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Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
31–40 of 176 posts
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#32I think a better question for 2 experienced guys like you is, "What industries are overserved by software?"
That would open up a whole bunch of possibilities that no one is looking at. Much better than competing with 2000 others at the next soon-to-be-obsolete app.
I've built a great career by asking customers to consider the "low tech solution" first, then building upon it. Amazing how often they love it so much that the "building upon" step never comes.
As I sit here on a client's system with 14 useless windows open, being bombarded by skype, email, voice, chat, webex, outlook, office, text, jira, confluence, and sharepoint notifications from 14 others with their own 14 useless windows open, none of us getting any real work done, I wonder why 2 guys like you who know how to get shit done don't come in and just fix this for us.
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you know aviation, literally anything that will decrease fuel usage Apart from writing full blown avionics systems for engine/flight control - what are you suggesting?
Not obviously, but it could be. Reducing idling time and improving routes both increase fuel efficiency without changing the airplane. Maybe software could help with those. Edit: my reply was to the original comment which was something like "how is this a software problem?"
> Reducing idling time and improving routes both increase fuel efficiency without changing the airplane
Do you think idling time is a software problem? Aircraft idle for various time based on other requirements and needs, for example, spooling up the engines or inerting the fuel tanks.
Routes are already optimized by air traffic for the fastest, and cheapest route. They have no incentive to increase flight times as there would be fewer aircraft flying then.
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#34Lawyers and justice
My ex-wife worked for a legal software firm. One thing to note is they were threatened with lawsuits ALL THE TIME, because, after all, their customers were lawyers. So any bug or whatever else would end up with some nasty email from some customer exclaiming, "We're going to sue!" In reality, not many (if any) actually carried through with it, but if that sort of threat makes you queasy, better be (or have) a really g…
Hahahaha that is such a funny anecdote. But really scary too.
Thanks for sharing
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#35Lawyers and justice
This. So MUCH this. Legal-related software is mostly souped-up search engines, there is so much to be done here. Many legal professionals are barely computer-literate, of course (and that is a big issue) but many are increasingly savvy and feel constrained by various proprietary solutions. (Edit: typo and further commentary)
Is it because lawyers charge for their time and have zero incentive to be more efficient
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#36Construction is a big field, and there are many niche industries within it.
I work in natural stone. There are several different types of companies just in this niche. Usually the flow of product is:
quarries -> factories -> distributors (us) -> fabricators -> kitchen and bath shops -> end user
There are maybe 5-7 major pieces of software for the first four stages. "Under-served" is an understatement.
Similarly, there are 10s (if not hundreds) of other niches within construction, each with its own vertical. Tons of niche software is missing.
When I see another niche analytics/forms/site chatbot/automate social media startup, I slap myself to make sure I'm not crazy.
There's a whole ocean out there, but most software startup companies are running into each other in Depoe Bay.
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#37Lawyers and justice
Look at what happened to Atrium though.
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#38Lawyers and justice
This. So MUCH this. Legal-related software is mostly souped-up search engines, there is so much to be done here. Many legal professionals are barely computer-literate, of course (and that is a big issue) but many are increasingly savvy and feel constrained by various proprietary solutions. (Edit: typo and further commentary)
Do they need something like Kialo? https://www.ft.com/content/4c19005c-ff5f-11e7-9e12-af73e8db3...
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#39If you know aviation, literally anything that will decrease fuel usage. Also maintenance & repair operations (a whole lot of dirty fingerprints going on there).
Convince regulators that advanced control techniques can be used on flight software (model-based predictive control, optimal control, etc.)
We know how to do these, maybe not as safe as we can with simpler methods today, but convincing the public and regulators will always be the challenge in aviation/aerospace.
Probably the only realistic (software related) method in today's world without a materials/battery improvement, but we won't get there for a while.
Re: Ask HN: What industries are underserved by software?
#40I think a better question for 2 experienced guys like you is, "What industries are overserved by software?" That would open up a whole bunch of possibilities that no one is looking at. Much better than competing with 2000 others at the next soon-to-be-obsolete app. I've built a great career by asking customers to consider the "low tech solution" first, then building upon it. Amazing how often they love it so much tha…
https://xkcd.com/927/
Couldn’t help myself, the number is even the same!
What do you think a solution to this problem (too complex, too many things to monitor) would look like? And all-in-one like Basecamp? Or maybe a super system that puts stuff in one place?