The value we throw away

We produce enormous amounts of consumption data every single day, and almost all of it is invisible to the people who generate it, and barely actionable for those who sell, study or build for them.

A receipt is the clearest example. It records a real decision: what was bought, where, when, at what price. And then it is thrown in the bin, forgotten in a drawer, or lost in an inbox. We treat the most honest record of our own behaviour as rubbish.

Structure that information ethically and intelligently and you create value on two fronts at once. People start to understand their own financial habits. Brands and retailers get a far more faithful picture of what is actually purchased, and why. Neither side has to lose for the other to win.

That is the thesis behind Simplifyer, and the reason I keep returning to one idea: clarity is not a feature bolted onto a product. For the person who has it, clarity is power.