Requests for Startups Refreshed
blog.ycombinator.com
Requests for Startups Refreshed
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Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#2At some point in time - I would love to build a news site which had each article broken into facts & points of view (left, center, right). Ideally classifying/auto-linking to politicians statements/voting history automatically with machine learning.
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#3I've constantly racked my brain on the Underserved Communities and Social Services: my dad is a Vietnam vet and my mom (while we were growing up) fit that single mother middle-class type...how does technology help them?
Part of the problem is they aren't tech savvy the way the HN community is - so what works for our community doesn't exactly work for theirs, or that they even use technology to the extent that we do (i.e. does technology even solve this problem?).
The other problem is revenue/profitability...this population is inherently cash-strapped, so trying to create a technology solution that likely lies in the Tech-meets-Consumer Discretionary industry, well, who among these people can (and will) afford such services?
It frustrates me to no end...because I want to help, but I can't seem to find a viable solution whenever I build something out.
It's further a problem because it doesn't follow the general YC/Paul Graham rules for creating solutions - solving your own problems. Most techies aren't also veterans or single mothers, so while it was a problem I experienced second hand growing up, it's not something I live with today, other than my innate desire to help others. It's very hard to solve a problem you can't experience first hand.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve these kinds of problems? Am I approaching it wrong?
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#4I'll be fascinated to see what Mass Media ideas come through YC. It's pretty obviously a problem, but I've honestly got no ideas at all about how to solve it (although, to be fair, there's a non-zero chance that the media has always been a problem of this magnitude, but the internet/echo chamber culture has simply exposed what was lurking all along).
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#5I think funding mass media is less interesting than finding a way to have sustainable investigative journalism, both at the local and national levels. Investigative journalism, especially at the local level, has been hit hard by local newspapers getting shut down and the media forced to either pull out of unprofitable areas or focus on money-making ventures. Most media outlets are not the New York Times or Washington Post; they can't afford to send reporters out for months to put together enough evidence to run a long-form story. The end result though is that most media outlets focus on what attracts viewers and makes them money: partisan commentary, stories that spread FUD, and feel-good stories. The end result is that government and business officials can run amok without anyone holding them accountable.
Let mass media focus on general-interest stories and slowly become reality TV for reality. If we instead focus on investigative journalism, we'll have a way for journalists to provide unbiased content without depending on the mass media to provide the funding to do so.
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#6Farming is an interesting one, particularly with regards to the quoted statistic of 40%.
From a technological perspective this has already been largely solved. Developed countries typically have 1-3% of the population working in agriculture. This is only possible because of large scale efficiencies, that allow 1-3% of the population to feed the rest.
So am genuinely curious: what are you envisaging? How to market this technology to the world or make it more accessible? Or make agriculture even more efficient and even further reduce the number of people in farming?
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#7At some point in time - I would love to build a news site which had each article broken into facts & points of view (left, center, right). Ideally classifying/auto-linking to politicians statements/voting history automatically with machine learning.
My favorite news app of all time was Circa which was broken into bite-sized facts. You could even subscribe to story and receive notifications when a new bit of information arose.
Unfortunately they never charged money and it disappeared about a year ago :(
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#8I'll be fascinated to see what Mass Media ideas come through YC. It's pretty obviously a problem, but I've honestly got no ideas at all about how to solve it (although, to be fair, there's a non-zero chance that the media has always been a problem of this magnitude, but the internet/echo chamber culture has simply exposed what was lurking all along).
It's not going through YC, but Purple (https://getpurple.io) has done a good job, IMO, of having good coverage in a novel way (through facebook messages)
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#9Knight Foundation's single focus is media and journalism. For example, MapBox came out of a $200k grant they provided. I'm sure there are a lot of developers and start-ups they have or are currently are funding who can use more support. You might want to talk to them about what people are doing in the field.
Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed
#10Definitely like the food and farming addition. Basic sustenance is still a very important issue for a significant portion of the human population. Worth investing resources into.