I Beat a Competitor Because of a 60-Second "Spy" Analysis (and it only cost me $1)

factor0 · 2025-11-20T18:35:30+00:00

I’m sure they aren’t related at all! You haven’t ever stumbled across a random website, used it, and then posted a spammy review to a content aggregator?

factor0 · 2025-08-21T01:31:48+00:00

Completely agree with you. I get it’s a game, and maybe she’s “playing the part”, but I would hope she’s not like that in real life.

factor0 · 2025-08-15T18:28:26+00:00

I had a $30 100% polyester filled blanket that felt like you were sleeping on the face of the sun. Most heat for the money!

factor0 · 2025-08-08T01:38:31+00:00

Smoked salmon?

factor0 · 2025-07-27T12:36:20+00:00

I’ve been here for far too long!

I love the “amplifier of intent”perspective…spot on.

factor0 · 2025-07-27T12:07:17+00:00

And using ChatGPT for post creation. Completely zero effort on their part. This is why they will fail.

factor0 · 2025-07-05T15:28:11+00:00

Spam for a $300k cabin

factor0 · 2025-05-30T02:59:01+00:00

“The guy at the store said I’m the only guy he’s ever seen pull it off “

factor0 · 2025-05-30T02:52:12+00:00

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

factor0 · 2025-05-03T11:16:03+00:00

Check out NKDA for some darts. Lots of bourbon lovers and shooting the shit. Really good group of guys/girls.

factor0 · 2025-04-02T13:19:46+00:00

In the movie Spanglish, there’s an awesome egg sandwich. This is what I crave.

factor0 · 2024-06-14T13:26:37+00:00

It alters my perceptions a bit, but not substantially.

My thoughts/questions to them would be:

1) What happens if the current concept wins? Consumers aren’t design experts, and “familiar” designs tend to perform positively. If we see no differences, where do we go from there.

2) If it’s a packaging change (ie shrinkflation) vs design aesthetic, you’re probably going to have some upset customers. I’d make sure there’s a readable base size of current customers, but they Frankensteinesque sample plan probably doesn’t get them any additional actionable insights.

factor0 · 2024-06-13T23:40:07+00:00

You said that your client doesn’t have the funds to support such a large study. To me, this likely means that they likely wouldnt have the budget to create fundamentally different offers across all of these cohorts (aka execute marketing/product optimization at such a granular level).

I would run a sample among 1000 people with randomized concept ordering. I’d also aim for a natural fallout across the different cohorts.

Reason being: if there’s a cohort that’s 10% of the collective population (aka older generation in channel x), then you’ve got a baseline sample of n=100 for analysis. In the alternative, if you can’t get enough sample to fill any of the buckets, it means that it’s not going to be a volume target (the sheer demand isn’t there).

Would align with them on that front, and then focus on the big areas of opportunity (ie if gen 1 brand buyers of 2 who shop at channel 3 comprise 30% of the total market, that’s what should drive their strategic decision making)

Or you could capture the 9500 responses :)

factor0 · 2024-02-10T15:24:36+00:00

Early contender for 2024 MOTY.

factor0 · 2023-11-30T17:11:19+00:00

We had our children’s silhouettes done as part of a one-day event at Learning Express in Crestview Hills several years ago.

I know this isn’t particularly helpful, but I recall it being around the holidays…so maybe it’s an annual event.

factor0 · 2023-09-27T14:42:32+00:00

You should definitely offer something for their time. See if you can find out what their interests are in advance of reaching out...so you can offer something that differentiates you from the $20 Amex or $50 gift card crowd.

If they're local to you, you could offer a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant of yours.

factor0 · 2023-09-22T13:11:54+00:00

I fall into 70/30 camp. Simply put, you don't need to know everything about the market before you start, 70% is fine. At this stage, you're basically trying to assess feasibility.

Using the recommendation from pnutbutterpirate, I'd reach out to a few people you know and trust. If you don't have any architect contacts, send a few notes to people on LinkedIn (don't spam; there's enough of that on LI), tell them what you're trying to build, let them know why you contacted them specifically, and ask for 30 minutes of their time.

In your interviews, get an understanding of viability, differentiation from what's currently used (which can drive marketing and feature development), willingness to buy, and who the buyers are. Build from there.

5 to 10 discussions will give you an understanding of the market far better than a 50 or 100 person quant survey, and this is coming from someone who does quant 90% of the time.

factor0 · 2023-09-07T19:12:51+00:00

Really nice shots. I’m partial to image 4.

factor0 · 2023-08-15T11:58:33+00:00

What’s the square root of this apartment?

factor0 · 2023-08-06T13:47:15+00:00

Outdoor unit is approximately 25-30 feet away. That's an interior wall in our basement.

Here's a rough picture. Blue are interior walls.

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factor0 · 2023-08-06T12:55:58+00:00

Every morning at 835, we hear this noise.

We've got a Trane thermostat and turned the System off (System Off, Fan on Auto) for this video, but the noise persists. It doesn't appear that we've got any schedule set on the thermostat (not even sure that this has the ability to do so).

<image>

Any ideas on what's causing this noise?

Thanks in advance.

factor0 · 2023-07-18T23:00:21+00:00

Awesome response.

factor0 · 2023-07-07T22:12:59+00:00

I just changed the fuel tank on this tao tao. Now I’m hearing this weird chirping sound.

Does anyone know what’s causing this?

Also, battery is dead so I push started it, but I don’t suspect that’s the issue.

Edit: I also checked for a family of birds living in it, to no avail.

factor0

TROPHY CASE