I’d really appreciate thoughts and comments on an important issue we’ve been thinking over.
For those that have been around for a while - you know our tendencies are slightly off kilter. How else do you explain an 8 point philosophy?
I came to Canada when I was 14. Starting off with $0 (I had no allowance), I’ve grown the parent company (Enthropia Inc) into a multi-faceted organization with over 25 employees and 6 divisions.
Due to my zero-sum beginnings (and being a naive immigrant integrating into high school is no fun either), I’ve always had a soft spot for the upstart. Someone that has the guts and passion to do something, but needs some support. I even created a scholarship at the University of Toronto that specifically rewarded students who had a job and had an average just below Honors (80%). The money would allow them to work a little bit less, study a bit more, and get onto the Dean’s List. I did this while a student myself (third year engineering). I’m not bragging here - I just want to underscore my commitment to the little guy.
So when we originally had the idea of iBegin Source and we began discussions with data providers and partners, I was adamant that we have a non-commercial option. While $1000 may not look like a large sum to some people, to others it is too much to spare. If there is one area of the internet that needs innovation - it’s local. So we wanted to help developers create something unique.
At the same time - there was no physical medium to track. So as a trade-off, the non-commercial listings had the phone numbers removed (to thwart telemarketers) and also geocoding removed (a separate service of iBegin - consider it a value-add).
We’ve had some interesting apps developed. We’ve supported projects we thought were interesting with the full data set. Overall I think we’ve done a fair bit to change the landscape - but it isn’t enough.
Two issues have arisen:
1. The lack of phone # and geocoding turns off people we want on our side. They understand our situation, but not having phone #s and/or geocoding limits the ‘usefulness’ of what they can build.
2. Some people have an odd sense of entitlement. Bulk mail companies have taken our data and used it for commercial purposes. My favorite was when a company emailed us thanking us for our data, and recommendations on how we could make it easier for them to send out mass-mails.
Before going further - I want to clarify. iBegin Source itself is a success. We even get fan-mail. The product itself is doing great - we did just launch Canadian data.
And while US data is (relatively) common, Canadian data is much harder to come across. It is much harder to get financing for Canadian-focused companies. This post is about fostering innovation in the local space (with our data as a critical component). We want to give users access to the full enchilada (phone numbers and geocoding). At the same time, we want to make sure businesses don’t see it as some freebie and use the data commercially without paying.
So the question is - “What should we do to make sure people with a great local idea have the data they need?”
A few thoughts and ideas we’ve kicked around (I’m keeping my personal opinion out of them):
- Require the end-user to submit a little description (50-250 words) on what the data will be used for.
- Add a small surcharge ($5-$25). This way you also have billing info, and so removes anonymity.
- Make non-commercial physical only. For a shipping & handling fee, you will Fedex them a DVD with the data.
- Create an API.
I look forward to your thoughts.
UPDATE: Great ideas already under way. I want to emphasize - the non-commercial requirements still apply. This is more about getting the data to people who can do interesting things with it. We are very cognizant of the fine-balance required between commercial and non-commercial users (if there were no commercial users iBegin Source wouldn’t work).
Half-kidding here.
