Will there be better outcomes for society if such efforts are pursued as non-profits?
YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
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Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#62If anyone wants to help Veterans, I am an attorney, 5+ years in assisting Vets get VA benefits. I have A LOT of fully formed concepts, but amateur/hobby technical ability. Most immediate goal is to compliment but go well beyond the very minimal efforts that USDS has been doing for Vets directly the last 2-3 years. VA has coopted USDS into assisting the VA first, Vets only incidentally. matt@deutermanlaw.com
I'm surprised to hear about this. USDS is paraded around as one of the poster childs of how to pair tech with the public sector and effective government work. Are there any posts about how they failed with VA benefits?
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#63The irony when they talk about affordable housing but don't say a word about AirBnb which is fucking over long term renters in popular tourist destinations.
What about the hosts who use Airbnb to help them pay their rent?
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#64Hey folks - happy to answer questions about our new RFS.
Why'd you name it Government 2.0, if you "do not seek to replace the government and its policymakers but seek to fund startups that create solutions that provide Americans the foundations for economic growth?"
Did you consider any other less misleading/terrifying names?
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
It has to come from politics. Capitalism unregulated will pretty much always lead to a few accumulating more and more and increasing their power.
> Capitalism unregulated There isn't a country on earth that allows for unregulated capitalism.
For good reason.
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#66The solution to income inequality is not going to come from venture capitalists and private companies. I have an idea for a non-profit that tackles a systemic problem, but I can't help but look at some of the other yc grads and think that their companies seem hopelessly out of touch with the problems they're trying to tackle. Promise is mentioned as "tackling mass incarceration", but their company seems geared more t…
You think YC/VC's are searching for a solution to income inequality? Check @pg's twitter feed...
The government is already stricken with profit-seekers extracting value from the public. SV wants its piece too. And it will, if it can make VC money out-impact the status quo of entrenched lobby money.
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#67In Andrew Yang's recent panel at Monetery Tech Summit, he was making the case that most of these are problems that the free market doesn't reward solving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhNpbPhFwRc&t=957 These are all important problems, but there have been people working on them for decades already without much progress. What we really need is for either government to tackle these problems itself, or else to put in…
I agree - it would be great for the government to tackle these problems. But looking at the current US government that doesn't look likely. I agree it feels almost impossible for a startup to actually fix some of these problems. But we fund startups who try to do the almost impossible all the time. And sometimes they succeed :)
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#68Having been part of the startup community in both Silicon Valley and greater DC, I think this is a much-needed and brilliant effort on the part of YC. I hope it pays off in spades, both for the public and YC. That said: My hat is off to anyone who manages to cross the divide between silicon valley culture and govt bureaucracy culture. Navigating the differences in those world views is not for the faint of heart.
Thank you :)
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
The solution to income inequality probably isn't going to come from governments either sadly.
It has to come from politics. Capitalism unregulated will pretty much always lead to a few accumulating more and more and increasing their power.
What you say is true.
Likewise government unrestrained appears to lead to the few accumulating more and more and increasing their power.
Re: YC's request for startups: Government 2.0
#70Who needs public services when you can have private for-profit start-ups? I'm sure the new startups will always prioritize serving the citizens over making money. After all, that's what private for-profit organizations have a long track record of doing. In seriousness: I'm sure the listed start ups do good work. There are ways tech can help government and people. Government 2.0 is awful branding. The idea that you ca…
There are plenty of private companies that are positive or, in many cases, even necessary for governments and democracy to function. The media is one example, and so are internet providers. As this request is written, really any contractor that does something better than the SQ would qualify. And, of course, YC even funds non-profit startups. Recognised tax-exempt organisations almost by definition work on goals whic…
> The media is one example
Read (at least an outline of) manufacturing consent. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky pointed out 40 years ago that the media is complicit in propaganda dissemination for the government without any active coercion taking place.
> so are internet providers
This is directly at odds with reality, when internet providers are allowed to run rampant we get anti-consumer behavior that requires things like net neutrality to fix. The fact that state mandated monopolies make problems like this worse is not an argument against the state, but against unregulated/poorly regulated monopolies. Telecom at some level does require actual lines to be run; it's a natural monopoly so we don't have a comcast line, an at&t line, a spectrum line, etc all right next to each other. The alternative is forcing them to work together, which we also could do much better on.
Neither of these companies are necessarily fundamentally evil, but without oversight and accountability can, will, and have done bad things. That's the crux of it all, you can't rely on private companies to self-regulate, they're ultimately only beholden to their shareholders.