buybuydandavis comments on Look for the Next Tech Gold Rush? - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Wei_Dai 19 July 2014 10:08AM

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Comment author: cata 19 July 2014 11:09:16PM *  9 points [-]

I thought about it for a while and wound up concluding that the Bitcoin thing probably happened because there was a barrier to entry that kept out the majority of people. Back in 2010 or 2011, you had to send cash to places like Dwolla to actually get BTC. It sounds stupid, but I suspect that if you had been able to (e.g.) invest in a Bitcoin ETF back then, Bitcoin would have appreciated in price fast enough that it would have been hard to get in on the rush.*

So the lesson I'm taking away from that one is to beware of trivial inconveniences.

*Of course, this presumes that the "rush" is over, but at least it's a lot harder for me to be sure that buying Bitcoin is +EV at $500 than at $1.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 20 July 2014 12:52:19AM 15 points [-]

So the lesson I'm taking away from that one is to beware of trivial inconveniences.

I thought the lesson was look for trivial inconveniences as indicative of potential opportunities.

Comment author: cata 20 July 2014 01:29:08AM 4 points [-]

Sure, you can look at it that way. From my perspective, I think the lower-hanging fruit is to make sure that when I have a good idea and I don't do it because of a trivial inconvenience, I notice and do it anyway.