Regulatory gray areas are risky, but can sometimes be great opportunities. Uber and Airbnb are two well known examples of companies that got huge by doing some

Regulatory gray areas are risky, but can sometimes be great opportunities. Uber and Airbnb are two well known examples of companies that got huge by doing something that may not have been legal everywhere. Related examples include drones[1], bitcoin, crowdfunding investment[2], self-driving cars[3] and 3D printing[4]. Both Airbnb and Uber have become so big that they can try to work the system and change the regulations in their favor, but smaller companies might have to be more wily. For example, commercial drone activity is basically illegal in the U.S., but I know of one startup that currently develops and flies their technology on manned aircraft with the idea of putting it on drones when they can, and another that resides in the U.S. but is currently focused on customers outside the U.S. [1] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/drone-regulation/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/drone-regulation/ [2] http://www.crowdvalley.com/2013/05/06/the-secs-recent-no-action-letters/ http://www.crowdvalley.com/2013/05/06/the-secs-recent-no-act... [3] http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2013/06/03/feds-ask-states-to-ban-self-driving-cars/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2013/06/03/feds-ask... [4] http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/10/how-3d-printed-guns-are-shooting-a-hole-through-firearm-regulation/ http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/10/how-3d-printed-guns-are-...