Two million stars on neuro brew
- Are you ready?
She nods with a smile, and he turns on the switches. The large basement lights up, showing a pool with a VR tank computer rig next to it.
- Oh my god!
She covers her mouth in disbelief as he flips on even more switches. The lighting makes the water mesmerisingly turquoise. Their flip-flops echo squeakily as they walk towards the computer setup on the opposite side of the pool.
- This is frickin c-r-a-z-y! Your mum is a teacher? It’s like theme park-level shit. How can your parents afford this kind of setup?
- My mum is a big fish in the coffee chains’ prediction markets.
- What was her strategy?
- She’s a maths teacher, so it was nuanced and crazy geeky at first. Once she got traction, the whole teacher’s room backed her.
- But what was her strategy?
- When she realised she might be up to something, she pivoted to using the leverage, and the strategy suddenly became super simple. Two million stars on neuro brew.
- I love neuro brews!
- See? It turned out to be the drink of the season, and this is how we renovated the basement and got this new rig. She has always wanted to swim with dolphins. Now, she can do it whenever she wants.
He opens another door to a locker-style room with a bench and wet suits on hangers. He passes her a black wetsuit fitted with cables.
- This one should be your size. I’ll fix your gear at the pool.
The doors close with a gentle metal click. She looks around, undresses, and excitedly jumps into the neoprene suit. When she’s all dressed up and opens the pool door, he is still adjusting a headset on the stainless steel trolley beside the pool’s edge.
- I feel like I'm on a movie set.
He freezes looking at her in a tight suit, but snaps out of it smiling.
- Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. Let me wire you up with more weight.
He hands her a neon green harness. It feels heavy.
- Here, strap this on. It will keep you submerged.
He helps her adjust the straps touching her back. His hands shake as their palms touch when he helps her adjust the gloves.
- Why are you nervous?
- Sorry. You look great in this suit.
He blushes a little and changes the topic.
- I’m dying to show you the alien planet I designed. Is the temperature okay for you?
She sits down on the edge and puts her feet in the pool. The water feels nice through the thick layer of her suit. He presses a controller.
- Okay, I’ve turned on the haptics. You may feel some tickling. Before I give you the goggles, this is the mouthpiece. It’s connected to that small floating compressor and lets you breathe underwater. One last thing. If you feel dizzy, have problems breathing, or want to stop at any moment, press the big button on the strap on your chest. It will pull you out immediately.
She nods with a smile.
- Is your planet that scary?
- No, not really. This VR headset has built-in headphones, and I have a preview of what you see on the screen, so…
The doors on the other side of the pool open, and his parents enter the room with a plate of sandwiches and a jug of lemonade. They put food and drinks on the poolside table.
- Guys, this is Jessica. She is my test subject for the school project. Jessica, these are my parents.
- Hi Jessica, please don’t stand up.
- Hi, Ms. and Mr. Wright. It’s nice to meet you.
She stands up anyway and reaches to remove the right glove.
- Your suit is switched on. Let's fist bump.
- You have a fantastic space down here. Is it all because of prediction markets? What’s your secret? Do you think high schoolers could be successful as well? What do I need to start?
His parents smile.
- The main idea is that people can use what they already know to make money, helping create better forecasts, get testing data or train better models. You can bet on a company’s prediction market if you know much about an industry or how people like your friends use particular products. All you bet are loyalty points you get for buying their things anyway.
- It all started because companies wanted to make loyalty points more exciting. Prediction markets offered an easy chance to improve internal analytics, analysts, and models with the wisdom of the crowds. And people got excited.
- But why?
- You see, once people have fulfilled most of their basic needs, like food and shelter, they develop cognitive surplus. This is the driving force behind volunteering, contributing to open source, participating in research studies, etc.
His mother looks at her husband.
- You’re overcomplicating. It all boils down to companies in saturated markets looking for new ways to grow. Back in our days, companies invested in loyalty programmes, mobile apps, and e-commerce. This trend evolved and today almost all companies have a prediction market.
She interrupts, standing in the middle of a warm puddle.
- So, what exactly is a prediction market?
- The prediction market works like a stock exchange, but instead of stocks, people bet value on the outcomes of future events.
- Who will win the next elections? Which brand will sell the most EVs? What will the price of an asset be at the end of the quarter? What will be the next top holiday destination? If you make enough people willing to invest their time researching and betting on a topic, the aggregated dataset becomes worth a ton of money for a company that can use this data.
He interrupts his mum.
- Apparently, my mum was right about the next big coffee drink.
His father continues, looking at his wife.
- I’m so glad you ignored my snarky comments about making coffee at home.
His mum smiles.
- We all need our tiny guilty pleasures. Prediction markets are part of a general trend for companies to use their core offering as infrastructure to deploy new products and services, often outside of their industry.
- Even broader, you can think of it as a part of the endless cycle of service productisation and product servitisation, where one evolves with time into another.
- I see… This sounds very exciting, Ms Wright…
- You’ve just learned my folks’ superpower, turning everything into a lecture.
His parents share a smile.
- He’s right, we shall be going. We don’t want to bore them and spoil their date.
- Excellent, my aliens are dying to meet her.
- I don’t mind. We can start anytime.
She adjusts the goggles, puts the mouthpiece in, and slowly submerges headfirst into the pool.
- Can you hear me?
She shows a thumbs up.
- Great. I will turn on the tutorial, and once you’re done, I’ll show you my planet.
She gives a double thumbs-up. He mutes himself as she follows the tutorial, testing different moves submerged in the pool.
Mum smiles.
- She is lovely.
Dad winks.
- It’s hilarious that you use virtual reality to get more real physical contact.
- Dad, please have mercy for once.
- Never.
Hello Practical Futurists,
Welcome back from the future where companies use core offerings as an infrastructure to run other products or services and where VR works even better underwater.
If you enjoyed this story, hit the heart-shaped “Like” button at the top or bottom of this page. It’s great feedback and helps others find it.Let's dive into our weekly workout, where we use futures thinking and product sci-fi to build a future-proof mindset.
Start with this quote for extra inspiration.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Max Planck
As always, we begin by connecting the story to your personal life to make it more relatable.
Personal life reflection prompts
When was the last time you experimented with changing your environment to learn faster?
What 3 experiences would be the most popular if your home had a VR pool?
If you could use predictive analytics for your personal decision-making, what 3 data points would be the most valuable for you and why?
What kind of expertise could you monetise on a prediction market?
In what 2 ways do you use your cognitive surplus to contribute to meaningful activities that benefit others while bringing you joy and fulfilment?
Great work!
We’re now ready to switch to the context of the industry, organisation, team, service, or product you’re working with.
Professional life reflection prompts
What were the last 2 things you did to improve your team's environment to be more inspiring and stimulating for the team to thrive (beyond installing an in-office VR pool)?
If your company would run a prediction market, answers to what 3 questions would be the most interesting for your team to analyse?
What 2 types of operational data could your company productise to create a new revenue stream?
If your organisation could use its core offering as an infrastructure to provide 2 products or services unrelated to its core offering, what would they be?
Which 2 of your company’s products could be servitized and which 2 services productized?
What 3 operational challenges would your organisation face when integrating products and services across industries?
That’s everything we have for today. You did amazing!
Thank you for expanding your imagination with us. Leaders with bold ideas move our world forward.
Think bright, lead brighter, and see you soon.
Pawel Halicki
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