All the ballroom dance competitions use this old, disliked software to organize and run the events. The guy who wrote it isn't interested in making improvements, (and it can certainly use improvements) and is happy living off the income from people's per event usage rights. I am sure if something modern and regularly updated came out, it would get a lot of uptake. Thing is, the portion of it that runs during the event needs to be able to run offline since venues don't always have reliable internet, and that also means you would be going to at least the first few events for support.. And your tests better be good, since time is of the essence if some does go wrong mid event. I thought about it, and decided I was not interested in dealing with all that when my job pays pretty well. Still, it's a real opportunity.
Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
391–400 of 734 posts
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#392Immigration. Every time I change jobs as an H1-B employee, I've to fill in the same ridiculous data with every law firms weird interface. I wish the US Digital Services would focus on streamlining forms and having auto-import from all the data they already have about me (e.g. automatically translate I-94 records to how much time I actually spent in the US, infer my past I-797 records automatically, have a one time ed…
I am in same boat. There is a YC startup simplelegal that is trying to do this. But startups can't fix main issues with the immigration.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#393A ticketing system that doesn't sux (I like RequestTracker, but it shows its age). Top players are ridiculously overpriced. My management style is like this: every task/request is numbered, placed in a queue and assigned to a professional. What I expect from my ticketing system: - every manager should be able to assign tasks to someone and set the order they must be executed. He needs know what his team is doing and…
The problem here seems to be that users/customers insist on customizing any such app to death. Personally, I think the optimal ticket system would have this data for each ticket: * A unique, prefixed ticket # (JIRA gets this right) * An assignee (like an email To:) * A reporter (like an email From:) * A one-line summary (like an email Subject:) * A multi-line body (like an email body, but ideally with markdown) * Att…
I am pretty happy with Enchant. It's is pretty simple, but flexible enough for up to medium scale environments.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#394Not my industry, but in my area. I'm still looking for a good modular house that can be setup reasonably quickly, low cost, and can survive North Dakota winter and summer. Something suitable for a single person or a couple.
I wonder if shipping containers could be the basis for a solution in this space.
They would seriously have to be cleaned given how toxic the paint on those things is. Plus, I would rather have something not prone to giving the local inspector a fit.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US, most toaster ovens I've seen have about 2-3 times the footprint of the average toaster, with additional height. This is actually pretty reasonable as you can use the toaster oven instead of the oven or microwave oven for many tasks (it's a less specialised tool than a toaster).
Last I read, US homes are the second largest in the world, after Australia. In Asia, many people live in apartments and that space is unavailable / non-negotiable. In addition, microwaves are not nearly so widely used.
And yet, every tiny apartment I visited in Korea and Japan had a toaster oven. The toaster oven is an incredibly useful and versatile tool that can stand in for bigger appliances, like full-sized ovens, in pinched spaces.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#396All the ballroom dance competitions use this old, disliked software to organize and run the events. The guy who wrote it isn't interested in making improvements, (and it can certainly use improvements) and is happy living off the income from people's per event usage rights. I am sure if something modern and regularly updated came out, it would get a lot of uptake. Thing is, the portion of it that runs during the even…
Is this the software you are talking about: http://www.douglassassociates.com/
?
It looks like it's offered for free now. The thing with this kind of software, is it must be "good enough" for the task.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#397BI for developers. Developers run many organizations and teams now, but most Business Intelligence-ish tools are either built for business people (Tableau, Domo) or for marketing (all analytics products, specifically GA). I feel like there's a big opportunity for a tool/tools that are installed in apps as a package and then customized from there. Many teams build a version of this in house (Instacart open-sources the…
Check out Looker. Life changing.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#398In the IT industry, finding good startup ideas is a hard problem.
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#399Uber for boat in Singapore please
Hard to find boat from pier to ship
Also cost prohibitive alot of unnecessary middle man
Re: Ask HN: What problem in your industry is a potential startup?
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is exactly correct. As a lawyer and a software developer, I long ago gave up on the idea of selling software to solve the problems of lawyers and/or law firms. Lawyers tend to be terrible customers of technology, if for no other reason than that they have established completely backward incentives that reward inefficiencies and information deficits. The only "legal tech" that can succeed (in my opinion) is the k…
So you don't agree that 'the person who represents themself has an idiot for a client'?
Probably smart to bring one to court with you but maybe not required for drawing up a standard will where the few assets you own should just go to your next of kin