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Simbi — Network to exchange talents and services
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Dalton Caldwell
Hunter
Hey Product Hunt! Simbi is a network for bartering services. I love it because it allows anyone with a talent or side-hustle to earn credits that you can use to get things like artwork, fitness training, or graphic design you otherwise couldn't afford. Check it out!
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The app is super heavy, there are 15 menu items, and it asked me for my phone number right off the bat to text me (why?). Plus, there's a weird Tinder swiping interface and it's gamified. I love the idea, and I posted a service, but I feel overwhelmed every time I open the app. If I can get over the heavy experience, maybe I'll find great value beneath 😄
@inventitorfixit Hey Jordan -- thanks for the feedback. A horizontal marketplace like ours in particularly hard on mobile, and we're still refining everything about how that should work (especially without having a native app yet). The Tinder-swiping interface is to allow us to find matches who like what you do and vice-versa. It's totally optional -- you can also just browse categories. Stay tuned for a native app that can better solve some of these challenges!
@inventitorfixit Pro-tip: As an entrepreneur, I bet you get a ton of people asking you for informational interviews and "coffees". You can run these through Simbi to give of your time, but also have built-in reciprocity.
Unlocking excess capacity is one of the most interesting (and difficult) challenges any company can take on. Connecting skills with needs with less friction is just hugely valuable.
@nlw you said it. We believe there's way more abundance to be had than a single-currency market mechanism can facilitate.
That's a super literal logo. Relatively cute though & more welcoming that whatever MC Escher-eques logo you'd make for more of a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" direction. Nice place to start bartering if you're not exactly liquid, interested to see if it somehow works 'symbiotically' with the cash economy.
Very cool idea, KJ...
I was working on something similar (Producia) for college campuses back in 2014 and one of the biggest challenges we came across in our pilot project was a lot of students didn't know what skills they had to offer other students.
I'm a huge proponent for alternative economics and I even developed an economic model called Producism (http://producism.org). Would love to chat sometime :).
@imdrewlittle How cool. Let's definitely put our heads together.
We have a Skills Quiz (https://simbi.com/quiz) to help people think about what they can offer, but mostly they realize from browsing other people's offers (https://simbi.com/services) and requests (https://simbi.com/requests)
Absolutely love it! What a great idea! No money needed! Just share what you can actually do, and get what you want! So simple and great!
I'm not an expert in psychology but I know a thing or two as psychology is my hobby and I grew up in the Post-Soviet world where people were completely exhausted from a planned economy and lack of free market and money flow.
It's a very appealing idea at a glimpse because it deeply resonates with our primal roots - tribe, skill trade, everything's perfect in this world until we evolve. And we've evolved and now we need another type of system - money.
The problem is not money but corrupted ideas about money. People just don't know what money really is and how to use them properly, therefore they process information about money incorrectly. Same as fears, for example (hi to Seth Godin).
I'm not bestselling author, super entrepreneur or public figure but mark my words: barter doesn't work. Money work and teaching people the right ideas about money is what really needed.
If you really want to help, create a platform for fair skill-to-money exchange where people will not fear of overpricing and underpricing their talents. It's a huge problem asking this question every time "Is it a correct price for that kind of work?".
@antonsekatski Agreed with you. Barter can solve a lot of problems around excess capacity, but ultimately we need pricing systems for efficiency. We've built that in to Simbi, and we're seeing a better/more fair distribution of pricing than in the dollar economy where corporations can drive down labor prices. Check it out to see how it works.
A lot of the services on Simbi would actually cost lots of money, really excited to see how this spreads. What's the craziest exchange you've seen so far @kjer?
@panashemahachi oh there are so many! One story I love is a guy who booked a Latin translation service, and used it to translate exorcism spells for a ghost who was too old to respond to English.
Excellent idea and very useful to improve collaboration. I'm trying Simbi right now and it looks really good. Great work!!
@ilovetonkatsu appreciate the support, Bigi. We're growing the number of services by about 300 each day!
The users adding and exchanging value without paying taxes, or? What are your thoughts about the situation when the success of simbi could be against the interests of a state to collect taxes for every exchange?
@llabball fair question, but what a great milestone for humanity when wisened communities can smoothly self-organise without needing a ‘state’ to mediate? Across the world ‘state’ is synonymous with tribalistic, power-grabbing, self-important, out-of-touch bureaucrats. As an industry, the ‘state’ has latched onto the most powerful business model: heighten your primordial fears, sell you security/nirvana, and divert your money to entrench its negotiating power at the next sales event (election, if that). Meanwhile, the ‘state’ is the biggest enabler of the rigged economy: when did the state last shift tax-payer money to bail out your startup misadventures, or print money to credit your little balance sheet, or cut you slack on your real tax-rate, let alone invite your opinion at the advisory council on the economy?
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ended up with a long-winded response/rant so thought it better to spare PH folks the stress and expand my thoughts with a rare post on medium if anyone is curious: https://medium.com/@wahome/think...
not clickbait, but might interest @antonsekatski @arisalexis @inventitorfixit @kjer
Hi everybody, I'm KJ. I built Simbi to solve my own problem. As a small business owner I used to do half of my income in trade -- it was a magical experience that completely transformed my quality of life. And yet, when I wanted to trade for a specific service (getting my hair done), no hairstylist had ever walked through my door. With Simbi, we're trying to expose you to a creative universe of opportunities to exchange your skills for real-world experiences and value. Looking forward to your feedback!
@menjvillalobos how do you monetize? I think Reddit Gold might be a decent comp to give you an idea of how it could be done.
@menjvillalobos we don't right now as we focus on getting the experience right and building the network.
@kjer Love LOVE this idea! Can't wait to test drive it. Really curious how you'll monetize. No matter what you're gonna max out on karma points for sure
@kjer @menjvillalobos - seems like you could just siphon off a simbi from each transaction and use your own system to "monetize" :)
I think this is a fantastic idea and I'm personally excited to give a try. The idea of a skills trade has the power to change the local economy on a massive scale and even the playing field between the wage delta.
@michaeldorian Thanks Michael. We agree -- when people can be valued for all the skills the possess, everyone ends up much better off. Looking forward to your feedback !
@kjer Yeah. I feel like this would be awesome in places where the balance of power is out of whack. I wonder how we can get kids to start doing this with each other and teaching this idea to a younger crowd so it becomes just a way of life.
@michaeldorian Totally. We plan to start with colleges and expand down into high schools, where so many young people want to follow their hearts for their careers but don't know where to start. Also, the study/tutoring use case is pretty compelling.
@michaeldorian Exactly. While not everyone has disposable income, everyone has a skill. Literally every single person on earth has a currency to trade for Simbi. Potentially revolutionary.
Simbi is flat out amazing. It levels the playing field, allowing my experiences and unique talents to carry its fair weight, something that is extremely difficult to define without Simbi. Even better than that, it allows me to trade for completely new experiences I would have not otherwise tried. Please keep up the great work team Simbi!
Simbi is a fantastic implementation of a social currency - I'm an enthusiastic user and fanboy, and have been enjoying watching as more and more features are added and we all get increasingly engaged in the platform. Happy this got hunted!
@gordonwcasey Gordon -- so glad you've enjoyed it! Stay tuned for a lot more improvements from us in the coming months.
@jamie_ross It's there! Tap the magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner.
KJ I love your work, Simbi is incredible :) At the earliest stages of my company, http://brainbuild.io, we got a ton of validation for our product because I put our basic offering up as a Simbi service. The likes I get today are still so motivating!
@joejlam thank you so much for sharing this story! I'm so glad that we were of help in building your company. We do see that a lot -- people building out their business or side-hustle through Simbi. We plan to build way more tools for this soon.