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Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

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Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#1
I'm familiar with the rfs page, but I'm curious what HN thinks about trends/opportunities for solving problems. Could be massive problems or just low hanging fruit.

Maybe this thread could be a lifting off point for a startup - in which case I'd consider it a success :)

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#2
There are a lot of things I want to do in life that someone tells me I can't do. For example, I can't buy a house for an affordable price because the supply is artificially constrained for less-than-ideal reasons.

Similarly, I want to work remotely but can't because of company culture. I am willing to negotiate but they are not. Even if I could work remotely, other countries won't let me stay for more than a month or without me arbitrarily flying out and then flying back in.

These are all problems that I'm having in my life right now, and they aren't really tech problems compared to people ones. Influential people need to be the ones to solve these problems, but none of them have taken action.

I hope this can be fixed somehow. In the 2010s, I went from not being able to text my international friends on my phone to it being trivial and near-zero in price (thanks Whatsapp!).

I hope something big changes in 2020.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#5

There are a lot of things I want to do in life that someone tells me I can't do. For example, I can't buy a house for an affordable price because the supply is artificially constrained for less-than-ideal reasons. Similarly, I want to work remotely but can't because of company culture. I am willing to negotiate but they are not. Even if I could work remotely, other countries won't let me stay for more than a month or…

Bought a 3 bedroom house for $75k because I work remotely. There are cheap places to live in America, you don't have to fly out of country.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#7
It still seems insanely difficult to track calories and macros with all the apps out there to do it. Most of the content for searching for your food is "community generated" so if I try to add a "Big Mac" (example, not eating big macs...) then I get like 30 results all with different amounts of calories and nutrition amounts also with slightly different naming.

Maybe this exists somewhere??? But if someone can make an app to help me keep track of my food intake in an organized, managed (only one big mac when I search big mac and maybe options to add/remove toppings), fashion I would be slightly less insane counting my protein intake.

Yes, this is a difficult task with how much food is out there and thus it has great value if someone does it extremely well.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#8

Climate change should be anyone's first answer.

This is a big one, but it’s almost too big. Perhaps better broken down into smaller (though still big) chunks: innovate in renewable energies, spur higher participation rates in local elections, research ways to deplete gases harmful to the ozone, etc

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#9
Modular housing that grows with your life. Biggest problem there is effective expansion joints that would hold the houses together.

Affordable container ship that is electric.

A personal finance software that solves upper-middle class issues (eg. primary income, side business, rentals, etc.).

A product/service that makes CROs obsolete in drug development (CROs = 25% of cost of drugs; admin overhead)

Idk, those are some that immediately come to my mind.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#10

There are a lot of things I want to do in life that someone tells me I can't do. For example, I can't buy a house for an affordable price because the supply is artificially constrained for less-than-ideal reasons. Similarly, I want to work remotely but can't because of company culture. I am willing to negotiate but they are not. Even if I could work remotely, other countries won't let me stay for more than a month or…

Bought a 3 bedroom house for $75k because I work remotely. There are cheap places to live in America, you don't have to fly out of country.

Out of curiosity where did you buy?
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