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Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

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Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#121

Post by Tichy »

fletchowns wrote: post #9

We need to eliminate packaging waste. My laundry detergent ran out, so I had to go get some more. Why am I throwing this big plastic jug back into the recycling loop? Why can't I just take it back to the store and fill it up again? I could use the same jug for years and years and years. How many of those jugs do you think are just going into landfills every day? I saw a link recently to a "bring your own container" t…

Yes and no - I've heard that it would actually be possible to build machines that would be very good at recycling garbage. Maybe that would be a more feasible solution?

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#122

Post by JoeAltmaier »

edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

The market is small (compared to consumer stuff), margins have to be huge, only the biggest customers can afford to sponsor it, bloated development projects on a schedule end up ... sucking. Similar to development tools, come to think of it!

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#123

Post by nradov »

Problem: Businesses require too much working capital. This slows down growth and reduces ROA / ROI.

Solution: Create a B2B network that automatically finds and eliminates cycles in the A/R-A/P graph. For example, let's say that company A owes $100 to company B, which owes $80 to company C, which owes $50 to company A. The settlement network could tie into the accounting systems of all 3 companies, identify the debt loop, and instantly apply the appropriate credits and debits. It would need strong controls against fraud and some ability to stand behind transactions that had to be unwound later.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#125

Post by mkramlich »

steveklabnik wrote: post #11

I live in Pittsburgh. We have a huge lack of talent at the moment. There are tons of startups with funding that are looking to hire people, but a huge lack of skilled people around. We've got companies paying $1,000 bonuses to anyone who can get a hire. It's crazy. I'm not sure how to properly attract and keep talent in the city.

One idea is to promote remote/distributed workforces. Find ways to hire folks that live in other cities or countries. There are challenges and downsides to a distributed workforce, but advantages too. The chief of which is the ability to draw from a much larger pool of potential talent.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#126

Post by nradov »

orangecat wrote: post #13
JesseAldridge wrote: post #4

Healthcare is expensive.

And it will continue to be until we institute severe rationing, or cure aging. I vote for the second.

Or until we find a way to stop widespread overeating, substance abuse, and sedentary lifestyles. If we could manage that (probably impossible) then total healthcare costs would be so low that we wouldn't have to worry how to pay for them.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#127

Post by mkramlich »

shimon wrote: post #47
steveklabnik wrote: post #11

I live in Pittsburgh. We have a huge lack of talent at the moment. There are tons of startups with funding that are looking to hire people, but a huge lack of skilled people around. We've got companies paying $1,000 bonuses to anyone who can get a hire. It's crazy. I'm not sure how to properly attract and keep talent in the city.

1. In Boston, ITA Software pays a referral bonus of $4000. 2. Pittsburgh loses hackers because they prefer to live elsewhere. To fix this make the culture, neighborhoods, or climate more attractive to hackers. (Easy to say, but hard to attempt and perhaps impossible to achieve.)

I have an idea to help address number 2. If every startup/investor in Pittsburgh area would put just 1% of the cash they've raised into a single pool, governed by a special interest group/association, whose sole purpose was to make infrastructural & social investments in their city, make it more attractive, parks, cleaner, help open restaurants, clubs, etc. Arguably some entity like this already exists in Pittsburgh, but if not, create it.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#128

Post by hxr »

edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

Steve Jobs summed it up in his talk at D8. To approximately quote him from my memory - `Enterprise software is a very different beast; the people who use it don't get to make the decision (of buying/adopting the software) themselves, and the people who make these decisions are _confused_!`

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#129

Post by mkramlich »

We should make it much easier, and more pervasive, and accepted, for people to be able to work from home or otherwise untethered to a central office. We might not want or even be able to achieve this 100%, but the more we can do this, we can reduce so much waste and pollution, and there would be so many less car accidents, gas/oil demand, pavement area, etc. Those of us in the software field are lucky in that many of us already do it, but there are still a lot of software shops that do not, and many other industries where it is still impractical or at least just not accepted and understood yet.

Less commute-to-cubicle-on-highways-9-to-5-pollution-lemmings-culture. More home offices, craftsmanship, communal/village/nomad/informal/flexible lifestyles.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#130

Post by mkramlich »

dpcan wrote: post #48

Keys. Note: This same question came up a few months ago. Said the same thing then. I really want to gain some traction here :)

Can you elaborate? What about keys? Too many of them? The necessity of having them at all? The fact that they can be stolen/forged, what?
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