In the part about business models, Open Life contains a chapter titled Glass House, a totally transparent company (fictitious). As the title already gives away, it is my fictitious vision - a utopia, if you will - of a radically open business model, where even the tendering process and financials of the company would be publicly available.

The New Inspirer reports on a business model not at all like that, but this was really inspiring to read:

Entrepreneur Sanne Roemen never makes an invoice. She lets her clients decide what they want to pay her. And how they want to pay her. Sanne, who consults on how companies can apply web 2.0 principles in their business, knows by experience by now that clients generally pay her three times as much as she would have offered before the job was done. The side-effect of clients paying less than expected therefore isn't too much of a problem. 2I can't determine for the client what the value of my services is. That's something which is different for everybody".

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It's a very interesting topic to think about. One of the key elements in our view is the factor trust. This business model only is a problem if you don't trust your counter party to compensate you adequately for services offered. But then again, who wants do business at all with somebody he doesn't trust? And even if you were to be scammed by a parasite, how long a life would such a person have and how long would it take before his reputation would be smashed?

I can only say wow! I'm not totally surprised, it seems like something someone would do eventually, but I humbly admit I would not trust my current clients enough to undertake this kind of system. Yet, maybe I'm dealing with the wrong customers? Hmm...