Edgeryders as a company is only a few months old, but it is already clear that its firmly global stance is one of its greatest assets. It makes sense: in the old world, only large companies could be global. Small companies were local. Only networked entities can have the low-overhead efficiency of small while having the global reach of the large, and this gives us an edge.
By implication, we can also give an edge to each other. Carl's group (with initiatives like Casa Liberdade) is based in Brazil; Las Indias in Spain and Latin America; and Edgeryders in Europe ( now active in Armenia, Georgia and Egypt too, with a little presence in South Africa). Together, we could have a loose partnership that is truly global – and, as networkedorganizations, we are good at managing loose partnerships. We can build a project in the same time it takes standard corporate lawyers to sign nondisclosure agreement for the partnership they want to build. And why stop at us? We can't be alone out there. I am sure there's other great organizations, networks and collective that we could work with.
So here's my curveball: how would you like to do some serious thinking about launching a global meeting of the networked economy? It might be crazy and unrealistic – but we are reasonable people, and if we find out this is indeed the case we'll just discard the idea; at worst we will have wasted a few hours. But it might be doable, and then it would be (1) a great networking opportunity, as we get together with each other and with possibly many interesting like-minded people; (2) a powerful narrative engine, that would position us the spearhead of a new way of doing things; (3) free or cheap marketing for what we do. We might even get paid to do it!
What do you think?