Cameron Wright
Rarely have I found a company that deals with a force that disrupts more lives than any other issue. Weather. We’ve all watched the local meteorologist completely drop the ball and get it wrong. Weather Trades, a spin-off from Weather Trends International, has a product that could change the way you live. Seriously.
Here in the United States the typical yearly vacation time is an extremely limited two weeks. We take huge risks when we book our travel for that short period of time. Have you ever been to an outdoor wedding that ended up inside? Have you ever wondered if you should keep those winter clothes out for another 6 weeks? I have been directly or indirectly affected by each of these scenarios. If you could see a weather forecast for the next year – worldwide – with an accuracy of 80% or better how would your life be different?
Imagine you are the largest retailer in the world, and you have to decide to purchase air conditioners from the manufacturers but cannot decide whether or not to buy all of the stock or a third of it. Walmart had to make that decision:
“We bought all of the home center’s uncommitted air circulation orders from the manufacturers and had a great year. Our sell through was 98% compared to 85% last year based solely on a huge decision we made using your year-ahead summer forecast. A $130,000,000 win in one category.” Gordon Erickson, Senior Vice President Merchandising-Hardlines
Commodities Traders:
WTI is the ONLY company in the world that provides YEAR-AHEAD forecasts that can be integrated into trading models and other business applications. WTI provides a complete suite of products and services for commodity traders, energy traders, and the entire agricultural industry. This includes typical short range-forecasting services along with proprietary year-ahead global forecasts and analytical assessments for grains, sugar, energy, and other weather driven commodity markets across the globe.
Travel Sites: After approaching the more popular travel sites on the internet and being turned down Weather Trades turned their sites on TechCrunch Disrupt to hopefully find developers, startups, and investors who can build upon the unique tools that they’ve created. In all honesty this is the startup that had me most excited. To see a little more check out the interview by Kyle below. I will also be reviewing their wt360 Pro app in the coming days. It’s available in the App Store and Google Play
Find out more about Weather Trades here
Check out more of our TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage here
We’re on a sneaker strapped, nationwide, startup road trip, for more on that (and to support our cause) click here
