Thriving in the gray area
The giant startups that shook up our lives such as Uber and Airbnb did so because they were, by nature, disruptive. But disruption is a nicer way of saying illegal. Then they got so big so fast that regulators have no choice but to regulate them permissively,
The recipe for disruption is of the following:
- Provides a service that is so obviously good for the consumers
- Grow big before regulators have time to react
There are (illegal) disruptions, and then there is the gray area. I had a lot of weird customers from my previous experience at NuMoney. Customers who dipped their toes in the gray area such as
- as selling prepaid debit cards so people can move "funds" out of a country
- money changers offering remitting services
The above services are perfectly legal, and they contribute to money laundering.
Then there is AI and Big Data. With Sapiengraph, we work exclusively with data publicly attainable on the internet. Beyond that, I have decided to (pay money) and seek formal legal advice to make sure we stay on the right side of the law.
Right from the get-go, I have made it a mission to steer clear of regulations. That means to say that we will not go head-to-head against incumbent laws. From my experience (with NuMoney/LandX), it is almost always a losing fight. This time, I will not build a business that will require a license.