Cultivate Labs Blog

Discussing how crowd forecasting, internal crowdfunding, and other new workplace trends can be used to improve the #futureofwork

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By Ben Roesch on Sep 11, 2017

Introduction to Blockchain-based Prediction Markets Terminology

Real-money prediction markets are illegal in the U.S., but blockchain technology is giving rise to several digital currency based prediction markets based on Ethereum. Cultivate Labs defines common terminology associated with blockchain-based prediction markets.

By Ben Golden on Sep 06, 2017

New to Prediction Markets? Four Tips to Get Started.

Joining a prediction market or prediction pool can be intimidating. You may feel like you've plunged into a world of impossible questions, ongoing arguments, and have no idea where to start. You might think there's no way you could possibly add anything, or that your forecasts couldn't possible be better than anyone else's. But prediction markets don't have to be intimidating - here are four tips to get started.

By Cultivate Labs on Aug 08, 2017

Employee Engagement is the Key to the Future of Business

The relationship between employers and employees is changing as the drivers of employee satisfaction are changing. Employees are no longer driven solely by a paycheck - they want their work to have a purpose and to believe in what their organization offers to the world. Organizations must shift their focus from paychecks and soft benefits like casual dress codes and office ping pong tables to better engage employees by ensuring opportunities for purpose, learning, and flexibility in their jobs.

By Cultivate Labs on Aug 01, 2017

Flexible Work Styles and Their Place in the Future of Work

The transition to flexible work styles has slowly been creeping into organizations for a long time, but acceptance and adoption of such practices has rapidly increased in past years due to rapid advancements in technology and a new generation flooding into the workforce. Flexible work styles will be far more common and accepted in the future. Is your organization prepared?

By Vanessa Pineda on Jul 25, 2017

Forecasting Shouldn't Be a Gamble. 5 Things to Do to Succeed with Crowdsourced Forecasting.

In more than 10 years of working with large companies on building prediction markets and other crowdsourced forecasting mechanisms, we’ve seen one common thread with the projects that are unsuccessful. Project owners overestimate the technology, and underestimate what it takes to engage people to make the technology successful. Avoid these 5 pitfalls to improve the success of your Cultivate Forecasts prediction market.

By Adam Siegel on Jul 20, 2017

Have you heard "I think we're doing something wrong" recently? If not, you're doing something wrong.

An open door policy isn't an effective feedback tool for leadership if you haven't created an organizational culture that's open to feedback. Your team can provide valuable insight and feedback about decisions, so actively work to create an environment in which employees are comfortable speaking up to leadership.

By Cultivate Labs on Jul 19, 2017

How Your Car's Gas Gauge is Like the Future of Work

The future of work is changing, and your car's gas gauge is an indicator of how. In a future that will be increasingly measured, acquiring, understanding, and leveraging data in a timely fashion will determine who sinks and who swims.

By Cultivate Labs on Jul 18, 2017

The Strength That Comes From Within

As crowdsourcing becomes more widely adopted as a corporate innovation tool, the spotlight is on external crowdsourcing: engaging outside stakeholders such as experts, customers, and the general public to understand market demands and to collaborate on new product and service development. At the same time, organizations have recognized the innovative power of one more important constituency: their own employees.

By Jess Price on Jul 11, 2017

Product Design and Redesign - an Evolving Process for Cultivate Ignite

Product design is a constantly evolving process as practices, trends, and expectations change. Cultivate Labs Director of Design, Jessica Price, explains her process for the redesign of Cultivate Ignite, a crowdfunding platform for use inside organizations.

By Cultivate Labs on Jun 23, 2017

Travis Kalanick Ousted from Uber and the Erosion of the "Boys Club" Mentality as Good for Business

The ousting of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Tuesday is hardly surprising, though perhaps a bit out of step for both the revered ‘boys club’ who traditionally protect their own and the Silicon Valley culture that worships individuals who can, at all costs, create 10x returns on investment. But he should’ve seen it coming a long time ago, he brought it on himself after all...

By Ben Golden on Jun 19, 2017

3 Things I Learned Teaching Coding to Veterans at Code Platoon

I recently had the opportunity to teach for Code Platoon, a non-profit coding camp that trains veterans to become software developers, and learned three major lessons about the fundamentals of coding, teaching, and new endeavors.

By Adam Siegel on Jun 12, 2017

A Board's Check on its CEO - The Smell Test for Self-Interest vs. Leadership

Recently on a Sunday during my weekly 2 hour break from all things family related, I sat at one of my favorite coffee houses and read the Sunday New York Times. An article in the Business section particularly caught my attention: The Trump Effect on CEO Pay, and it got me thinking: should a Board of Directors have a better check on their CEO than either termination or bonuses tied to stock price? Could there be something put in place better for the company's long-term prospects?

By Brian Leslie on Jun 12, 2017

Determining the Accuracy of Prediction Markets

So, you asked a prediction market question, and the outcome is now known. The question has been resolved and winnings have been disbursed to the forecasters who held winning positions. Forecasters know how well they did based upon their profits in the question, and you know who your good forecasters were too. But how accurate was your organization at answering the question itself? There are several things to consider when thinking about accuracy of the prediction market:

By Vanessa Pineda on Jun 01, 2017

Why Execs Struggle with Innovation, and the Culture Fix They’re Missing

The stats on innovation leadership within corporations show there's a big discrepancy between leaders' appetite for innovation and their ability to execute. Corporate innovation won't succeed when it's solely driven from the top. It has to be fostered as an organizational capability. Here's a starting point.

By Adam Siegel on May 19, 2017

How to Run Your Own Shark Tank with Internal Crowdfunding

Want to generate some excitement about your company's future and possibly identify its financial future at the same time? Run your own Shark Tank.

By Cultivate Labs on May 11, 2017

Introducing Enterprise Crowdfunding for Established Companies

Crowdfunding, the practice of financing a project by sourcing small investments from a large number of people, has exploded in the past decade as an alternative funding source. Established companies looking to adopt the agile principles of startups have begun to use external enterprise crowdfunding to gain indicators from their consumers, but with Cultivate Ignite, companies can now gain critical business indicators and insights from employees using internal crowdfunding.

By Adam Siegel on May 09, 2017

Attempted Manipulation of our French Election Prediction Market: Here's What We Learned

It may be easier to manipulate a real-money market than a play-money market. In a play-money market, the dumb-money can always be defeated with smart money and a little vigilance.

By Ben Golden on May 04, 2017

How I snuck a super bad pun into our application

Two things I believe: 1. Software developers should occasionally sneak jokes into their code, to make life more fun, and to make sure the person reviewing their code is paying attention.

By Cultivate Labs on Apr 20, 2017

Cultivate Ignite: Announcing Internal Crowdfunding Solution for Teams

Cultivate Labs is expanding Cultivate Ignite, an internal crowdfunding platform for enterprises, to include a self-service package for small and medium sized businesses to find and fund the best ideas in their companies.

By Cultivate Labs on Apr 18, 2017

Multinational Energy Company Uses Crowdsourcing to Predict Impacting Factors of Oil & Gas Prices

A multinational energy company uses Cultivate Forecasts predict economic and geopolitical events that impact oil and gas prices. We find out why they decided to incorporate internal crowdsourcing within their business and how they have been so successful at engaging employee participation.

By Cultivate Labs on Apr 18, 2017

Brainstorming doesn't work. To cultivate better ideas, try internal crowdfunding instead.

We've all participated in group brainstorming sessions in both academic and business settings at some point complete with whiteboards, Post-it notes, and afternoons around a conference table. Though it has been proven that brainstorming, especially in group settings, doesn't work, people continue to look to it as the go-to technique for stimulating creativity. When the afternoon session is over, someone takes a picture of the whiteboard and promises to follow up with the team. And that's as fa

By Adam Siegel on Apr 06, 2017

Just Start Asking

if companies, especially the large ones, want lasting innovation - the kind that permeates everything they do, the kind where “innovation” never has to be spoken about, i.e. “let’s be innovative,” they just are by design, there are two things that have to be fundamentally re-thought...

By Adam Siegel on Mar 23, 2017

Welcome Cathryn Wile

This week we welcome a new addition to the team. Cathryn Wile, who currently resides in Denver, will be joining us to lead our marketing efforts.

By Adam Siegel on Feb 28, 2017

Have your team predict your KPI's in real-time so you can actually meet your KPI's

As a small bootstrapped company, we're constantly worrying about our next stage of growth. And of course start up orthodoxy says any size business should have a few key performance metrics they track to be aware of how you're doing in the things that influence revenue, profit, and the culture you want to cultivate. But as we've learned, it's not enough to just track your KPI's, you need to forecast how you're going to do on them weeks and months ahead of time.

By Adam Siegel on Feb 16, 2017

Prendid - A Dutch Election Voorspellingsmarkt (Prediction Market)

With an election coming next month in the Netherlands, Marco van Schaardenburgh has successfully launched Prendid, a “voorspellingsmarkt” (prediction market) where players are predicting the outcome of the parliamentary elections. Joining is free and available to anyone globally.

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