Kevin Vogelsang

I believe this technically means “cutting out the middleman”.  I tend to think of it simply as taking out steps and removing bottlenecks in a process.

Disintermediation is a powerful trend and one that I pay close attention to.  Disintermediation can be used as a tool to improve efficiency.  But, it also often goes hand-in-hand with the empowerment of people.

I started paying closer attention to “disintermediation trends” back in January 2008 for two reasons: the Google Maps API and the iPhone SDK.

One day I was looking up something on Google Maps when I had a thought, you could do some very cool  and useful stuff with this.  You don’t need to spend millions of dollars collecting geographic information in order to create geospatial representations of data anymore.  (And I think geospatial representations offer incredible tool for helping people understand large scale data sets, we’re just at the tip of the iceberg with this one.)

About a month later, I learned about the iPhone Software Development Kit, that allowed “third party” developers to create applications for the iPhone.  Anyone willing to learn to code could make their own mobile application.  When I read about the iPhone SDK, I thought to myself, this is basically what’s already happened on desktop computers, open standards are developed and platforms are made that allow developers to more easily contribute. But, connecting these dots got me going on this concept of disintermediation.  It’s happened very quickly in areas related to computers.  The internet’s affect on communication and information flow is the major one we’ve felt.  But, it’s started happening in other areas now.  Here are two very interesting forms of disintermediation:

• Fabrication. Neil Gershenfeld of MIT is creating what’s called Fab Labs.   A Fab Lab is a facility equipped with the necessary tools to allow people to make almost anything.  He’s essentially trying to open source hardware and the ability to make things, and I think that is simply beautiful.  When I was in school, I wish I’d had a place to just build stuff.But here’s something that’s more interesting, Professor Gershenfeld is trying to design these Fab Labs such that, with the help of some basic consumables, they can make themselves. Think about it.
• Biotech Research. My lovely mother handed me a newspaper clipping one day when I was back home in Kentucky.  The newspaper highlighted a community biotech research lab in Cambridge, MA.  (I can’t remember what it’s called.  If you’ve heard of it, post the link in the comments.)  I’ve since read about other disintermediation trends surrounding biotech.  I came across one story about a California computer scientist who ordered the necessary kits and now spends her time doing biology research in her apartment.

In both cases, the capability of creating was made available to people.  Steps or difficulties are removed in a process and capabilities are gained by a greater audience.  This is powerful and beautiful.  And as an entrepreneur and someone that just wants build valuable and cool stuff, this is a concept to keep tabs on.  Leave a comment if you come across other examples that you like.

Kevin
7.10.2009