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

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

#581

Post by splintercell »

npezolano wrote: post #490
ninjakeyboard wrote: post #377

An economist and a normal person are walking down the street together. The normal person says “Hey, look, there’s a $20 bill on the sidewalk!” The economist replies by saying “That’s impossible- if it were really a $20 bill, it would have been picked up by now.”

An economist from Chicago

Correct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis

EDIT: FYI, not all pro-Free Market economists believe in EMH, Austrians for instance, have criticized Chicago school for this ridiculous theory.

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

#582

Post by baddox »

nradov wrote: post #574
baddox wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard that cargo ships are currently prevented from going much slower because of the human crew. Drone ships could help.

The human crew isn't much of a factor in cargo ship speed. Ship owners would be happy to leave their crews out at sea a week longer if it was profitable. Drone ships won't be practical any time soon because of maintenance problems. Crews spend much of their time at sea performing preventative maintenance, painting, and fixing broken equipment. With a drone ship all of that work would have to be done at the pier which…

Then why don't they go slower? I would expect many cargoes aren't incredibly time sensitive.

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

#583

Post by sotojuan »

ti32x wrote: post #552
TamDenholm wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see the likes of Airport lounges that are not in the airport. Especially if it could use my priority pass to access them too.

So perhaps a sort of gentleman's club (not that sort) for the younger generation? I'd love to have an accessible chill out place I could go to just to get some work done, preferably with a good view of something. No music playing, just quiet and the ability to get a coffee and simple food if necessary. Google Campus in London does this, but isn't that comfortable for long periods (plus it's absolutely packed).

> Gentleman's club

This is what most closely resembles what I want! Of course, in 2017 it'd be for everyone.

We could even be like those strange upper class British clubs that don't allow people to talk to each other.

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

#584

Post by nextos »

AJ007 wrote: post #374
aabajian wrote: post #151

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…

I saw one other comment mentioning healthcare, so I'll both to share my opinion as of 2017. The next (or after the next) Microsoft-Google-Apple-Facebook size tech company will be a healthcare company. There is no reason access to healthcare can't be as streamlined and cheap as calling an Uber. In addition to diagnosis AI should be able to strip out nearly all of the administrative & clerical layer. Self driving vehic…

Where do you think regulations are more favorable and at the same time there's a big high income market?

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

#585

Post by monatron »

danieka wrote: post #523
amelius wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it support a web-interface? It's not clear from the website.

Not yet, but it is something that we are thinking of adding. Would a web interface be useful to you?

I would second this. In terms of software dev, I'd want this application to live the same place that I'm doing the majority of my work -- my desktop.

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

#586

Post by traviswingo »

ccvannorman wrote: post #542
hexhex wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's a problem that is solvable with technology. It's a social problem. Less social inequality and better education, taxes on unhealthy food, less working hours. That would be necessary to tackle the problem. Obesity is just a symptom. I love the SV mindset: Let's not get to the reasons of something, let's just build an app and everything will be good.

My gears are turning.. an app that tells you the viability of solving a given problem using an app. It would be powered by AWS array on the back end using google's latest AI, TensorFlow, and it would also be community driven like Yelp. We'd make our profits by taking advantage of platform network advantage to connect cofounders, investors, and customers for the startups who use us and move forwards.

Guys, I'm not sure downvoting this was the appropriate response. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this sarcasm?

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

#587

Post by jdietrich »

sideproject wrote: post #479
jdietrich wrote: post #411

Older people. We live in a rapidly ageing society. Retirees are a large and wealthy demographic. Despite that, tech companies are absolutely woeful at designing products for older users. We don't empathise with their needs. We don't understand how poor eyesight, arthritis or cognitive difficulties can affect UX. There's a huge amount of pent-up demand and excellent opportunities for future growth.

I do agree. But what specific areas do you think would be good to target? You mention their poor eyesight and difficult UX, but that doesn't mean we should start creating Facebook or Twitter clones with bigger fonts and easier UX? (or should we?)

> But what specific areas do you think would be good to target?

Almost everything.

Here's an experiment you can try. Stay up for two nights in a row. Have a few drinks. Put on a pair of ear defenders, a pair of glasses with the wrong prescription and a pair of leather gardening gloves. Try to go about your daily life. You'll very quickly see plenty of industries that are ripe for disruption.

The man-made world is overwhelmingly designed by and for the not-yet-disabled. We build overly complex interfaces with too many options and too few affordances. This makes life difficult for everyone, but it can totally exclude people with impairments.

Nobody realised how awful smartphones were until the iPhone arrived. I think that most products and services are just as awful as a Windows Mobile phone circa 2005, but we have become inured to their awfulness. We're drowning in unnecessary complexity, in large part because we don't expect anything better.

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

#588

Post by md224 »

bambax wrote: post #271
aabajian wrote: post #151

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…

> 2. The vast majority of calories come from carbohydrates. Yes. Sugar is the enemy. It's ironic that so many substances are regulated or flat-out prohibited and not sugar or sodas. HFCS should be outlawed, and sodas regulated like alcohol (no sales to minors, bulk sales limited, etc.) Also, the obsession with fats and the whole industry of low-fat food needs to be dealt with, as, obviously, when the proportion of fa…

I don't think the answer to the DEA's misguided paternalism is more paternalism. The inconsistency you've hit on is real, but the solution we should be fighting for is to make more things legal, not illegal. I don't want the government dictating how much I'm allowed to enjoy myself or how fast I'm allowed to die (nothing should be outlawed solely because it has a chance of shortening my lifespan). I deserve the right to choose what I put in my own body. I deserve the right to be as healthy or unhealthy as I want to be.

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

#589

Post by btmorex »

erelde wrote: post #358
metafunctor wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you say that? It's quite easy to see that the person on the other end isn't making eye contact, even when they think they are, looking straight in your eyes. To me, it seems like they are looking at my tits or something. It matters quite a lot. Also, FPS and resolution. There's a long, long way to go before video conferencing feels more like an actual face-to-face conversation, and it hasn't really changed muc…

I say that because: depending on those factors (and some others like lense type, focus etc) the difference between the angle eye/screen and eye/camera is insignificant... You just have to draw a schema to understand. 3 to 5 meters is a good distance for a video conference.

Interesting that you think it's insignificant. A lot of group photos are taken at 3 to 5 meters away and it's immediately obvious who's looking directly into the camera and who isn't...

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

#590

Post by yummyfajitas »

Lordarminius wrote: post #433
iUsedToCode wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm doing exactly this, spreading the opportunity to legally own a firearm in Poland ( https://braterstwo.eu ). It's a Wordpress plugin, php scripts and a bit of legal stuff (creating a NGO, bank account with automatic payment identifications, etc). It allows lots of people (thousands now) to obtain a permit. Poland has the lowest quantity of firearms in the whole Europe (and one of the lowest in the world). Taking t…

Poland has the lowest quantity of firearms in Europe and you want to change that? A bit strange yes? I don't think private firearms are very useful for international conflicts like Ukraine/Russia or to defeat terrorist attacks.

Poland is actually the site of one of the biggest uses of personal firearms in international conflict. The Jews held off the Nazis for about 5 months.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising

Might have been nice if it happened all across Poland rather than just Warsaw.

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