✌️️ Why Two Bit?

Origin of Two Bits

An Americanism dating back to 1720-30

noun. "quarter," 1730, in reference to the Mexican real, a large coin that was divided into eight bits; see bit (n.1). Two bits would have equaled a quarter of the coin. Hence two-bit (adj.) "cheap, tawdry," first recorded 1929. Cf. piece of eight ; see piece (n.)).

A piece of eight with a bit missing.

A Two Bit Coin History

Two-bits, four-bits, six-bits and eight-bits make reference to the eight-reales silver coin of New Spain and Mexico. It is also called piece of eight and circulated in the English Colonies and freely in the USA following the Revolutionary War. As a matter of fact, the eight-reales coin was legal tender in the United States until 1857 and was the world’s most used coin at one time. The silver pieces of eight began their travels from the New World to Spain and then on to Asia and Africa. A great convenience of coins is that they are readily exchanged for goods and services.

The English colonies of America were prohibited by royal law from coining, minting, or even so much as using coins. The colonists were supposed to ship any and all coins to Mother England in payment for manufactured goods. This, of course, precluded any foolhardy colonist from starting a mint. Besides, there is little silver or gold to be had in New England and eastern Canada to this day. So, the English Colonies decided to use paper money which served them well until they attempted to finance the USA Revolutionary War with it. By 1780, this form of currency became useless and worthless and the money called Continental Currency collapsed.

The vacuum was immediately filled by the milled Spanish-American silver issues based on the real system in denominations of 1/8R through eight-reales. The most widely circulated of these was the piece of eight, which, when supplies of smaller denomination coins dwindled were chopped or cut into smaller pieces to make change. Thus, one eighth of eight-reales became one bit, one quarter two-bits — the equivalent of our present day quarter-dollar. One-half is four-bits and three quarters are six-bits.

When making plans for a monetary system, the United States considered a system based on the piece of eight, which was renamed “dollar” in the 1780’s.

The 1794 Flowing Hair dollar is first silver dollar struck in the U.S. — only 1,758 were minted.

We See Learning Opportunities in Failures

... and Go Where Others Fear to Tread.

“I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”

— Thomas A. Edison

Let there be light.

Small is the New Big

A Decentralized, Self-Organizing Keiretsu Where Every Last Bit Counts.

“There is a new breed of “big” on whom the coming age of “small” is built: the platform players (like eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Apple, and Google) on whose platforms smaller businesses blossom.”

Nicco Mele (circa 2015)

Pulley Puller

We Prioritize High Order Bits:

11: Unique Innovation (aka Ideas or Business Models)

10: Human Talent (aka Labor + Entrepreneurship)

01: Financial Capital (e.g., Seed Money)

00: Shared Knowledge (aka "Know How" + "Know What")

... and Follow a Play Book for Closing the Talent Gap.

“The competitive advantages of scale are being commoditized. Minimum efficient scale is getting smaller and smaller.”

Maxwell Wessel (circa 2012)

Just Two Bits?