Gutsche argues that one of the key financial trends of 2008 will be the growth of person-to-person lending exchanges in which borrowers and lenders come together directly on the web and cut out the banks. Some of these lending operations use an eBay-like auction in which the lender who is willing to provide the lowest interest rate gets the borrower’s loan; others are for people who already know one another but who want someone to help formalise the loan arrangement. A good example of the latter is CircleLending, an American firm in which Richard Branson’s Virgin USA recently acquired a majority stake. Much the same model of ‘peer-to-peer’ lending is slowly working its way into the charitable sector. Outfits such as Kiva.org, for example, put potential ‘social investors’ together with small businesses in the developing world, who promise to send back regular email updates on how the business is doing.”
Check out some more Trend Hunter coverage in traditional media:
Here’s an excerpt from James Harkin’s piece, The shape of things to come:
Peer-to-peer lending
“Jeremy Gutsche, a Toronto-based trend-spotter who runs the website Trendhunter.com, is a good example of a new breed of trend-spotter who collects insights by cultivating an online community of trend-watchers around the world. In keeping with the egalitarian ethos of the web, Gutsche argues that one of the key financial trends of 2008 will be the growth of person-to-person lending exchanges in which borrowers and lenders come together directly on the web and cut out the banks. Some of these lending operations use an eBay-like auction in which the lender who is willing to provide the lowest interest rate gets the borrower’s loan; others are for people who already know one another but who want someone to help formalise the loan arrangement. A good example of the latter is CircleLending, an American firm in which Richard Branson’s Virgin USA recently acquired a majority stake. Much the same model of ‘peer-to-peer’ lending is slowly working its way into the charitable sector. Outfits such as Kiva.org, for example, put potential ‘social investors’ together with small businesses in the developing world, who promise to send back regular email updates on how the business is doing.”
Check out some more Trend Hunter coverage in traditional media:
Trend Themes
1. Peer-to-peer Lending - The growth of person-to-person lending exchanges will continue in 2021, bypassing traditional banks and expanding into the charitable sector.
2. Egalitarian Trend Spotters - Trend spotting will increasingly become democratized in 2021, as the internet connects a global community of trend-watchers.
3. Social Investment - Social investment is on the rise in 2021, with websites like Kiva.org connecting investors with small businesses in developing countries for regular email updates.
Industry Implications
1. Banking - Traditional banks face the disruption of the growing person-to-person lending exchange industry in 2021.
2. Trend Spotting - The trend spotting industry faces democratization and potential disruption in 2021 as a global online community emerges.
3. Social Investing - Social investing is a disruptive innovation opportunity for the finance industry and small businesses in developing countries in 2021.
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