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If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

entrepreneur.venturebeat.com

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Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#21

Post by mustpax »

igorgue wrote: post #15
petercooper wrote: post #12

If you're not thinking of watching the video, think again. Even if you watch just the last two minutes. There's a good twist in the tail in the way the most successful team made the most money :-)

yes it was awesome!, I bet the students felt used by the winning team :), but in a very good way. It was a great idea.

The peculiar thing about these brilliant hacks is that they challenge our assumptions about what's allowed to such an extent that they feel dishonest.

That isn't because there is anything amoral about them. Social interactions are a kind of delicate dance, they thrive on a certain basic level of predictability. So people are unnerved when that is taken away from them.

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#22

Post by MikeCapone »

petercooper wrote: post #12

If you're not thinking of watching the video, think again. Even if you watch just the last two minutes. There's a good twist in the tail in the way the most successful team made the most money :-)

Thanks. You convinced me to watch it, and it was worth the time.

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#23

Post by pbhjpbhj »

mustpax wrote: post #21
igorgue wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes it was awesome!, I bet the students felt used by the winning team :), but in a very good way. It was a great idea.

The peculiar thing about these brilliant hacks is that they challenge our assumptions about what's allowed to such an extent that they feel dishonest. That isn't because there is anything amoral about them. Social interactions are a kind of delicate dance, they thrive on a certain basic level of predictability. So people are unnerved when that is taken away from them.

It was a bit dishonest - they sold other peoples time without any guarantee they could deliver it. The students could all have got up and left saying they weren't going to be exploited, or have done a non-violent protest, etc..

Very clever though.

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#24

Post by ankeshk »

1.

Trick 1: Forget about the $5.

2.

Trick 2: Forget about providing the actual service within those 2 hours. Use the 2 hours just for doing the actual trade.

3.

Then sell something before you buy it. If I was given just 2 hours, I would do quick brokerage.

Hour 1: Find a group of people who wants to buy laptops* at a decent price. Get their configs down and get a commitment.

Hour 2: Find a seller who will give the best price on bulk laptop purchases.

*Laptops because I think it has high profit margins. But if finding a group or a business that is willing to buy laptops is hard - I would switch to some easy product - like movie tickets.

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#25

Post by ankeshk »

Or the other thing I would do is - organize an auction.

1. Source products from an auction company on consignment basis.

2. Find an event happening in town and pickyback to it - hold your auction at that event (with permission) or outside but very near the event (with no permission).

3. Auction the stuff. Anything over the reserve price = profit. Anything under the reserve price = sale canceled.

Sourcing products within 2 hours from an auction house is hard though - unless you already have a relationship with them before. But given a bit more time - and this is a good idea.

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#26

Post by vlisivka »

First team: regular work. Second team: speculation. Third team: ads.

Where is direct marketing team?

My solutions:

Receipt one: * by bunch of cheap sport items; * walk to the park; * lease them; * hire and teach other people to do that instead of you for half of income. (Tested).

Receipt two: * by a sport item (e.g. ball); * walk to the street; * encourage people to play a casual game with you, alone, or with other people; * hire and teach other people to do that instead of you for half of income. (Tested).

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#27

Post by ggrot »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #23
mustpax wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The peculiar thing about these brilliant hacks is that they challenge our assumptions about what's allowed to such an extent that they feel dishonest. That isn't because there is anything amoral about them. Social interactions are a kind of delicate dance, they thrive on a certain basic level of predictability. So people are unnerved when that is taken away from them.

It was a bit dishonest - they sold other peoples time without any guarantee they could deliver it. The students could all have got up and left saying they weren't going to be exploited, or have done a non-violent protest, etc.. Very clever though.

In theory, but they could be pretty confident about the risk of this being low since it was only a 3-minute presentation.

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#28

Post by FreeRadical »

vlisivka wrote: post #26

First team: regular work. Second team: speculation. Third team: ads. Where is direct marketing team? My solutions: Receipt one: * by bunch of cheap sport items; * walk to the park; * lease them; * hire and teach other people to do that instead of you for half of income. (Tested). Receipt two: * by a sport item (e.g. ball); * walk to the street; * encourage people to play a casual game with you, alone, or with other p…

i doubt anyone will pay you to play a ball game with you just off the street

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#29

Post by idm »

ankeshk wrote: post #24

1. Trick 1: Forget about the $5. 2. Trick 2: Forget about providing the actual service within those 2 hours. Use the 2 hours just for doing the actual trade. 3. Then sell something before you buy it. If I was given just 2 hours, I would do quick brokerage. Hour 1: Find a group of people who wants to buy laptops* at a decent price. Get their configs down and get a commitment. Hour 2: Find a seller who will give the be…

... and you've just created an inductive proof for how the US financial system collapsed.

Don't get me wrong: I think step 3 has a good chance of working. BUT if you, like your customers, assume that a commitment is equivalent to the actual asset (i.e. the laptop) then you are vulnerable to defaulting on YOUR commitment if and when you cannot deliver the asset.

How might that happen? Imagine you commit to purchasing laptops through a broker, exactly like yourself, who has no laptops to sell. This happens all the time (e.g. "just in time" ordering) and it results in delays, angry customers, and in the case of the US financial system, systemic fraud, corruption and failure.

Naked short selling is surprisingly similar to your strategy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_short_selling

Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?

#30

Post by jcl »

edw519 wrote: post #18

Just a few options off the top of my head: 1. Email everyone I've done work for in the past 5 years, promising all of my time on Mondays for the next year to the highest bidder by 2:00 p.m. 2. Same as #1, but instead of the highest bid, the first $10,000. 3. Same as #2, but $1,000. I will accept all checks received in the next 2 hours. What they will get: free use of my next web service for life. 4. Tell my employer…

But with several of those options, you take on liabilities that may exceed the money you made. By the same logic, you could use your two hours to get a mortgage on your house. (And the last option sounds like fraud.)
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