Back around 2008 onwards, a few startups appeared, loosely grouped as human search engines, that let people sign up as experts and others to ask questions. Aardvark (acquired by Google) and ChaCha were a couple of them.
I used Aardvark. You could send an email or an instant message, and after a while, you’d get a reply back from someone with insight into the topic. It was fun, both to ask and answer questions, but as far as can remember, it had a business model based around the kindness of strangers. The 2000s internet was a different place.
Lately, I’ve thinking about earned insight (or “actual experience”, as some people call it), and it reminded me of these services. I wonder if there is a potential market for a more professional version of these services, a service you can use to “peer-review” your ideas and the knowledge you’ve gleaned from the web using AI. Someone outside of your network, who can answer the question “does this actually make any sense?”
This note is a living document and will keep changing. It's not an article. It's a notebook page I'm letting you read over my shoulder. If you spot something I'm wrong about, or if you've worked through the same thing differently, reply to henrik@holenventures.com.