Attendees

Don, Tate, Mike, Stephen, Dean, Clayten, John, Nolan, Adrian, Samuel, Luke, Yana - Hosting, Kris - Social Media, Michael - Notes

Intro

Introduce yourself with 10 words or less by telling us something you did on the weekend that mattered and how you are feeling today.

Yana

  • Spent time with friends.
  • Overwhelmed and excited.

Michael

  • Attended social hack night
  • Relaxed and interested

Kris

  • Organized social hack night
  • Positively overwhelmed

Don

  • Spent time with sister he had not seen in a long time

Tate

  • Spent time with his kids

Mike

  • Summarized a 10 page project proposal to 1 page
  • Excited

Stephen

  • Hiked at Lake Garibaldi
  • Tired

Dean

  • Course on “Access to power”
  • Free

Clayten

  • Technical hack
  • Good

Adrian

  • Hiked with wife
  • Excited

Nolan

  • Pomodoro webapp + Learning to code HTML, CSS, JS
  • Fantastic

John

  • Soylent project reflection + 2 epiphanies
  • Excellent

Samuel

  • Engineering at statups

Brief idea description

Michael

  • No idea

Kris

  • Logo requests for the ideas group
  • Decision tree
  • Browser plugin to identify DOM requests from server

Don

  • Apply VR to Architecture
  • Help entrepreneurs operate from Manila

Tate

  • Carbon trade on household energy usage

Mike

  • Project for housing in Vancouver

Stephen

  • No idea

Dean

  • Cafe, bar, vintage clothing retail (Fashion)

Clayten

  • Prediction option market for future events (crypto instruments)
  • Transportation idea (car sharing cost analysis)

John

  • Soylent soup including blockchain credit for homeless

Samuel

  • No idea

Nolan

  • No idea

Adrian

  • Crowdsourcing for creative content (like Hit record or Wattpad). Improving fairness for artists.

Yana

  • No idea

Idea development

Kris

Decision tree

  • Kris: Beta launched at beta.decisiontree.io.
  • Kris: Beta test by including one of the ideas into the platform.
  • Kris: Collected participant’s email.

DOM request browser plugin

  • Kris: Build a browser plugin that would detect if a particular server is accessing the DOM.
  • Kris: Website has database encrypted but once served and decrypted the server can request the DOM.
  • Clayten: Difficult to do as a second plugin could trick the plugin with a “fake” DOM.
  • Don: Works at a security company and does JS.

Don

VR for Architecture

  • Don: Opportunity to use VR in the Architecture space.
  • Don: Use to get a better idea of the space and to include point markets.
  • Don: Opportunity to use VR for show room design.
  • Mike: There is a star up that uses drones to map rooms and buildings in 3D (Ngrane).
  • Mike: The future may have traveling in VR as opposed to real life travel.
  • Mike: Imagine Ngrane capturing of cities for video games. Play GTA4 in Vancouver.
  • Adrian: The StarTrek Beyond movie filmed in Dubai by taking 3D models of buildings.
  • Stephen: A winner for the Proto-hack event was a startup that created Unreal engine diagrams.
  • Adrian: HTC Vive has an Everest game.
  • Yana: There is a VR experience for Mayan and Inca ruins.
  • Don: The main issue with VR is that it has no haptic feedback.
  • Nelson: It is a good idea to keep the option if closing your eyes as a failsafe for VR.
  • Adrian: VR could be used for PTSD treatment.
  • Tate: First item to develop idea is to find clients.
  • Nelson: Talk to real estate agents to see if they are interested.
  • Yana: Real Estate agents in Vancouver might not be interested as apartments don’t last. Find interior design clients (Kabuni).
  • John: Use clips and send a “Google Cardboard” to potential clients.
  • Yana: Print examples on paper.
  • Adrian: There is a new “Google Cardboard” that is easy to assemble, as opposed to the original.
  • Mike: There is some interest by developers to understand future technology that will impact the real estate business (Mac marketing solutions).
  • Mike: VR systems for real estate may be more useful in slower markets (like China).

Entrepreneurs in Philippines

  • Michael: VanTech is doing something similar in South America. It might serve as an example.
  • Kris: Startup Chile is shinning in the startup world due to their 30k grants for entrepreneurs.

Tate

Carbon trade on household

  • Tate: Mechanics similar to carbon trading for companies and countries.
  • Tate: Use of electricity as indicator for production of carbon gases.
  • Stephen: You might just end up subsidizing empty houses as they don’t use utilities. Who checks this? Currently government uses utility bills to determine occupation of houses.
  • Adrian: It’s a policy decision. But why implement it? If to regulate energy usage then why not use step pricing. If it is to provide means to lower families, basic income would work better.
  • Yana: Science world has an exhibition on energy use and types of energy consumed.
  • John: This solution does not solve future problem as houses are built and are difficult to rebuild to be more carbon efficient.
  • Tate: The solution is already working for companies and countries.
  • Kris: Why don’t these systems work? They are easily gamed. Quebec has carbon trade.
  • Mike: Consider origin of electricity (carbon vs hydro vs…) Compensate high prices of renewable energy with low carbon trade prices.
  • Yana: There should be incentives for different types of power production.

Mike

Project for housing in Vancouver

  • Mike: Housing land awarded to the solution with best inhabitant density allocation.
  • Clayten: The winner should be voted by home buyers.
  • Adrian: You could use Don’s VR system to sell the housing ideas.
  • Adrian: In Dubai they create land from sea.
  • Luke: Vancouver Coal Harbour has some land gained on the sea.
  • Tate: In London new rich home owners are building underground to have cinemas, pools… as houses cannot be demolished.
  • Mike: The idea is to have housing that is Affordable, Profitable and Liveable.
  • Luke: A lot of high density building construction in Vancouver and prices are not going up.
  • Clayten: Many more high density buildings should be constructed to cover demand.
  • John: Microsoft Hololens as use for making living spaces more premium.
  • Adrian: Use VR to give value to underground housing by projecting outsides.
  • Tate: Public space and public equipments to incentivize a culture with smaller living habitats.
  • Nelson: The issue is that inhabitants in NA culture like the control on how interaction with neighbours happens.
  • Tate: The problem is not privately solved, but publicly.
  • Tate: Automated vehicles will allow for more space.
  • Luke: Luxury home system.
  • John: Capsule hotel.
  • Michael: Co-living spaces.
  • Mike: Detachable buildings.

Dean

Cafe / Bar / Vintage fashion

  • Dean: Crate an open space and community for designers and artists. Hipsters are the target market.
  • Dean: Each artist will have an individual space but there will also be common spaces for creativity and interaction.
  • Yana: Vintage fashion community and cafe? Two target markets? Work building a community vs acquiring clients
  • Dean: The idea is to covering the world of interest for hipster clothing shoppers.
  • Dean: The space would bring in multi talented artists to build the community. Building a community by giving artists and designers a space to connect and do business.
  • Clayten: How to build the community?
  • Dean: Will do events and others.
  • Clayten: Would prefer a system where there was set prices as opposed to negotiated prices.
  • Stephen: There may be an issue where very specialized artists cannot do other stuff. (wallet makers can’t make shirts)
  • Kris: There seems to be a contradiction between high end customers for hand made clothes vs hipster customers for coffee. They are two different target markets. Hipsters don’t spend 100CAD on a shirt.
  • Clayten: You could broker with artists / clients.
  • Adrian: Why put rules on the space and not allow for artists to come up with ideas to monetize. Act as an intermediary between artists and clients.
  • Dean: Prêt-a-porter clothing also in store. People could buy clothes while having coffee.
  • Luke: Curate designs to have a modular personalization system. Create a system where clothes would have options to personalize.(Timbuk2)
  • Tate: You could have a second business or use monthly curated boxes for accessories as foot in the door for shop. (acquisition strategy)
  • John: Take into account high margin vs low margins. Designers and tailors prefer high margins to low.
  • Dean: The artist will be independent contractors, not employees.
  • John: Create a Vancouver Savile Row.
  • Mike: Hipsters respond to high prices.
  • Tate: There is the option of limiting supply to have more demand than supply and therefore higher prices.
  • Dean: The coffee and the food at the store will be done by partner.
  • Stephen: Clients might be able to commission items from artists.

Clayten

Predictive market

  • Is more suitable for a beer conversation.

Transportation idea (car sharing price comparison)

  • Clayten: Which company best fits a specific need or usage pattern?
  • Clayten: What does it not do that is needed?
  • Dean: Could it include public transportation?
  • Clayten: No, but it could frame the answers to the question.
  • Kris: You may need to shrink sliders: cars are used within the city as opposed to long term rentals.
  • Kris: May want to include walking, cycling and public transport.
  • Yana: Is the tool designed for a per trip use or a one time use.
  • Clayten: Originally it is designed for a one time use idea but can be reconsidered.
  • Kris: A common use case is should I cycle or take transit? Can we include car renting prices to that decision.
  • Yana: How is monetization going to happen?
  • Clayten: Will use ads or / and referrals to providers.
  • Yana: It would be interesting to see scales on the sliders.
  • Dean: Possibly companies will change prices to compete so will have to be updated.
  • Clayten: This is beneficial as it will promote more than one use of the page as changing prices will imply new visits.
  • Dean: Would be more useful if I could just insert the location I’m going to instead of using sliders.
  • Tate: I would like to save my usual routes.
  • John: A summary of the contract conditions of the different companies. (There may be hidden pricing).
  • Kris: Conditions are not always on the reservation page and other hidden conditions.
  • Stephen: Use Google to pull information for the route.
  • Clayten: Pulling from API would not be as simple.

John

Soylent soup

  • John: Looking to create a standarized and non-perishable product.
  • John: Intoducing Bitecoin: using blockchain to guarantee food for all.
  • John: The idea that everyone would have a guaranteed minimal meal.
  • John: The system could use high resolution cameras to identify people so as to keep the system fair.
  • John: Each person would have a set amount of bitecoin that would guarantee daily food. They can use it to eat or donate it or sell it…
  • John: There could be sponsorships based on the bitecoin.
  • John: Vending machines would sell and distribute food to reduce labour costs.
  • Luke: There a wide variety of ideas exposed within this idea.
  • John: We are not focusing on nutrition aspect of project currently but on the block chain market.
  • John: The bitecoin would be the abstract value for what food is worth.
  • Kris: The product has to be profitable to be a valid solution.
  • John: The product would have added benefits (caffeine for the morning…). Normal people would buy it for the benefits but at a higher price than the cost.
  • Yana: Decision on this topic happens at a policy level.
  • John: trying to get tech community involved. Wishing tech to push product before government.

Final remarks

  • Kris: The altruistic mammoth is looking for a new home. Looking for a person to get the mammoth on the basis of their altruistic contribution. Blog post to be published by Yana and Kris.
  • Kris: Soylent soup competition. Would have prizes for best tasting, most nutritious, less expensive…
  • Clayten: The meetings should have a system to keep a fair order of intervention.
  • Clayten: Asking if people are going to leave early and then give preference.
  • Kris: Engagement of members in the conversation is more important than time spent on each individual idea.