Some of the most unusual economic indicators you've probably never heard of-

A thread...

1. Men’s underwear Index: Accordingly to this index, a decline in men’s underwear sales indicates a poor overall state of economy, while an upswing in sales predicts an improving economy.
Hence, by tracking the sales of men's underwear, we might be able to detect the relative health of the economy.
2. The First Date Indicator:
When an economy bottoms out, people seek the comfort of relationships to overcome depression and loneliness. The indicator shows how there is an increased traffic on online dating sites during recession.
This was seen during the crisis of 2008, when US-based online dating service Match. com reported the highest surge in traffic in over seven years.
3. The Garbage Indicator:
The more money people have, the more they buy, and the more they toss away. This indicator suggests that a booming economy is likely to lead to increased waste disposal. According to economists, the indicator has an 82% accuracy to US economic growth.
4. The R-Word Index:
This indicator, created by The Economist, keeps a count on how many times the word “Recession” appears in the news. The idea is that during an economic downturn there is a surge in the usage of the “scary word starting with R.”
5. The Champagne Index:
When you have reasons to celebrate, you pop open a bottle of champagne. So champagne sales are normally associated with rising income levels in the economy. They tell us whether shoppers are buying luxury or premium goods, indicating the market sentiment.
6. Buttered Popcorn Index - Conventional wisdom suggests that when the economy is in tatters, people tend to get frugal. But when times are tough people also need an escape, like watching a movie with a bucket of buttered popcorn.
This indicator shows how the movie business can thrive during an economic downturn. Reports found that the US box office saw one of its best years during the 2008 recession, and plummeted as the markets eased later

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So the cryptocurrency industry has basically two products, one which is relatively benign and doesn't have product market fit, and one which is malignant and does. The industry has a weird superposition of understanding this fact and (strategically?) not understanding it.


The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.

This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.

The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."

This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.