

Flightcaster (YC S09) and the Future of Asymmetric Intelligence as a Product - jaf12duke
http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2010/03/02/flightcaster-and-the-future-of-asymmetric-intelligence-as-a-product/

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adelevie
All of the points in this article can be applied to SeatGeek, as well.

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sogrady
Disclosure: I wrote the piece.

But yes, I agree. SeatGeek fits the model perfectly, in terms of applying
analytics to publicly available data in search of non-obvious or otherwise
difficult to intuit insights. Good mention.

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joshu
i wish that there were a clearer way for people to profit from this kind of
stuff. people generally won't buy information.

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yummyfajitas
Tell that to Bloomberg.

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joshu
You ever used a Bloomberg?

It's not just that they have some data. It's that they have:

\- strong completeness of data

\- often they have data you cannot get elsewhere (bond trading data)

\- there's a built-in messaging system that traders often think they need

\- it is itself a development platform

I've been in the position of being a trader and considering data to purchase.
Everything seems too expensive very quickly.

My trading desk had ONE terminal in the corner. And that's at $1500/year.

And that's for something as essential as a Bloomberg.

Do you see what I mean?

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sogrady
No argument here that the market for data is woefully underdeveloped. What we
have now is a market in which there are very few visible sellers and fewer
visible buyers, with extreme inefficiencies in connecting one to another and
processing the transaction.

My hope and expectation, obviously, is that that will change.

I think Bloomberg is both an excellent and a poor example. On the one hand,
@joshu is exactly right that it can be a difficult sell. On the other, they've
clearly built a very sizable business complementing data with the additional
pieces described.

More to the point, Bloomberg is - in my opinion - selling data with a.) very
little value add and b.) a perceived transience in value. Not that this is
necessarily bad, particularly when you're selling to a volume audience, but it
is different from retailing specialized, derived datasets.

But we shall see.

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nazgulnarsil
both network and finance analytics are near the top for projected job growth.
with inelastic graduation rates this means increased salaries. it makes sense
that entrepreneurs that can come into this space and automate some of it will
kill.

