What I learned from running a concierge search engine
1–10 of 24 posts
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#2So when this person delegates something, we know it's not important?
If that's really the case, it's probably better not to tell anyone.
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#3There is a legitimate start-up that basically is outsourcing tasks to a digital personal assistant but they log all questions and their researched answers. It make take a while but they will have a moat within a few years with a really robust repository.
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#4I think this is a brilliant idea. Couldn't figure out how to sign up for the service though
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#5There is a legitimate start-up that basically is outsourcing tasks to a digital personal assistant but they log all questions and their researched answers. It make take a while but they will have a moat within a few years with a really robust repository.
The problem is that this then becomes a cache invalidation problem. Many of the examples presented will be outdated in 1 year, and completely wrong in 5. How can you know which answers need to turnover and when?
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#6So when this person delegates something, we know it's not important? If that's really the case, it's probably better not to tell anyone.
Tell that to librarians before the internet.
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#7There is a legitimate start-up that basically is outsourcing tasks to a digital personal assistant but they log all questions and their researched answers. It make take a while but they will have a moat within a few years with a really robust repository.
That's definitely one way to do it. Our approach is not to literally run a concierge search engine, but rather build up intuitions on how humans effectively find knowledge on the Web and then build tools to make that easier.
Is that the end-game of the startup you mentioned?
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#8So when this person delegates something, we know it's not important? If that's really the case, it's probably better not to tell anyone.
In our sample, we found that people really cared about those topics but they were not urgent. Hence the reference to the Eisenhower Matrix.
The current state of search tools doesn't make it easy to answer complex questions so complex questions go unanswered. By lowering the activation energy to do an activity, the market for that activity increases. That doesn't mean that activity didn't ever matter.
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#9I think this is a brilliant idea. Couldn't figure out how to sign up for the service though
Unfortunately we are not running the search concierge service indefinitely. But we will translate the findings into a search tool that makes it easier to answer complex questions. Sign up for our mailing list or shoot an email to outresearching@gmail.com . We will let you know when its ready.
Re: What I learned from running a concierge search engine
#10I wouldn’t feel full or satisfied with such research done by other on open ended questions such as What kind of inflatable kayak should I buy? Maybe after researching, I realize that really I should get a rigid kayak instead. Such research is iterative, interactive, and some of my preferences or personal knowledge can’t be easily externalized.