That works pretty well in simple tribal societies where all that needs to be shared around is food, water, hunting supplies, and that sort of thing.
You can't really build the smartphone or computer you posted this from with "mutual aid." That takes very organized and technical supply chains and processes, which precludes the kind of voluntary gift economy you allude to.
There's an entire operating system running most servers, smartphones, and embedded devices in the world right now that was created this way under a special license designed to promote code sharing and cooperation. It's famous enough that I probably don't have to mention it here. Anybody can use it, anybody can contribute.
Mutual Aid is part of Anarchism. It's about strengthening your sense of community and viewing your community as a means of survival without taking it for granted, like we do under capitalism. In an anarchist society, you could get a smart phone or a computer through Industrial Unionism. You should really look into these concepts.
That’s the problem with having money to lose to keep from losing money in the long term: firmly established companies with money to spare can always keep startups from succeeding, and all they have to do is wait out the limited money of smaller competitors to get back to ripping off the consumer
Feels like you're missing the point. Not giving in to company greed only goes so far, especially when you're talking about necessities like electric, gas, food, shelter, and clothing.