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Ask HN: Is there a service that allows you to pay to talk to a domain expert?
This might sound like a dumb question because, yes, of course you could take a college course or book an appointment with a doctor. But I mean, something semi on-demand where a person could pepper, something like a genetics expert with questions for two hours if they're willing to pay $500/hour to do so.
Any ideas?
- crazypython 6y agoI would love such a kind of service if as an expert, you could pair yourself with another expert who needs your service, and you need their service. Like bartering.
- shoo 6y agoIf you limit exchanges to only those with reciprocal supply & demand then it becomes much less less likely to identify deals where people can use the service to provide value for each other. Assuming there are n different kinds of expert services, and each participant supplies one service and demands one service at random, then there is only a 1/n^2 probability that an arbitrary participant is able to enter into a reciprocal trade with you. If you instead use some kind of credit system where providing service to participant X gives you credit that can be traded in later to obtain service from Y then suddenly each participant in market has 1/n of being able to reach deal with you. So by reinventing something that sounds suspiciously like money by allowing trading of debt/obligations for services we have made our expert network much more efficient at being able to identify and unlock productive economic exchanges between people.
- arpyzo 6y agoI'd love this as well. It doesn't necessarily have to be only high tech/science. There are many times I'd simply like to talk to an experience plumber, electrician, home builder, auto mechanic etc. in a context that doesn't incentivize them to do work for me.
- gregjor 6y agoLicensed professionals have to exercise caution because of possible liability. An electrician, for example, who gives advice you act on, get wrong, and end up creating a hazard could face legal problems. An electrician explained that to me when I asked for advice doing my own house wiring.
- computator 6y agoThere are popular websites where doctors give paid or free medical advice. I wonder how they address the liability issue?
- isthispermanent 6y agoExactly
- mtmail 6y agoSeveral, like https://www.expertengine.com/ https://www.expertengine.com/ Apparently a $1B business https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-28/investors-are-paying-1-300-per-hour-for-expert-chats https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-28/investors...
- isthispermanent 6y agoThank you!
- knguyen0105 6y agoThey’re called expert networks. Hedge funds often use their service to learn about a sector / upcoming technology (i.e drug trial, etc...).
- zn44 6y agoSome examples of expert networks I know: https://colemanrg.com/ https://colemanrg.com/ https://www.guidepoint.com/advisors/ https://www.guidepoint.com/advisors/
- bigbossman 6y agoHedge funds, private equity firms, and management consulting shops use expert networks a lot. They’re often looking at a potential investment, and seek to talk to people deeply familiar with the industry and competitive landscape. Usually a firm like Guidepoint will spam a group of people to facilitate an introduction. Top experts can name their price.