You have found me
on the Internet
Google has shown you the way. Or maybe you are privacy focused and the duck did.
Either way, Hello. I am Bruce. If you want to contact me just click the button. You will have to figure out my email (it is not hard).
About Me
While you are here..
What I am interested in
Broadly, upgrading inefficient experiences. Specifically turning slogs into easier to follow paths that cut down on frustration and provide value.
Higher Education Access
That was the motivation to creating CourseBuffet. There were lots of free college level courses but they were spread across multiple providers and none of the aggregators returned apples to apples comparisons. There was also no easy way to put them in a degree path and get college credit. CourseBuffet made it easier to make direct comparisons and create learning paths that mirrored IRL degree paths. Spoiler alert it didn’t turn in to a financial success. But as everyone says after, it was a wonderful journey, lessons learned, etc.
Higher education still interests me. It is in a state of flux and the long predicted unbundling of it is ambling along. Changing attitudes, ballooning debt, lower ROI on non STEM degree, population changes etc will mean more college closures and contractions. It’s going to be painful for undifferentiated EDUs.
Computer Vision
It is a power that has been used in industrial settings but I has yet to reach its potential on a consumer side.
Consumer Social
Highly competitive space where almost all new things die. But I firmly believe there are at least segments that have not major player and two household names could be built. Those areas are..(redacted).
Apparel
Markups can be 90%. At least a couple billionaires have made their $ in apparel. Its also fraught with problems on the business side let alone some environmental factors. I think there is niches that have not been exploited. Marketing that could be sharper. But the moats are like puddles in apparel.
On a related note, I wonder about is what happened to H&M? How did they lose their way and slightly more expensive Primark instead of being a cheaper Zara as they were? After $3b in unsold apparel piled up, changes should have been made. Seemingly they have not.
What I am working on
Something in the consumer social
I have worked on a few apps in this space. My first from the ground up creation is Klak – WiFi group chat. Dead simple concept, group chat with everyone on the same WiFi. It is still a work in progress. Creating density is a major hurdle. On the non core value prop I am not trying to recreate the wheel. Learning to make better onboarding flows and screens.
Going to limit what I say but there few basic things I think when it comes to social. Keeping people out can be just as important as the cliché bringing people together. The is other is for all the social apps out there and everyone having a smartphone our networking is still siloed and still very manual. This might sound a little contradictory but it is not. There is some nuance that I may expand upon..but not yet.