You have five dollars, two hours, and a three minute slot with a room filled with Stanford students.
And my axe!
If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
141–150 of 196 posts
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Total time used to make $650: a week" You could use the "idle time" for other stuff.
The biggest issue with this one is its unrepeatable... it's a one time deal. They executed the advertising opportunity, now they have nothing. The other two, issues with their business practices aside, have set up businesses that could continue to operate, grow and scale. To me that deserves more recognition than a flash-in-the-pan idea.
But that wasn't what they were asked to do. They weren't asked to develop the best sustainable business model with 2 hours and $5, they were asked to come back with the most money.
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
"And I don't seem to recall anything in the "constraints" about not being allowed to beg or borrow anything, nor any rules about not being allowed to use stuff you already own." What if "stuff you already own" includes a bank account with 2 million bucks in it? I also thought the solution was a bit dishonest, but then the whole thing should not be taken that serious from the start. The reservations solution seems eve…
As far as a restaurant is concerned, why would they really care? It might annoy customers, but as long as the tables are still filling up, I feel the restaurant is more than happy, because they're still making the best of their available resources (tables and wait-staff). It's a valid point how the artificial constraints are the envelope and the time, because the way she listed the rules was, clock starts when you op…
As far as a restaurant is concerned, why would they really care? It might annoy customers, but as long as the tables are still filling up, I feel the restaurant is more than happy, because they're still making the best of their available resources (tables and wait-staff).
You answered your own question -- to the customer, it's annoying.
... and to the restaurant owner, it discourages walk-in traffic.
It's immoral in that it's dishonest (We have a word for reserving space at the restaurant by claiming to be a party of two, but not being one -- it's called lying). If you wanted to do this in the moral clear, you need to speak to the restaurant owner first, and see if they'll pre-allocate you tables.
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making and selling restaurant reservations doesn't strike you as dishonest? It's an honor system. What's to stop me from making reservations at ten different restaurants for my blind date tonight, and deciding at the last minute which one will make the best impression on my date? The system relies on honesty. It only works because few people are willing to abuse it, and those who do so only do it in a small way. This…
The system relies on honesty. I'm not so sure that it does. It relies on filling the tables at the restaurants . The restaurants don't care if the people who come to fill your table aren't the same ones that originally booked the reservation. Nor do they care if a certain number of reservations are no-shows, if the number of no-shows is smaller than the number of people waiting at the door. As I said above, you obvio…
I'm not so sure that it does. It relies on filling the tables at the restaurants. The restaurants don't care if the people who come to fill your table aren't the same ones that originally booked the reservation. Nor do they care if a certain number of reservations are no-shows, if the number of no-shows is smaller than the number of people waiting at the door.
Restaurants are in the business of filling their tables by making customers happy -- those customers will return, tell their friends, and the tables stay full. By filling up available spaces (thus resulting in customers being told that a very long wait is to be expected) and providing a paid line-cut (who enjoys being cut in front of while waiting 60 minutes?), you're going to make a lot of the restaurant customers unhappy, both directly and indirectly.
If this was an ethical business, they would have told the restaurant what they were doing and received approval before they decided to lie to the restaurant to achieve their aims.
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
See, the problem here is that she hands out two artificial constraints, and then praises the teams who ignore the constraints. 1. Used a device to measure the tire pressure and materials to build the booth and signs. Did they cost less than $5? Maybe. Did it take less than 2 hours to create the booth, the signs, and perform the services? Unlikely. 2. Well done on finding something you can acquire for free and then se…
"she hands out two artificial constraints" But that's very important. People are constantly working under ... and handing out ... artificial constraints. Getting outside the box is one of the most important lessons. Who could possibly want to communicate but be limited to only 140 characters? The US spent a million dollars to develop a pen that could write in no-gravity. The Russians used a pencil. "In the province o…
Not using the $5 at all thinking outside the box is. You break a rule that thought existed before you thought about it. It is a constraint on your mind, not your world. This is a space pencil.
Using $10 instead of $5 is not thinking outside the box.
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
See, the problem here is that she hands out two artificial constraints, and then praises the teams who ignore the constraints. 1. Used a device to measure the tire pressure and materials to build the booth and signs. Did they cost less than $5? Maybe. Did it take less than 2 hours to create the booth, the signs, and perform the services? Unlikely. 2. Well done on finding something you can acquire for free and then se…
"she hands out two artificial constraints" But that's very important. People are constantly working under ... and handing out ... artificial constraints. Getting outside the box is one of the most important lessons. Who could possibly want to communicate but be limited to only 140 characters? The US spent a million dollars to develop a pen that could write in no-gravity. The Russians used a pencil. "In the province o…
"The US spent a million dollars to develop a pen that could write in no-gravity. The Russians used a pencil."
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
See, the problem here is that she hands out two artificial constraints, and then praises the teams who ignore the constraints. 1. Used a device to measure the tire pressure and materials to build the booth and signs. Did they cost less than $5? Maybe. Did it take less than 2 hours to create the booth, the signs, and perform the services? Unlikely. 2. Well done on finding something you can acquire for free and then se…
"she hands out two artificial constraints" But that's very important. People are constantly working under ... and handing out ... artificial constraints. Getting outside the box is one of the most important lessons. Who could possibly want to communicate but be limited to only 140 characters? The US spent a million dollars to develop a pen that could write in no-gravity. The Russians used a pencil. "In the province o…
The US spent a million dollars to develop a pen that could write in no-gravity. The Russians used a pencil. they didn't, and pencils are useless in space 'cause of the filings floating around and jamming equipment
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#148Just an idea, sell lottery ticket, 50 cents per ticket and winner gets $5.
Need to make some assumptions and do some calculations to figure out the optimal way to price the ticket.
Also, we can ask people to buy ticket in advance, then use that money as new prize and lottery that again. Sounds like ponzi, but in fact more like the fractional reserve system our banks use ...
not sure whether this will really work, just an idea ...
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
You make valid points. My problem is less the specifics of the individual teams' solutions -- I don't dispute they were very clever and creative solutions -- but rather the impression that the greatest reward went to those who went furthest outside of the rules. Team 1 were arguably entirely within the rules and made $200, Team 2 went a little outside (unless they were handed the envelope at 6pm) and made a little mo…
Fundamentally, you're not rewarding creativity at money-making, you're rewarding creativity at rule-breaking. And there's your insight. If what you want is money, and lots of it, finding creative ways to game the system is how it's done. I am not lauding that, just pointing it out.
> finding creative ways to game the system is how it's done.
And a good way to end a up crook or in jail. Business should be about creating value for both parties involved.
Re: If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two levels --- the first is within the context of a class assignment, and the second is as a business operation. 1) The bike tire pressure check isn't bad, but seems to be cheating on the class solution by using outside materials. Once one can 'presume' a pressure gauge and a pump, why not presume further specialized equipment or further outside funding? As a business proposition I was happy with it when th…
My simple view would be that if the restaurant would change their system if you told them what you plan to do, it is immoral. Well, that moral principle is not going to generalize well. But let's resist the urge to play moral philosopher and consider the facts: Would the restaurants want to stop you from doing this? I don't think it's obvious. If I pick up half a dozen extra reservations and then try to sell them, I…
There's no genius in this, it's just plain dishonest, and if any restaurant knew you were making fake reservations and then selling them they'd put a stop to it. That you don't think this is obvious blows my mind, and forces me to think you're a dishonest person in general. I can't fathom an honest person not immediately seeing this as wrong.