Just as companies create pop-up stores during the holidays or during certain promotional periods, P2P marketplaces for the exchange of services make it possible for individuals to create their own little pop-up human capital stores, wherever they happen to be, and for as long as they want. This concept can be especially empowering for any individual who is unemployed (or under-employed) – or even someone who is employed and is interested in trying out a new career path. We’ve been trained to think of small businesses as the driver of economic growth and new employment in the economy, but it might just be the case that this model of employment needs a good re-think.

Living Social is likely the fastest growing technology business in Washington, DC that’s run into a problem: they cannot find engineers in the DC area quickly enough. So instead of uprooting and moving to Silicon Valley or some other more tech-dense city, Living Social is taking a different approach. They’re trying to create more developers. Hungry Academy’s goal is to take 24 driven people without development skill, and turn them into developers. And they’ll employ them, full-time, while they’re undergoing training.