Companies always try to make it seem like data is valuable. Attention is valuable. With attention, the data arrives for free. What they monetize is attention. Data is a small part to optimize the sale of ads but attention is the important commodity.
Yes, during the 2000's there was the "mashup" fads. People creating companies around mashing data from one service to another. Like putting Craigslist listings on a Google Map.
And guess what, all those mashup companies didn't last a couple of years. Because they didn't have a direct access to data.
This is heavily context dependent... There are plenty of situations where everyone knows the relevant factors, it's who has possession of land, resources, people, etc.
I feel like algorithmic/architectural breakthroughs are still the area that will show the most wins. The thing is that insights/breakthroughs of that sort that tend to be highly portable. As Meta showed, you can just pay people 10 million to come tell you what they're doing over there at that other place.
Attention is the only moat.
Companies always try to make it seem like data is valuable. Attention is valuable. With attention, the data arrives for free. What they monetize is attention. Data is a small part to optimize the sale of ads but attention is the important commodity.
Information was always the moat for everything. We literally have spies who risk their lives to try to gain access to information.
Yes, during the 2000's there was the "mashup" fads. People creating companies around mashing data from one service to another. Like putting Craigslist listings on a Google Map.
And guess what, all those mashup companies didn't last a couple of years. Because they didn't have a direct access to data.
This is heavily context dependent... There are plenty of situations where everyone knows the relevant factors, it's who has possession of land, resources, people, etc.
I feel like algorithmic/architectural breakthroughs are still the area that will show the most wins. The thing is that insights/breakthroughs of that sort that tend to be highly portable. As Meta showed, you can just pay people 10 million to come tell you what they're doing over there at that other place.
inb4 "then why do Meta's models still suck?"