4 ms·

I don't understand their business model. How will they make money

tpetry 7y ago
I guess they hope someone will buy them. Like Apple to do easy navigation for the apple maps app.
MauranKilom 7y ago
They have been and will keep fighting tooth and nail to keep the algorithm and associated database proprietary, copyrighted, patented and under every kind of protection they can afford. In parallel, they invest heavily into PR, such as feeding story-starved journalists their marketing pitch. The point is to get adoption and network effect, locking users (e.g. Mongolian mail service) into a monopoly that they can eventually leverage. Since no one but them can (or rather is allowed) to do the conversion, they request payment per lookup/coordinate conversion. There is nothing novel or innovative about their algorithm, it's downright awful in some regards, and there is little benefit to actually derive from the system in the first place (compared to established open systems). They're just really good at PR (and takedown notices) - that's their real business plan.
kawfey 7y ago
They license the product to car companies like Mercedes [0], and they provide training and licensing to emergency management agencies, which is gaining popularity in the UK, North Yorkshire, for example [1]. Their business model is more or less undercut by opensource and reverse engineered alternatives, hence the predatory DMCA takedowns. This is obviously a bad PR move. It's the 21st century; the product/IP itself provides little to no value to the average user. It's the services that does. Open source the product and make money licensing, installing, training, and integrating it into everyday life. [0]https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/what3words-voice-navigation-first-to-mercedes-benz/ https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/what3words-voice... [1] https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/whats-what3words-and-why-is-it-useful-a-blog-from-our-inspector-mark-proctor/ https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/whats-what3words-and-w...
Thrymr 7y ago
Good question, here are their public filings: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08430008/filing-history https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08430008/filing-h... Most recently for 2018: 11.4 million GBP loss on 273k GBP of income.

I guess they hope someone will buy them. Like Apple to do easy navigation for the apple maps app.

They have been and will keep fighting tooth and nail to keep the algorithm and associated database proprietary, copyrighted, patented and under every kind of protection they can afford. In parallel, they invest heavily into PR, such as feeding story-starved journalists their marketing pitch. The point is to get adoption and network effect, locking users (e.g. Mongolian mail service) into a monopoly that they can eventually leverage. Since no one but them can (or rather is allowed) to do the conversion, they request payment per lookup/coordinate conversion. There is nothing novel or innovative about their algorithm, it's downright awful in some regards, and there is little benefit to actually derive from the system in the first place (compared to established open systems). They're just really good at PR (and takedown notices) - that's their real business plan.

kawfey 7y ago

They license the product to car companies like Mercedes [0], and they provide training and licensing to emergency management agencies, which is gaining popularity in the UK, North Yorkshire, for example [1]. Their business model is more or less undercut by opensource and reverse engineered alternatives, hence the predatory DMCA takedowns. This is obviously a bad PR move. It's the 21st century; the product/IP itself provides little to no value to the average user. It's the services that does. Open source the product and make money licensing, installing, training, and integrating it into everyday life. [0]https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/what3words-voice-navigation-first-to-mercedes-benz/ https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/what3words-voice... [1] https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/whats-what3words-and-why-is-it-useful-a-blog-from-our-inspector-mark-proctor/ https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/whats-what3words-and-w...

Thrymr 7y ago

Good question, here are their public filings: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08430008/filing-history https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08430008/filing-h... Most recently for 2018: 11.4 million GBP loss on 273k GBP of income.