What3Words Investment

Malthusian

MX5huggy said:

That not to say I think it’s worth x million. If it was run like Wikipedia it would be better. 

"Help help, we're stuck up a mountain. Our W3W location is flange.breadbasket.parsonage."
"Ok, I'll just plug that into the map and we'll be on our w...."
"Attention, don't scroll past this message. We would like to take a few moments of your time-critical mountain rescue to kindly ask your support for our mission. What3Words relies on the generosity of people like you. Currently, only a small fraction of our users contribute, assuming they'll do it later after they've saved someone's life, only to forget. But today, we implore you to take action. By donating a mere £2, or any amount you can spare, you can help What3Words thrive for years to come. We don't inundate you with ads, nor will we ever. Our foundation rests on the support..."
"Hello? The water's up to our waists..."
"Just a sec, we're trying to find the 'Never ask again' button..."
"What3Words is extraordinary, allowing us to pinpoint any location with a unique combination of just three words. It's simple, efficient, and reliable, making the world more accessible to all. Today, we humbly ask you: please, do not overlook this opportunity. If What3Words has granted you the immeasurable value of accurate locations this year, take a moment to donate. By doing so, you're not only supporting our cause, but you're also demonstrating to the world that universal access to precise information truly matters to you. Together, let's redefine navigation and empower everyone to explore the world, one set of three words at a time. Thank you."
"Glug glug glug..."
"Hold on a second sir, I would actually feel guilty if I just Xed this banner advert for the 1,348,927th time."

Exodi

MX5huggy said:

Qyburn said:

What's the point anyway? We already have OSGB grid references which can define down to one meter, and can be read directly off a map.

OSGB does not cover the whole world, obviously there’s other systems that do but they are quite complex to understand and share, if I said go to Connor Drive you might have some doubts about where that is but 

///money.saving.expert

https://w3w.co/money.saving.expert

will lead you straight there. 

That not to say I think it’s worth x million. If it was run like Wikipedia it would be better. 

Specifically what do you mean by that?

The words used in the w3w's locations are permanently fixed and can't be changed. I personally don't agree with this decision as it gives them no ability to rectify all of the examples of nearby similar sounding locations used to discredit them.

If w3w's locations were not fixed, it would not only enable them to fix the problem 3w addresses, it could open the door to a more open source method of address validation (in which they would still develop the rules to prevent profanity or homonyms) or alternatively it could provide them an additional monetization stream (for example, if they provided the ability to rename squares (on condition of proof of ownership and a fee) - I'm sure Lidl would pay a lot of money to rename the W3W square at their head office door to better.than.marks or Tesco for britains.favourite.supermarket

I'm not blind to the fact that allowing addresses to be changed has its cons - most importantly, it would require an internet connection and physical maps would be impractical.... (but is this any different to now? I expect w3w doesn't cache the entire database to a user phones on installation, so an active internet connection is already required). Phones also generally don't have good GPS capabilities without internet and signal remains an issue in remote locations, so I don't think it's as big a deal as it sounds.

That said, given the w3w addresses are fixed, it does make you wonder what the £40M in annual costs are for? The system has already been designed and can't be changed - is it just sales & marketing expenditure?

Malthusian

Exodi said:

I'm not blind to the fact that allowing addresses to be changed has its cons - most importantly, it would require an internet connection and physical maps would be impractical.... 

You're overlooking the biggest con, which is where people make continual use of a W3W address and don't check the W3W website every single time they give it out to see if it's changed.
I've included a W3W address in the weekly Facebook post for a club meet (so that people could find exactly where we were in a massive park - it was the lockdown era) and also in the delivery instructions for my weekly Sainsbury's order (although it didn't actually do any good). It would be very annoying if people went to the wrong place or I had to check the map every week. If they did I would probably have switched to a rival that didn't muck about with it.
I guess in theory you could fix it so that the old W3W ref still worked alongside the new one, but it's starting to sound like more trouble than it's worth.
The issue with there being very similar W3W addresses for locations about a mile apart can be resolved if the receiver always asks for a rough location, such as a street name, on top of the W3W address. If people don't do that and rely purely on the W3W code, there's always going to be a risk of getting it wrong. That's the case with any system based on codes or numbers. (If you use numbered grid references, people can swap digits or mishear "zero" for "seven", etc.)

I'm sure Lidl would pay a lot of money to rename the W3W square at their head office door to better.than.marks or Tesco for britains.favourite.supermarket

I like the idea, but nobody goes to Lidl's head office other than a handful of Lidl staff (who will use the postcode). Big companies must pay something to get phone numbers that are easy to remember or personalised post codes (like BX1 1LT for Lloyds TSB or W1N 4DJ for Radio 1), but I can't see them spending more than a few thousand quid at most for an online vanity plate that almost no members of the public will ever see. Won't go far across all the crowdfunding investors.

That said, given the w3w addresses are fixed, it does make you wonder what the £40M in annual costs are for?

I was asked in the pub about the W3W crowdfunding a couple of days ago, which is the first time that's happened since 2021 (it was Bitcoin then). By someone with no experience of investing (let alone private equity) who thought it was "worth a punt", naturally. I bet you that's where the money is going. More brand awareness -> raising more money.

boingy

Exodi said:

 it does make you wonder what the £40M in annual costs are for

I imagine they get through shedloads of slashes and dots. I hope they recycle the packaging.

Futuristic

boingy said:

Eyeful said:

  https://www.crowdcube.com/explore-companies/what3words?country=GB

At the top of the above website is the warning:-

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.

Hopefully this should assist the OP on if they want to invest in that company. 

Yeah, but tomorrow they might get bought by Apple/Microsoft/Google/Whoever - KER-CHING!    
That's how these investors work. They invest in dozens of high risk "vapourware" companies and hope one of them eventually makes enough to cover the losses of all the others. It's not a game for normal investors.

You forgot the part where they (VCs) also friends & family of the company invest in seed/series a at much lower valuations then dump on Crowdcube / IPO etc  

Qyburn

boingy said:

Because "grants.logo.shield" is a whole lot more human-friendly and memorable than either "51.513759, -0.088168" or "TQ3276081158"

But I presume it's wholly reliant on Internet access and proprietary web site. Or is it? Is there a published formula so that for example if I know I'm at fish.and.chips I can work out distance and bearing to steak.pie.supper?

someone

Qyburn said:

boingy said:

Because "grants.logo.shield" is a whole lot more human-friendly and memorable than either "51.513759, -0.088168" or "TQ3276081158"

But I presume it's wholly reliant on Internet access and proprietary web site. Or is it? Is there a published formula so that for example if I know I'm at fish.and.chips I can work out distance and bearing to steak.pie.supper?

The details of the algorithm are in their patent (which some say is somewhat unsound patent due to prior art). Whilst some implementation modes require internet access to do the lookup, some licence options do the lookup offline instead. 

OpenStreetMap blog page on them makes interesting reading https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/What3words

boingy

someone said:

Qyburn said:

boingy said:

Because "grants.logo.shield" is a whole lot more human-friendly and memorable than either "51.513759, -0.088168" or "TQ3276081158"

But I presume it's wholly reliant on Internet access and proprietary web site. Or is it? Is there a published formula so that for example if I know I'm at fish.and.chips I can work out distance and bearing to steak.pie.supper?

The details of the algorithm are in their patent (which some say is somewhat unsound patent due to prior art). Whilst some implementation modes require internet access to do the lookup, some licence options do the lookup offline instead. 

OpenStreetMap blog page on them makes interesting reading https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/What3words

Interesting indeed. I'm amused at the Mongolian postal service adopting it an I'm entertained at the WhatFreeWords stuff and the subsequent legal cat and mouse game. I think I may now know where W3W's 40 million admin expenses were spent...

Qyburn

someone said:

The details of the algorithm are in their patent (which some say is somewhat unsound patent due to prior art). Whilst some implementation modes require internet access to do the lookup, some licence options do the lookup offline instead. 

Not really any better, you'd still have to have access to the database in some way. Something you can read and measure directly off a map wins out for any practical application.

Brie

Qyburn said:

someone said:

The details of the algorithm are in their patent (which some say is somewhat unsound patent due to prior art). Whilst some implementation modes require internet access to do the lookup, some licence options do the lookup offline instead. 

Not really any better, you'd still have to have access to the database in some way. Something you can read and measure directly off a map wins out for any practical application.

How so?  If you don't know where you are you won't be able to find yourself easily on a map - unless you are exceedingly good with maps, contour lines, etc.