Predictify - Get Paid To Predict

I got a chance to speak one on one with Ed Heacox, VP of Business Development for a new startup called Predictify. Founded by two Stanford students, Parker Barrile and Mike Agnich, the company was started in May. Joining the company in July, Ed Heacox was the first employee, and now the company has about half a dozen employees and growing rapidly. So what exactly is Predictify?

Predictify is a survey engine that is basically a prediction market. On the site, users can answer questions that test their predictive abilities in various fields. If they happen to be right, they can win money, and if you are lucky enough, lots of real money! Users even get a small payout for answering a question if they end up being wrong.

“Predictify is based on the premise that there is opportunity on the internet to aggregate the internet users and to achieve the wisdom of the crowds by aggregating viewpoints and expectations about future events.”

People and companies wanting to do market research can submit questions to the Predictify audience (for a fee) and the answers that prove to be most accurate split the bulk of “pot” that is attached to the question. This is ingenious! The point of rewarding people is not to actually pay people for being right. The money is there to ensure that people who answer questions try to be right. Data from a survey is broken down in many ways for its users who pay for results, and it is that demographic breakdown that Predictify is really selling.

There are currently hundreds of questions on the site, some with a “pot” and others without. They range from who will win the 2008 presidential election, to Which NFL team will win the Super Bowl this season. Suppose a company wants to know how to price a product. It can ask a question such as, “What will the price of this product be on the release date?” The answers will reveal the demographics, also revealing what different groups (age, area, gender, etc.) think the item is worth. Therefore, the point of the question is to aggregate the wisdom of the crowd and determine a price point in which users have predicted.

Another useful way to use Predictify is in real estate. Suppose you want to sell your home? Heacox informed me that there have been homeowners that have submitted the question, “What price will my home sell for?” with a phenomenal amount of responses. The feedback is quite significant to the seller. “One homeowner found that families with kids appraised his home significantly higher than individuals and single folks.”

There you have it - Predictify. A fast growing startup that is looking better and better. It’s one of the most brilliant Web 2.0 companies I’ve seen, and I think they will go quite far. Preditify reminds of the company Predictit.com, which quickly shut down. However, I think Predictify knows what they are doing. “We have a strong engineering team.” said Heacox. They are expecting to come out with some more cool features and Heacox said it would be this year, so be on the lookout.

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