The End of Ownership

Philosophy preaches us to detach ourselves from the worldly attachments, for a peaceful life. Philosophers lament about how technology, westernization etc., are steering us away from their described path to happiness.  But what none have realized is, technology in fact is getting us disconnected from the feeling of “mine” and is propagating sharing.  Science and practicality have been construed to be parallel to philosophy. But maybe, after all they meet at a point and science and its enablers are going to make it a reality.

We can already see it becoming a reality in most spheres of life and there are many companies, start-ups that are enabling it. Not only from a philosophical sense does it make sense, but also from the financial and practical stand points.

The finance guys will tell you, the trick to make more money is to convert the fixed costs to variable costs. Hence the idea of bonus based on efficiency rather than a specified amount added to the salary. Companies have practiced such tweaks and tricks since the inception of industrialization. Now, with innovation at its peak, and efficiency facing the highest demand, the ability for the common people to be doing the same becomes very crucial too. Assets, however proud they may make us, at the end of the day, we still remain shallow, both at hearts and our pockets. Let’s face it, the cost of maintenance is far greater than the cost of acquisition, which is true in so many ways. So why have assets at all? When “pay for what you use concept” was introduced with the mobile networks, it became a hit, because subconsciously people understand the irrationality in acquiring something, that we don’t derive complete use out of. If such an option could be available in every sphere of our life, then we would have no fixed cost, which means highest ROI’s.

And towards that is exactly our world is moving. I recently read an article where, in a few years all you could find are entrepreneurs who run companies who would outsource required operations to other companies, who  would use freelancers to get it done, all getting paid for the work they do, making the concept of monthly salaries go extinct.  There are companies, that lets you use furniture, cars, houses, and what not on the same pay per use basis. If you want to advertise with google, you only need to pay for the clicks you get, which is highly efficient.

Eliyahu Goldratt, the inventor of the principle of Theory of Constraints, in his book, “Isn’t it obvious”, explains how assets can be bottle neck and how to alleviate the trouble by limiting the assets we have, to what we really and absolutely need. The same has been stressed and re-stressed by every management principle you can think of.  I have always found these management principles fascinating because these are not just true for running efficient companies, but also for efficient living. But we have never had the resources necessary to realize these principles and apply it in our everyday life, until very recently.

Another angle to look at ownership is the constraints and restriction it imposes on us.  The choices we make to own certain goods, become permanent although our attachments to those are not and at the end we are just stuck with it. The decisions we make are restricted by the resources at hand at that point of time, and hence gets curbed our freedom to experiment.

 If you could imagine a world, where you could choose to be anywhere , have and use anything, experiment, be flexible, morph into any personality you want to project, let your mood influence what you wear ,eat, live etc., be your dynamic self , break free from the shackles of the society, wander freely, then you smell freedom, then you see the immense possibilities that this world has to offer, then you feel the wall around you crumbling into pieces, then you feel the fresh air blowing against your face, and that world, that feeling, is not far from your reach.  The visionaries around you, the entrepreneurs, the scientists are striving to make “A free world” a complete reality and  all that we have to do is embrace it, be open to new ideas, so you can discover the beauty of the world outside.

About Us:

The vision of CYCADO, our company, is to create such a free world, where there are only possibilities and no restrains. Our first step towards it is in the sphere of clothing.

Why own clothes? Why restrict yourself to the closet at your home? Why not just pay for what you use?  After all clothes, trends, our attachment we have for them our short lived. Then why make a permanent purchase decision on it? Why have assets that create fewer returns?

Hence our idea, get clothes from us; use them; pay only for what you use. If you have got clothes in your closet not put into use, we will put them into use and you can earn on that.

The resources are scarce and depleting, efficient use of all that we already have is the only way to save the World. Let’s get efficient together! Let us save the world!