Paradigm's Open Problems: A Series

About a month ago, we finally got around to publishing a truly wicked problem that had been plaguing my partner Dan Robinson and I for nearly two years. It was a Hail Mary pass; mostly, we hoped it would encourage whoever ended up cracking it to give us some closure, maybe years down the road.

We couldn’t have been more surprised when a solution rolled in after only a few weeks. Two researchers we hadn’t previously met, Dave White and Martin Tassy, independently came to the same result. We got to talking and collaborated on a write-up, which Dave just published as Paradigm’s first guest author.

Reflecting on the experience, we at Paradigm were glad that getting the problem out there helped put it to bed. We were overjoyed that it created an opportunity to work with incredible people we probably wouldn’t have met otherwise – that feels like an experiment worth repeating.

To that end, we plan to make “Paradigm’s Open Problems” an ongoing series. We aren’t sure yet what the next one will be or when we’ll release it – the best problems don’t reveal themselves on a schedule. We can promise that it will be worth sinking your teeth into.

In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out. “Open Problems” could be anything that creates opportunities for talented researchers to collaborate with Team Paradigm. Some examples of things we’ve thought about:

• Extensions and follow-ups to published problems
• Expanded solutions (modified assumptions, practical applications, etc.)
• Entirely new problems; they could be related to our portfolio companies or other research, but anything interesting is fair game

You can reach any of us individually on Twitter or email (firstname@paradigm.xyz), or our research group’s email (research@paradigm.xyz).