Storage Markets of Boulder was founded in January, and is building a prediction market in order to help spot trends, anticipate future prices, values and events, and to generally predict the future of the storage industry.

"A prediction market is an online financial market where traders buy and sell a virtual security that is usually tied to the outcome of a future event... Storage Markets will use such as market to serve the storage industry." : Founder John Ives.

When you first check this out, it almost feels like a gambling or gaming site. Someone poses a question such as "when will iSCSI and Fibre Channel cross paths in terms of market share?" and market insiders make predictions by purchasing "securities" (representing the potential outcomes) with virtual "Bit$" tokens. John went on to explain that the traders in the system take these questions very seriously and are naturally competitive. Traders can actually win real cash prizes by winning trading contests, bolstering their self-image and feeding their desire to participate further. Storage Markets, however, isn't in it to earn Bit$. John explained that while the company is still experimenting with the business model, it will initially look like a market research firm. People who want to buy market research can pose questions to the community, get reports that analyze the trading behavior, and data mine the system for other nuggets. The company just finished a "small angel round" in order to complete their experimentation with the business model, and plans to go through another round to continue moving forward. There seems to be several new companies emerging in Colorado that are based on the principles found in The Wisdom of Crowds, including Storage Markets, Collective Intellect, and Market Force Information. You can get more info on Storage Markets by listening to the 12 minute interview that I did with founder John Ives on Friday (below).