4 ms·

Technically it says "We'll invest $100k in the best entrant if you end up starting a company". I guess not bad if you're already working on this?

gruez 5y ago
>if you end up starting a company How can you monetize this? The whole point is that the data is public for everyone to see?
- sparkling 5y ago
  Just to throw a few ideas in the room: * offer integrations into various relevant systems * ability to build custom baskets and/or change the weighting of different categories
  - gruez 5y ago
    >* offer integrations into various relevant systems What's your moat here? What's preventing a competitor from using the blockchain data you published to make their own product? >* ability to build custom baskets and/or change the weighting of different categories Considering that the data is public, that seems easy to do. See also: above comment about moats.
    - sparkling 5y ago
      If it has a good enough UI, people will pay, just like anything else. Not everybody wants to build their own scripts around the data, even if its free. Obviously this is not a billion dollar idea, but it sure could bring in some $ to pay for a full-time developer or two and still make a little profit.
      - gruez 5y ago
        > If it has a good enough UI, people will pay, just like anything else. Not everybody wants to build their own scripts around the data, even if its free. Then a big corp comes up with their own offering and steamrolls you with their lower prices, integration with their existing products, and better engineering/sales staff. See for instance, mongodb and elasticsearch.
- thrill 5y ago
  People can pay you to explain it. People can pay you to extend it. People can pay you to do something different because you showed how smart you are.
- acover 5y ago
  Lots of people/businesses have a need to know if they’ll be able to meet their future expenditures with current savings. The issue is the generic basket of goods isn’t relevant for all people. For example, a condo with a reserve fund only really cares about construction costs in a single city. A retiree cares a lot about the price of nursing homes and in home care but may not even realize it. I expect if you can help people/financial advisors understand their future expenditure needs there is a lot of value in it.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >The issue is the generic basket of goods isn’t relevant for all people. but the BLS puts out figures for each category? https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm
    - acover 5y ago
      Yes, I agree it’s not as useful if you trust government sources. I’m not that familiar with USA inflation but with Canadian inflation statistics, certain categories feel way off - such as housing. As someone who is considering buying a house their measure is useless. BLS numbers are also controversial - https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex....
      - gruez 5y ago
        >certain categories feel way off - such as housing. As someone who is considering buying a house their measure is useless. Because it's based off "owners equivalent rent", not the sticker price of a house. The latter is somewhat problematic because a house is an investment, not an expenditure (unlike an apple or a doctor visit).
        acover 5y ago
        > Its purpose is to determine changes in the cost of using a stock of dwellings. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/62f0014m/62f0014m2017001-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/62f0014m/62f0014m2017001... This is difficult for me to understand as there is no market price for what they are trying to estimate. They have a thousand knobs to guess at. It reads a bit like they are grouping people who’ve own their home for 50 years in with those who just bought - similar to how they calculate rent. For example, they weight mortgage interest at less than utilities. For a new homeowner, mortgage interest is probably 5-10x utilities. Regardless, they explicitly ignore the experience of a first time home buyer, who are pretty trapped into renting. A house is not just an investment, it’s a different experience owning versus renting.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  I mean, these are crypto-crazed people with their alternate reality. Make a company, add the word "blockchain" in your mission statement, and join in the bandwagon/Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B?
  - someguy101010 5y ago
    The crypto version of this is an inflation oracle

gruez 5y ago

>if you end up starting a company How can you monetize this? The whole point is that the data is public for everyone to see?

sparkling 5y ago
Just to throw a few ideas in the room: * offer integrations into various relevant systems * ability to build custom baskets and/or change the weighting of different categories
- gruez 5y ago
  >* offer integrations into various relevant systems What's your moat here? What's preventing a competitor from using the blockchain data you published to make their own product? >* ability to build custom baskets and/or change the weighting of different categories Considering that the data is public, that seems easy to do. See also: above comment about moats.
  - sparkling 5y ago
    If it has a good enough UI, people will pay, just like anything else. Not everybody wants to build their own scripts around the data, even if its free. Obviously this is not a billion dollar idea, but it sure could bring in some $ to pay for a full-time developer or two and still make a little profit.
    - gruez 5y ago
      > If it has a good enough UI, people will pay, just like anything else. Not everybody wants to build their own scripts around the data, even if its free. Then a big corp comes up with their own offering and steamrolls you with their lower prices, integration with their existing products, and better engineering/sales staff. See for instance, mongodb and elasticsearch.
thrill 5y ago
People can pay you to explain it. People can pay you to extend it. People can pay you to do something different because you showed how smart you are.
acover 5y ago
Lots of people/businesses have a need to know if they’ll be able to meet their future expenditures with current savings. The issue is the generic basket of goods isn’t relevant for all people. For example, a condo with a reserve fund only really cares about construction costs in a single city. A retiree cares a lot about the price of nursing homes and in home care but may not even realize it. I expect if you can help people/financial advisors understand their future expenditure needs there is a lot of value in it.
- gruez 5y ago
  >The issue is the generic basket of goods isn’t relevant for all people. but the BLS puts out figures for each category? https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm
  - acover 5y ago
    Yes, I agree it’s not as useful if you trust government sources. I’m not that familiar with USA inflation but with Canadian inflation statistics, certain categories feel way off - such as housing. As someone who is considering buying a house their measure is useless. BLS numbers are also controversial - https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex....
    - gruez 5y ago
      >certain categories feel way off - such as housing. As someone who is considering buying a house their measure is useless. Because it's based off "owners equivalent rent", not the sticker price of a house. The latter is somewhat problematic because a house is an investment, not an expenditure (unlike an apple or a doctor visit).
      - acover 5y ago
        > Its purpose is to determine changes in the cost of using a stock of dwellings. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/62f0014m/62f0014m2017001-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/62f0014m/62f0014m2017001... This is difficult for me to understand as there is no market price for what they are trying to estimate. They have a thousand knobs to guess at. It reads a bit like they are grouping people who’ve own their home for 50 years in with those who just bought - similar to how they calculate rent. For example, they weight mortgage interest at less than utilities. For a new homeowner, mortgage interest is probably 5-10x utilities. Regardless, they explicitly ignore the experience of a first time home buyer, who are pretty trapped into renting. A house is not just an investment, it’s a different experience owning versus renting.
bellyfullofbac 5y ago
I mean, these are crypto-crazed people with their alternate reality. Make a company, add the word "blockchain" in your mission statement, and join in the bandwagon/Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B?
- someguy101010 5y ago
  The crypto version of this is an inflation oracle