[eldavido]

What you call "arbitrage", many call distribution. And it can get pretty complicated.

Take the simplistic example of a local grocery store. In no particular order, the store must:

- Determine what to carry

- Determine how much to buy, taking into account seasonal variances, local tastes and preferences (is there a sporting game in town? Buy more beer)

- Arrange for financing to cover everything; a good-sized grocery store has millions of dollars of inventory sitting on the shelves

- Ensure the hot things stay hot, and the cold things cold

- Loss prevention: reduce theft, breakage, spillage, spoilage as much as possible

- Handle vast amounts of cash, exposing the store to all manner of theft (by employees), counterfeiting, fraud, and robbery

All I'm saying is, don't dismiss something because it isn't "unique product creation".

[programminggeek]

Sure, I didn't mean to imply that those aren't real businesses. I just meant to imply that in the "startup world", a lot of these businesses are totally overlooked because they aren't doing the minimum viable product lean startup thing.

I don't dismiss those businesses at all, I think there are a lot of great opportunities in arbitrage based businesses, but a lot of startups ignore the opportunities that aren't the next big mobile/social thing.