Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

news.ycombinator.com

341–350 of 1001 posts

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#341

A marketplace for specialized micro-consulting(30 minutes to an hour). I've seen plenty of projects that are rife with anti-patterns because a team was unfamiliar with a problem or technology and made a bunch of bad decisions while they were still coming up to speed. The use-case I envision would fix this. Because it's really a travesty that when we're the least familiar with technologies is when we make some of the…

This sounds a bit like both https://clarity.fm/ and https://www.codementor.io/

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Also, hilarious adventure I went on once: I ate 4000 calories of bacon a day and nothing else for a month... ended up cutting it off a little early because I was losing weight too quickly. Your second and third points however are scientifically supported, but do not confuse this with "obesity is complicated." It is not ho…

To add on to this, my understanding is that technically "calories in, calories out" is correct in the sense that weight gain/loss depends on the net caloric intake for your body. But your base metabolic rate, and as a result your daily energy expenditure, is affected by many different things, including the composition of the calories and the timing of the consumption. Insulin plays a major role in weight gain/loss, a…

I agree. I think the problem stems from how we determine the caloric content[0] of a food stuff. We add the known caloric content of its ingredients, which we determine by burning them. This is probably just not a good model for how the body uses food.

[0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manuf...

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#343

A marketplace for specialized micro-consulting(30 minutes to an hour). I've seen plenty of projects that are rife with anti-patterns because a team was unfamiliar with a problem or technology and made a bunch of bad decisions while they were still coming up to speed. The use-case I envision would fix this. Because it's really a travesty that when we're the least familiar with technologies is when we make some of the…

https://officehours.io/

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much your body absorbs is a huge variable which seems insane to have to say but people just want to say calories all day.

How does that change the fact that if you consume less there be less to absorb from?

It doesn't change it, but makes it rather less useful.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#345
post #12

Establishing nationwide retail distribution networks and ignoring e-commerce.

More specifically what do you mean? This is something I'm really interested in.

A retail store allows for differentiation in experience, service, and brand. It is the most important competitive advantage you can have in a commoditized, high-margin business.

See Apple and OPPO and Vivo.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Also, hilarious adventure I went on once: I ate 4000 calories of bacon a day and nothing else for a month... ended up cutting it off a little early because I was losing weight too quickly. Your second and third points however are scientifically supported, but do not confuse this with "obesity is complicated." It is not ho…

Energy in, energy out sounds pretty basic to me. I would be interested to know where you think your energy intake comes from, unless it is from food? Or is it just the caloric measurement you think is irrelevant for human energy intake? While obviously imperfect, I'm skeptical it could be an order of magnitude off for example.

The problem with the 'energy in-energy out' model is that energy is rarely what we need more of. Food cravings persist for the nutrient one needs most, not just the amount of energy needed. Eating less of a conventional diet does reduce the amount of energy one takes in, but also reduces intake of whatever nutrient the subject was craving in the first place. That's why compositional diets work better for so many people, if the subject gets all the nutrients they need, they won't feel the desire to eat more than that, and consequently won't take in more energy than they use.

TL;DR: Total energy in matters, but watching energy-to-vital-nutrient-ratios in one's food is a better way of ensuring the proper levels of both.

Edit: wording

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add on to this, my understanding is that technically "calories in, calories out" is correct in the sense that weight gain/loss depends on the net caloric intake for your body. But your base metabolic rate, and as a result your daily energy expenditure, is affected by many different things, including the composition of the calories and the timing of the consumption. Insulin plays a major role in weight gain/loss, a…

Exactly, no breakdown of thermodynamics needed, any calories not efficiently processed into usable energy will be emitted as waste.

No thermodynamics needed to disprove it, but we probably need something more complicated than thermodynamics to get a good picture of the real balance.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#348
post #7

Outsourced testing. I can think of a few sites that would pay a pretty penny to have unit, spec, and acceptance-tests written for their pre-existing code.

Incidentally, that's something that I want to offer when expanding my freelance business into QA agency. Would you mind telling me more about what types of services would you see here? I have some ideas of my own, but I'm still struggling with market validation, so input from someone who says they could need it is invaluable!

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#349

The leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. >90% of these cases can be attributed to an overweight population. It's not an easy problem to solve, but there has to be a way to fix it. Lots of calorie counting apps, activity trackers, motivational reminder apps, etc. Obesity is very complicated, but there are three basic facts: 1. Calories in, calories out is the golden rule. 2. The vast majority of calories…

Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Also, hilarious adventure I went on once: I ate 4000 calories of bacon a day and nothing else for a month... ended up cutting it off a little early because I was losing weight too quickly. Your second and third points however are scientifically supported, but do not confuse this with "obesity is complicated." It is not ho…

Weight isn't the only issue. Eating such a high-fat, high-protein diet, with little to no other sources of important nutrients, probably did horrible things to your kidneys, liver and arteries.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#350

I can't resist "By wearing this standard ear-bud headphone, modified with a small piezoelectric sensor, the user can control their phone solely with their neural impulses. Point, click, drag, even type...all using only brainwaves.Think it...and it happens."

Silicon Valley?
Post reply on HN