Arrakis Labs

Arrakis Labs is building economic software for human thriving. We’re betting the next 10 years is a pivotal time to build economic software because we’re living through the transition from the industrial age to the information age. We define economic software as the templates controlling how capital is created, distributed, and coordinated and we’re motivated by a belief that well designed economic software unlocks human potential. The invention of the limited liability company (LLC) is an example. The LLC created a way to invest in a venture without being liable for losses greater than the investment. This unlocked human potential by creating a new way to organize to achieve a goal. This is well designed economic software. The lottery is an example of badly designed economic software. The lottery creates a net economic loss for the majority of people using it limiting human potential. We believe working on economic software is essential to creating sustainable change in society. Too often we address symptoms rather than causes — instead of trying to reform the lottery we offer counseling for those addicted to gambling. This avoids meaningful change by smoothing the status quo. Arrakis Labs is directly tackling the challenge of creating economic software that sustainably alters the status quo. The Lab takes small bets on big ideas to reshape industries at a foundational level. Our first two products target the $80 billion dollars spent annually on lottery tickets and the $93 billion dollars spent on digital advertising. The thread tying our products together is an effort to leverage pooled resources to reshape the incentive structures of these industries. Our lottery product, “PoolTogether” is pioneering the idea of using interest bearing pools to fund lottery rewards rather than money from purchased tickets. This allows all ticket holders to receive their initial capital back upon a lottery conclusion. Our advertising product, “Intrist” allows companies to pay individuals for their data rather than third party intermediaries such as Facebook. The information age is intrinsically individualistic and without intention the economic software built can destroy community. Imagine if you held all your wealth in Bitcoin instead of US Dollars, how would that impact your interdependence and care for the United States? When your wealth is secured digitally what incentive do you have to care for any geographic location? The redemptive vision for Arrakis Labs is creating economic software that is empowering to individuals while requiring community to function. This vision requires many participants and Arrakis Labs is opinionated about the role we play. We specialize in bringing products to market. We build and invest in economic software that reshapes incentive structures and has the potential for scale. We take a pragmatic and additive approach seeking to position our products as improvements rather than replacements. We do all this to achieve our goal — economic software that is communal in nature leading to human thriving.