NCAA pool strategy is an interesting mix of probability and game theory concepts. It's easy to optimize for one or the other, but difficult to mesh them together. This model isn't perfect, and probably underestimates the optionality of extremely contrarian picks, but I'd like to believe it's a bit better than what's offered by the 'Win Your Bracket with These 5 Easy Tricks' types of headlines. Good luck and have fun!
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For my final project in my entrepreneurial finance class this year at Tuck, I decided to look at different methods for valuing early stage companies. I ended up building a model for valuing early stage companies using the options based valuation approach. I found the model was highly useful for a) simply determining the value of a company based on deal terms likes liquidity preference and participation rather than a traditional post or pre-money analysis and b) measuring the dollar or equity cost of including different features in deals like liquidity preference and participation.
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Over the last two or so years, health and fitness trackers have evolved from data collectors for the curious to ubiquitous accessory for everyone. Despite a huge upswing in adoption for these products, many customers have been returning their devices. In fact, an Endeavour Partners report from 2014 suggests a third of fitness wearable owners stop using their device within six months, and a half of all fitness wearable owners stop using their device eventually. One of the biggest reasons for low wearable retention rates is the lack of insight that they provide. Users who fail to glean actionable insights from their fitness trackers are unlikely to see a change in fitness levels and will eventually abandon the fruitless device.
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