Become the broker
Recall: Never public markets
A systematic alternative to participating in a market is creating and gatekeeping a market. For example: hosting events, creating an online store that sells other people’s stuff.
Two advantages:
- All deals flow through you. You understand exactly how the market works and can manipulate it to your advantage.
- You’re now providing people with a service by letting them compete in your market. They might offer you money or other forms of value to raise their standing and competitiveness- this is the “dating app premium tier” scheme. You can even have people bid against each other on market standing (the advertising marketplace model).
However, there are a couple risks:
- In some situations manipulating a market you own is seen as an abuse of power, even if it’s totally legal. This is usually because the broker pretended the market was fair. Don’t do that if you’re gonna cheat.
- Nobody gets upset if singers hook up with their fans, but if a dating app exec artificially inflates his profile then that seems pretty bad.
- If the broker is too efficient, then he risks becoming a fungible utility. Keep relationships illegible and personal for as long as possible.