Case 02 · The market we createdA mile was worth a seat. Until we built somewhere else to spend it.
Tens of billions of unredeemed miles sat on the airline’s books as a liability. BCKSTGR, a company we founded, gave those miles a market that burned the liability faster than any seat could.
$M
program contract value, United MileagePlus and the City of Chicago
2013
company acquired
How it ran
Same skeleton every time.
The ask
Burn down a mile liability measured in the tens of billions.
Locked assumption
A mile is worth an airline seat. Redemption meant a seat, so liability could only leave the books as fast as seats could be given away.
The move
Let miles-rich customers compete in live auctions for experiences with extremely low availability. Miles feel free. Scarcity and competition push bids far past any fixed-price redemption.
The mechanism
The market. A bidding environment, off-platform, that burned liability at maximum rate while the airline sold its seats for cash. Curated inventory capped the downside.
The outcome
United MileagePlus signed as launch partner and the City of Chicago for civic rewards: $270M in program contract value. The company was acquired in 2013.
Why it matters to you
A forty-year-old assumption was setting the wrong price. The balance sheet held the answer.
This work predates the tools we use now. The method doesn’t. Recorded behavior, an unpriced pattern, a sized gap, a bet with a capped downside. It ran that way in music and in miles. It runs that way in a quote log.
Start here
Where do you suspect the value is hiding?
Tell us the hunch and what your systems can export. Ten business days later the Opportunity ID comes back signed, with numbers on it.