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Startup Ideas

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Startup Ideas

#291

Post by ahussain »

Kalium wrote: post #248
Waterluvian wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those problems aren't sexy and can't get anyone rich quick.

You're right, a lot of those problems aren't sexy. Yet, they're all critical problems that must be solved. That said, some of them are sexy. Voice-to-voice translation, for example, is already being worked on substantially. Most of those problems, though, seem to me to be more political problems than technological ones. The cost of housing in cities, the failure to help refugees and displaced persons, tools for colle…

I agree with you, but if we think that many of our most pressing problems are political/governmental at their core, then doesn't that mean tech is a little impotent? - maybe we ought to be more careful about using "change the world" narratives, and maybe we should be encouraging more of our brightest minds to go into politics and government, if that's where the really interesting problems are.

* I am being a little facetious here, but only because I don't think I don't think tech has nothing left to offer in these, more challenging, problems.

Re: Startup Ideas

#292

Post by tech4all »

ductionist wrote: post #252
ahussain wrote: post #233

I honestly cannot tell if some of these ideas are real or just parodies of silicon valley, "avocado toast" tech culture: - AI for Communicating with Dogs - Baby Bidet - AR Debt Collector - Buyer’s Remorse Insurance Are these really the most pressing problems start-ups could be solving right now? What about issues like cost of housing in cities, urban transport, infrastructure in the developing world, fixing 'fake new…

Can't speak to AI for dogs and buyer's remorse insurance, but the AR collector really spoke to me - I would hand over 5-10% of invoices to have someone else deal with getting my enterprise clients to pay on time (and getting them to pay interest when they don't). It might not provide much social benefit, but I wish it existed anyway.

Hasn't this been around for ages? "Factoring Accounts Receivable". All the cool kids were doing it in the 80's.

Re: Startup Ideas

#293

Post by rockmananoff »

ahussain wrote: post #264
ductionist wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't speak to AI for dogs and buyer's remorse insurance, but the AR collector really spoke to me - I would hand over 5-10% of invoices to have someone else deal with getting my enterprise clients to pay on time (and getting them to pay interest when they don't). It might not provide much social benefit, but I wish it existed anyway.

I'm curious why you think AR would be a good way to solve this problem. I feel like I'm missing a few links in the chain.

By "AR" he's talking about Accounts Receivables. I believe you're thinking of Augmented Reality :)

Re: Startup Ideas

#294

Post by gaustin »

ductionist wrote: post #252
ahussain wrote: post #233

I honestly cannot tell if some of these ideas are real or just parodies of silicon valley, "avocado toast" tech culture: - AI for Communicating with Dogs - Baby Bidet - AR Debt Collector - Buyer’s Remorse Insurance Are these really the most pressing problems start-ups could be solving right now? What about issues like cost of housing in cities, urban transport, infrastructure in the developing world, fixing 'fake new…

Can't speak to AI for dogs and buyer's remorse insurance, but the AR collector really spoke to me - I would hand over 5-10% of invoices to have someone else deal with getting my enterprise clients to pay on time (and getting them to pay interest when they don't). It might not provide much social benefit, but I wish it existed anyway.

A quick search turns up a number of companies to which you can outsource your AR. Not sure what the payment structure looks like.

Re: Startup Ideas

#295

Post by subdane »

arkades wrote: post #205

Re Smart Bathroom: Every time I hear about all-knowing toilets, I continue to feel it’s putting the cart way ahead of the horse. There’s a rule in medicine: don’t order a test whose outcome doesn’t change your decision. That’s not about cost-savings, it’s about avoiding false positives that make no sense in clinical context but raise flags that must be chased down. This sort of thing is literally promising to just co…

Garbage in, garbage out.

Re: Startup Ideas

#296

Post by gnarbarian »

taurath wrote: post #236
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…

I am probably in the minority here, but it seems that the impetus of most of the problems on this list is what would possibly make the most money, written as if that is the measuring stick of the most societally useful startup. The top 5 problems in my city are more on the level of affordable housing, homelessness, drug use, over-incarceration and mental healthcare. I can't help but feel like we have enough gadgets a…

The whole point of venture capital is to make money.

Re: Startup Ideas

#297

Post by Kalium »

ahussain wrote: post #291
Kalium wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, a lot of those problems aren't sexy. Yet, they're all critical problems that must be solved. That said, some of them are sexy. Voice-to-voice translation, for example, is already being worked on substantially. Most of those problems, though, seem to me to be more political problems than technological ones. The cost of housing in cities, the failure to help refugees and displaced persons, tools for colle…

I agree with you, but if we think that many of our most pressing problems are political/governmental at their core, then doesn't that mean tech is a little impotent? - maybe we ought to be more careful about using "change the world" narratives, and maybe we should be encouraging more of our brightest minds to go into politics and government, if that's where the really interesting problems are. * I am being a little f…

It's perhaps less than optimally correct to assume that intelligence is infinitely flexible. The same minds that are brilliant at technology may not always be equally brilliant at politics, policies, and campaigning. It's even perhaps possible that both fields, and many others, have genuinely interesting problems.

I don't think tech has nothing to offer. Just that a lack of tech is not what keeps the political problems unsolved. Be not guided by the beauty of your weapons, they are but tools fit to serve a purpose. That my stovetop cannot comfort the bereaved does not render it impotent - merely unsuitable for that purpose.

Re: Startup Ideas

#298

Post by kls »

taurath wrote: post #236
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…

I am probably in the minority here, but it seems that the impetus of most of the problems on this list is what would possibly make the most money, written as if that is the measuring stick of the most societally useful startup. The top 5 problems in my city are more on the level of affordable housing, homelessness, drug use, over-incarceration and mental healthcare. I can't help but feel like we have enough gadgets a…

Drugs are easy, but you would have to be able to run books to fix it, maybe in Vegas. You set up a site where you post pictures and a bio of the drug addict. People then place wagers on how long you think they will stay clean and build odds based on that. Said drug abuser gets a cut of the house at 3 months, 6 months and a year and has to submit to drug tests during that period. This cut allows them to rebuild their life and gives them a hell of an incentive to get clean. If they relapse the remaining cut of the house goes into a pool and get's distributed to the rest of the drug addicts that are still on the road to recovery and ups their cuts.

It's a win-win, you don't feel like you are gambling if you loose because at least your money is going to a good cause, and if you do win well you still put money towards a good cause. As well you are building an incentiveised safety net for some of the most at risk people.

Re: Startup Ideas

#299

Post by vadimberman »

ahussain wrote: post #233

I honestly cannot tell if some of these ideas are real or just parodies of silicon valley, "avocado toast" tech culture: - AI for Communicating with Dogs - Baby Bidet - AR Debt Collector - Buyer’s Remorse Insurance Are these really the most pressing problems start-ups could be solving right now? What about issues like cost of housing in cities, urban transport, infrastructure in the developing world, fixing 'fake new…

> AR Debt Collector

Have you ever tried to get an invoice paid by an a*hole customer?

It's not exactly that. The post names it "Accounts Receivables as a Service". The idea is to make sure the invoice does not become a bad debt.

The willingness to pay small vendors and contractors varies across countries, industries, and cultures. Often, it involves a ridiculous amount of haggling and bickering.

For a small business, it is a lot of pain and loss of productivity (let alone actual revenue in some cases).

It's not technically ambitious but definitely a real problem to be solved.

Re: Startup Ideas

#300

Post by vadimberman »

muzani wrote: post #260
ahussain wrote: post #233

I honestly cannot tell if some of these ideas are real or just parodies of silicon valley, "avocado toast" tech culture: - AI for Communicating with Dogs - Baby Bidet - AR Debt Collector - Buyer’s Remorse Insurance Are these really the most pressing problems start-ups could be solving right now? What about issues like cost of housing in cities, urban transport, infrastructure in the developing world, fixing 'fake new…

Soft debt collector is a huge pronlem though. I don't think AR is the best fix, but if someone can do it just slightly better, I'd be willing to throw a lot of money at it. AI communicator for dogs is hilarious though. It follows the (Buzzword) for Dogs pattern everyone jokes about.

"AR" is not "augmented reality" in the post, it is "Accounts Receivables".
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