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Ask HN: What software will you build if your financial needs were full covered?

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Re: Ask HN: What software will you build if your financial needs were full covered?

#11

Post by benologist »

I think we could be doing much more to enable the other 1/2 of humanity to join us online as equals, Stripe Atlas is like a tentative step 1 of many. People in developing countries face such stupid limitations that effectively restrict them to just being consumers of the internet. I have some ideas percolating that I hope will help democratize the internet a little bit more for when I finish with my current company.

There are also a lot of shitty practices I would like to help erode - like automatically converting abandoned free trials into paying customers, or not providing an online way to cancel online trials etc. "Dark patterns" rely on nobody calling them out.

Frivolous privacy violations and impediments are also an area of interest, especially as the least democratic countries join us online encumbered by hateful laws.

Re: Ask HN: What software will you build if your financial needs were full covered?

#16

Post by Lordarminius »

lj3 wrote: post #10

I'd create an alternative mobile OS from the ground up. I've become disillusioned with iOS and Android both. Neithor of them nor any of the alternatives make full use of the hardware. Phones are capable of doing so much, yet in practice they fail when you ask them to do much of anything. Or, maybe I'd just build myself an electric motorcycle. There's a lot of interesting work in Battery management these days and a mo…

> Or, maybe I'd just build myself an electric motorcycle...

If you do, and its well made and competitively priced, I guarantee you you will become a billionaire in less than a decade.

Re: Ask HN: What software will you build if your financial needs were full covered?

#17

Post by lj3 »

Lordarminius wrote: post #16
lj3 wrote: post #10

I'd create an alternative mobile OS from the ground up. I've become disillusioned with iOS and Android both. Neithor of them nor any of the alternatives make full use of the hardware. Phones are capable of doing so much, yet in practice they fail when you ask them to do much of anything. Or, maybe I'd just build myself an electric motorcycle. There's a lot of interesting work in Battery management these days and a mo…

> Or, maybe I'd just build myself an electric motorcycle... If you do, and its well made and competitively priced, I guarantee you you will become a billionaire in less than a decade.

Doubtful. There are dozens if not hundreds of guys who have made their own electric motorcycles[0]. Getting it to production is a whole other ballgame, one that only two companies out of dozens have managed to pull off (Zero and Brammo).

[0]: http://www.evalbum.com/type/MTCY

Re: Ask HN: What software will you build if your financial needs were full covered?

#18

Post by Lordarminius »

lj3 wrote: post #17
Lordarminius wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or, maybe I'd just build myself an electric motorcycle... If you do, and its well made and competitively priced, I guarantee you you will become a billionaire in less than a decade.

Doubtful. There are dozens if not hundreds of guys who have made their own electric motorcycles[0]. Getting it to production is a whole other ballgame, one that only two companies out of dozens have managed to pull off (Zero and Brammo). [0]: http://www.evalbum.com/type/MTCY

You must be from the West. I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich.

The vast majority of motorbike users reside in Asia and Africa.

Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas; an electric engine would be quieter and require less maintenance. In performance and ruggedness it would have to supersede current offerings and I guess that is quite difficult or else Yamaha, Honda, Sukam and the rest would have built one already.

If I were rich I would certainly consider funding such a project.

Re: Ask HN: What software will you build if your financial needs were full covered?

#19

Post by lj3 »

Lordarminius wrote: post #18
lj3 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtful. There are dozens if not hundreds of guys who have made their own electric motorcycles[0]. Getting it to production is a whole other ballgame, one that only two companies out of dozens have managed to pull off (Zero and Brammo). [0]: http://www.evalbum.com/type/MTCY

You must be from the West. I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich. The vast majority of motorbike users reside in Asia and Africa. Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas; an electric engine would be quieter and require less maintenance. In performance and ruggedness it would have to supe…

> I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich.

There are dozens of cheap chinese knockoff electric scooters available in Asia. Upend the market? Please.

> Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas.

I don't have to imagine. Been there, done that, along with hundreds if not thousands of others. As I said before, you have no idea what it takes to go from a working prototype to a finished, mass produced shippable product. There's a reason only 2 companies have ever pulled it off and one of them went bankrupt. If you want a fun rabbit hole to dive down, google 'homologation' sometime.

I'm not saying somebody with access to billions in capital can't eventually break even and start making a profit, but we're talking a 10-20 year break even period. Longer, if you have to do what Tesla did and create an entire solar infrastructure in Asia and Africa.

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