I'm new to a company that provides SaaS in the nonprofit technology space. And, while we're successful, there doesn't seem to be a "next problem" for the product development team to be thinking about. I want to help validate new solutions, but its difficult not knowing the challenges being faced by nonprofits. Since gaining context for the problem space in a new industry takes time and I'm just not there yet, do any fellow hackers have any insights or ideas to share?
Ask HN: What facets of nonprofit technology are ripe for disruption?
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Re: Ask HN: What facets of nonprofit technology are ripe for disruption?
#2Documentation, field data collection and collation of that data would be one, I think.
You have field workers who are not tech savvy. And may not have robust internet connections on their systems, if they have systems.
So, how do you record data? Sometimes, it's paper notes at the point of data collection. Often, best case, it's post facto recall and writing down. Which then needs to be uploaded to a pc. If you are lucky, voice notes which need to be transcribed..
One way around could be offline version of Google forms which can be used on a cheap smartphone + with no major typing..
There's an entire platform that could be developed to cater to this need, since standard solutions or combinations of solutions still don't address the problem completely.
Often, data collection itself is a big point of friction and frustration..
Re: Ask HN: What facets of nonprofit technology are ripe for disruption?
#3I would encourage you to go volunteer with the non-profit customers you have and get a sense of their work to discover any challenges they face. Build more interactions between yourself and your customers. That's where you'll get the best learnings.