Business development

[Daniel]

For Ripple to thrive and fulfill its promise, the growth of Ripple has to produce useful outcomes for people, and thus active payments and business development. I think Ripple can help people enough that they'll be willing and happy to pay for the service, but it would require planning to focus our efforts in useful directions. I propose that a good starting point would be to outline some possible growth directions, which would lead to work on an appropriate business plan.

Here's an initial list of ideas, please feel free to add any further ones or other comments!

1. More of the same: Simple and direct, get people manually using Ripple in their personal networks to track credit limits, loans, payments, etc. Gradual expansion as social networks spread out, encompassing more people and organizations. Accept donations or fees for Ripple transactions and related services.
1. pros: Straightforward process, already underway.
2. cons: Seems hard to get quick leverage, requires a lot of explaining and understanding, which take plenty of time and effort. Potential market may be small, since people can already use a lot of competing choices (cash, Paypal, IOUs, bitcoin, etc.)
2. Social favor/IOU tracker: Market Ripple as a simple way for people to turn their casual obligations, like moving help or pizza money, into a useful mini-economy. Accept fees or donations, or sell ads, etc.
1. pros: Approachable idea, can be done realistically.
2. cons: Service might not be hugely necessary.
3. Integrated resource accounting: Use Ripple to track resources within other applications, such as distributed data transfer. Accept fees for integration, or for Ripple transactions and related services.
1. pros: Can be done without having to convey abstract concepts to large swathes of people, would get people Ripple credits through automatic stuff they do anyway, would be cool.
2. cons: Not really possible until there's an API, even then it would require more development plus communicating with other groups, and even then it would be experimental.
4. Currencies for small groups: Help communities use Ripple to create and manage currencies for those communities' use, which would also benefit the wider Ripple community through inter-currency exchange. Accept fees for supporting communities, or for Ripple transactions and related services.
1. pros: Already possible, not necessarily that difficult.
2. cons: May be a small market, may already have enough tools to do this.
5. Banking for online currencies: Credit, interest, investment, exchange, etc., for online currencies like bitcoin. Accept interest, fees, dividends, donations, etc.
1. pros: Already basically possible, would complement existing systems and users, market would already be familiar with alternative currencies.
2. cons: Market might currently be limited in size, marketing credit as a means of accumulating interest could grow this into a different legal category.
6. Community market: Social networking with buying and selling based around Ripple, tools specifically designed for local networks to hook up and exchange goods and services using Ripple. Accept fees for transactions, or sell ads, etc.
1. pros: Relatively approachable model, the market would be easy for potential Ripple users to find.
2. cons: Would compete against lots of other social sites, less focused than just a monetary system.
7. Hybrid: Two or more of the above could be worked on simultaneously.
1. pros: Find out in practice which of the ways works best, have different types of work to balance things.
2. cons: Less focus on each approach.

Personally, I think that a hybrid would be reasonable to start with, and I like 5 while 1 and others could easily be added. This list is probably incomplete, and you're among the core group who would have an interest in where Ripple goes -- what sorts of transactions would you find Ripple very useful for?