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A comment on If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?. Parent comment

Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by seldo on Friday October 30, 2009 @02:46PM (#912544)
You make valid points. My problem is less the specifics of the individual teams' solutions -- I don't dispute they were very clever and creative solutions -- but rather the impression that the greatest reward went to those who went furthest outside of the rules.

Team 1 were arguably entirely within the rules and made $200, Team 2 went a little outside (unless they were handed the envelope at 6pm) and made a little more, Team 3 ignored the 2-hour stipulation entirely and made $650.

Fundamentally, you're not rewarding creativity at money-making, you're rewarding creativity at rule-breaking.

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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by varikin on Friday October 30, 2009 @03:08PM (#912580)
If you watch the video, all teams were handed the envelop at the start of the week in class. They were allowed to think an form a business plan as long as they liked. They didn't know how much was in the envelop. Once they opened the envelop, they had 2 hours to make money.
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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by dkokelley on Friday October 30, 2009 @09:36PM (#913139)
Exactly. They weren't told they must open the envelope. The last team figured this out and (presumably) timed it so that their 2 hours coincided with the 3 minute presentation time.
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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by raganwald on Friday October 30, 2009 @04:11PM (#912681)
Fundamentally, you're not rewarding creativity at money-making, you're rewarding creativity at rule-breaking.

And there's your insight. If what you want is money, and lots of it, finding creative ways to game the system is how it's done.

I am not lauding that, just pointing it out.

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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by Goladus on Friday October 30, 2009 @10:08PM (#913167)
Actually the lesson was about managing valuable resources, not gaming the system. It was a warning that the system can be distracting and can easily confine your thinking.
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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by protomyth on Friday October 30, 2009 @06:15PM (#912904)
Maybe on Wall Street, but elsewhere you make a lot of money by creating something people really want, but not generally what they wanted.
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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by herval on Friday October 30, 2009 @11:31PM (#913231)
elsewhere you make money by making people want things, not trying to predict what they want. People usually don't know what they want anyway...
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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by gnaritas on Friday October 30, 2009 @08:13PM (#913068)
> finding creative ways to game the system is how it's done.

And a good way to end a up crook or in jail. Business should be about creating value for both parties involved.

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Re:If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as m... by Goladus on Friday October 30, 2009 @10:01PM (#913159)
The lesson was: don't let funding distract you from identifying the most valuable resources available to you. At worst, the cases you mention break the rules in rather insignificant ways. All three scenarios can quite plausibly be done entirely within the rules as defined, even if they didn't quite make it in reality.

Presumably, there were much less creative solutions that also failed to entirely obey all stipulations. It was an exercise, not a contest.

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