Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/819093
the term "sharing economy" has caught on to describe newfangled services like Uber and Lyft for ride- sharing, Circle and Venmo for peer-to-peer money transfers, and Airbnb as a hotel alternative. Though, as some locals are quick to point out, such a democratized marketplace has been in full swing in Wellesley and Weston for years when you consider the towns' historic libraries and the give-and- take areas at their respective dumps. Perhaps that history, along with the fact that Wellesley and Weston have a combined four college campuses within their confines, explains why the youth-infused and Internet- enabled sharing economy has thrived here. At Babson College's annual Rocket Pitch event late last year (think Shark Tank minus the sharks), dozens of bud- ding entrepreneurs had three minutes each to pitch their ideas before peers and investors, and a good chunk of those ventures had serious sharing economy slants. One enabled parents to swap gently-used baby items, another employed GETTING THEIR FAIR SHARE B O B B R O W N writer O J R T P H O T O G R A P H Y photographer 114 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s u m m e r 2 0 1 7