1/ In 1975, Gary Dahl started selling rocks for $4. Six months later, he made $15 million dollars.
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2/ Gary Dahl was employed as an advertising executive in California. He was at a bar with his friends listening to them complain about their pets. He had an idea.
3/ He joked to them that they should have a rock as a pet. He decided to turn that joke into an actual product โ "The Pet Rock"
4/ The Pet Rock were smooth stones from Rosarito Beach in Mexico. Each rock came with an instruction manual, straw and breathing hole. The rocks were sold for $4.
5/ He wrote in the marketing that a rock "would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed, and it would not die, become sick, or be disobedient" The rock was a perfect pet.
6/ Each rock cost one cent while the straws were nearly free. In his first run of the product, he was able to print the instruction manual for free through his job. His biggest expense was die cutting and manufacturing of the boxes.
7/ The instruction manual was titled, "The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock". It included instructions such as properly raising and caring for your pet. It also included how to teach the rock new skills like "sit", "stay" and "roll-over".
8/ He started producing the rocks in April of 1975 and by Christmas of that year, he sold over 1 million rocks. Even though the fad lasted only a year, he sold 1.5 million rocks and raked in $15M in profit.
9/ Sometimes it's not about selling a product, but selling an idea. Gary said, "People are so damn bored, tired of all their problems. This takes them on a fantasy trip โ you might say weโve packaged a sense of humor."
10/ If Gary can sell rocks to people, you can find something to sell too. It might just take a bit of ingenuity and clever marketing.
What is your pet rock?
11/ Enjoy this tweet? Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter to receive original content about the Attention Economy. I help brands grow their audience.
Some observations on the Earth Observation industry after attending GEOINT 2022.
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1) AI and Geospatial
There are a lot of companies selling AI solutions to geospatial. The problem is AI is a tool, but very few companies do a good job explaining how it benefits the end-user.
2) Selling products not solutions
Many companies on both the software and imagery side are selling what they do, but not how they can help the customer.
Did you ever try to take a photo, but your view was blocked? Maybe it was nighttime or there were clouds in the way. Well, satellites have the same issue. Do you know how they solve it?
Synthetic Aperture Radar
Here's a Breakdown ๐งต
Most satellites in orbit use a technology called electro-optical sensors. They work like a camera. It takes and returns a photo similar to the one on your iPhone. The main difference? The satellite camera is way more powerful.
(a photo from an electro-optical satellite)
But sometimes your view is blocked. For example, you can't take a photo at night b/c there is no light. An image is only formed when two rays of light converge. If there is no light on a camera, the electrical signals can't convert into pixels. It's why you use flash at night.
Elon Musk wants to launch 42,000 satellites into space.
He plans to spend $30B to do it and it will change the way billions of people access the internet. ๐งต
SpaceX was started in 2002 with the goal of "reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars." Musk invested ~$100MM into SpaceX plus a $278MM NASA contract provided the seed funding for SpaceX. In 2006, SpaceX launched its first rocket, Falcon 1.
The first three launches failed. Musk nearly went bankrupt. In September 2008, on the fourth attempt, Falcon 1 successfully launched. In December 2008, SpaceX was awarded a $1.6B contract from NASA and SpaceX could begin focusing on the future.
The problem? Satellites are expensive to build and the majority are controlled by the government.
The solution? Build a less expensive satellite that anyone can use.
2/ The company launched its first satellite in 2013. A Planet CubeSat weighs four kilograms. Terra, a NASA launched Earth Obersation satellite, weighs 4,864 kilograms.
Planet achieved a more than 99% decrease in launch mass.