Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Startup Ideas

blog.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 470 posts

Re: Startup Ideas

#121

Post by shafyy »

kcorbitt wrote: post #2

Hey HN! I'm a software developer at YC and the author of this post. This post is actually a bit of an experiment. We're trying to find better ways to get prospective startup founders (which includes many of us in the HN community) in contact with problems that really ought to be solved. We have lots of different ideas for ways to do that, but a list of ideas seemed like an easy one to try out first. Please let me kno…

Appreciate the effort. My feedback is that it seems super random. On the one hand, you say that there is an abundance of ideas, on the other hand, you add more ideas, with the goal that more startups are started.

However, YC says that the idea doesn't really affect the outcome of a startup. It just is an indicator if the founders can have good ideas. In that case, giving out ideas and having people start companies based on that gives you zero information about if that startup is going to be successful.

Re: Startup Ideas

#122

Post by nasirmaziz »

mark242 wrote: post #34

> Social Network for Children Counterpoint-- this should not be built. Kids already have a social network, it's called the playground at school. Having children engage with their friends outside of school time is a fine goal, but there are plenty of existing after-school activities that encourage this interaction. These activities also don't put the undue stress of having to decipher typed language, nuance, and other…

Social Media sites ironically isolate humans and the needed natural interactions. Bad Idea! This will indoctrinate children at a very early stage. The social medium for children should be schools, playgrounds, community events, and other collective activities etc.

Re: Startup Ideas

#123

Post by yongjik »

jabretti wrote: post #106
blizkreeg wrote: post #75

I've thought about the firefighting idea as well, especially after the recent Sonoma and Napa fire. Sprinkler systems for indoor fires are not that uncommon now. Why aren't there sprinkler/fire retardant systems for the perimeter/external part of a house? In a wildfire, I can't imagine a better way to fight the fire from spreading through a neighborhood than a system that auto-deploys when it senses smoke on the peri…

This is naive. A bushfire is huge, hot, and fast-moving, consuming entire trees in seconds. Your mains-pressure water sprinkler will not deter an onrushing wall of flame in the least... and worse, an automated system would take water away from where it's needed.

It won't save the house if everything around is afire, but pictures like the burnt-down HP historical archive building[1] look like it could have been saved with a sprinkler wall. (For god's sake, the trees next to it are perfectly OK.)

[1] http://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/7559762-181/hewlett-pa... (see picture 3)

Re: Startup Ideas

#124

Post by plehoux »

> With the arrival of autonomous drones, industrial drones, better sensors and better prediction we should be able do a better job saving our forests, cities and firefighters.

My wife is a forest engineer and a good friend of her works at detecting fire at the Sopfeu http://www.sopfeu.qc.ca/en.

Sopfeu moto:

> Optimize forest fire protection to ensure the sustainability of the forest environment for the good of the community, and to do so at the lowest possible cost.

Obviously, Quebec territory is massive, and most of it is forest land with no inhabitant. So protection goals are not the same as in let's say California.

But one thing my girlfriend always tells me (and her friend) is that forest fires are part of the natural cycle of all forest ecosystem (at least the Boreal one).

You cannot prevent/fight fires in a natural ecosystem, you can only control them to some extent.

To prevent fires, you need to actively manage a forest. Create natural barrier (cut trees), remove combustible (death wood), etc.

Without those heavy interventions, there will be fire at some point. So detection is only part of the solution.

Re: Startup Ideas

#125

Post by iforiq »

brianbreslin wrote: post #89
regularfry wrote: post #79

`Accounts Receivables as a Service` Does invoice factoring not exist in the US? It's a fairly run of the mill concept in the UK, and it's nothing like debt collection.

I know at least one company offering this in a modern package.

Which one? Paid labs? This is a big problem we've faced too, currently our bookkeeper does it for us, which can get expensive as they charge by the hour.

Re: Startup Ideas

#126

Post by seibelj »

dboreham wrote: post #22

"Accounts Receivables as a Service" Interesting one since I a) worked at a startup in this area long ago (they ran out of money..for reasons see below) and b) I now run a company and have found customers dislike for paying on time to be a significant irritation. However, unless this proposed "AR Service" has a way to get a horse's head into the bed of the late payer's CFO, how are they going to achieve anything? In m…

Wouldn't a simple solution be to add high interest to unpaid invoices over a certain time? I've seen invoices with this clause. Of course, you can selectively enforce.

Re: Startup Ideas

#127

Post by Torai »

heartbreak wrote: post #115
Torai wrote: post #69

"Ideas" is a broad concept. Those are not product definitions explaining it's characteristics, what problem they solve and how the are bein monetized in detail. Those are just paragraphs talking about markets with potential money. I have a really great concept I had a week ago, and I'm now writing a detailed document about it. I'm currently employed and I plan to kickstart it by means of some contact in a group chat…

I have a multi billion dollar idea where everyone in the world gives me a dollar for no reason. Want to invest?

No, cause:

- The concept fails. People is not giving you money for no service.

- Your answer lacks the creativity required for a person with good ideas.

Re: Startup Ideas

#128

Post by wanderingjew »

wonderous wrote: post #109
ukulele wrote: post #81

> AI for communicating with dogs This is borderline satire. You don't need some crazy new idea to do a startup. You need to execute well on something people want, and if you're out looking for ideas, your best bet is probably to enter an existing market and cater to a subset of it better than others are doing.

Most animals are way more expressive that the average person is able to easily understand and pet tech would easily be a billion dollar market. EDIT: I would also be happy to do this startup if YC adds me to the next batch; already offered to do one for the “Social Network for Children”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15715865

Real life is not a Pixar movie.

Re: Startup Ideas

#129

Post by chromaton »

chromaton wrote: post #5

AR as a service is something I've been thinking about for a while. I was thinking more "Stripe for Purchase Orders" though. I can definitely see my business using this. It's a billion dollar business if done correctly.

The "use blockchain" people are missing it. This is for dealing with companies that handle purchases through the very traditional Quote -> Purchase Order -> Delivery -> Invoice -> Payment system.

Re: Startup Ideas

#130

Post by rficcaglia »

gt_ wrote: post #101
chromaton wrote: post #5

AR as a service is something I've been thinking about for a while. I was thinking more "Stripe for Purchase Orders" though. I can definitely see my business using this. It's a billion dollar business if done correctly.

Another comment mentioned invoice factoring, and this is different but I think we have to remember that the big companies are going to use invoice refactoring. This might be one for the blockchain. :O

I think blockchain factoring is interesting, though in the US there are many tax and legal issues surrounding factoring [0]. So blockchain tech alone isn't a sufficient solution long term (as we've seen vis-a-vis ICOs.) I still think there is innovation to be had here, though.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/American-Factoring-Law-David-Tatge/dp...

Post reply on HN