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Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

ycombinator.com

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Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#141

Post by arjunb »

mlinsey wrote: post #53
Alex3917 wrote: post #22

Some things I want: 1) A way to ensure that each person can only create one account on a website, without having to sacrifice anonymity. 2) A day planner that plans my day for me; based on my to-do list, what my friends are doing, and also what's going on in the local area. Also, populate the bulk of my to-do list automatically based on what my friends in the same classes are adding to theirs. Plan social dates for m…

For number (6), I've been thinking about something in a similar area but a different take. The whole journal system itself is broken. My university's Math & CS library dropped its subscriptions to several journals a few years ago because they cost too much. Even though they picked the least important/prestigious journals, at one of the top CS departments in the country, this should not happen. And this is to say noth…

great comment, mlinsey. i've been thinking about this problem a bit too and your points essentially sum up what needs to be built - a HN for academia. citeseerx, though more of a search engine, kind of does this on an annual basis by tabulating citations; ditto for ssrn.com in the social sciences world. but i think one of the problems is that the conversations and feedback around these papers doesn't yet happen in a more public forum, and that alone would be a pretty useful feature.

btw, i don't think your email address is public, but my contact info should be listed; feel free to shoot me a message.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#142

Post by gruseom »

swombat wrote: post #105
pg wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every idea worth having has been had thousands of times already. Even if this were true (which seems extremely unlikely) someone had to think of it first. So there would have been a point when it was possible to have new ideas. How can you be sure the present is not such a point, when we know there were such points in the past?

No, I think you're misunderstanding my statement. I did not say that people do not have new ideas. That is a blatantly ridiculous statement. I said that worthy ideas have already been had. My argument comes from looking at literary and philosophical ideas, and my comment was a jest in response to another jest, but there's truth in it. There's a persistent quest for originality in literature, and after some years of c…

Chasing originality is a self-defeating thing to do, but not because all worthy ideas are unoriginal. It's because it points in the wrong direction, away from the wellsprings of creativity. It's like trying to be funny. The most striking thing about all those "persistent quest[s] for originality in literature" is how utterly samey they are. Ditto for music. But then someone like Bob Dylan or Kurt Cobain does do something original, and people wake up.

The way I hear what you're saying, you found a way out of a trap for yourself (the trap of trying to be original, which just leads round in circles) by deciding that nothing's really original. That sounds like a valuable insight under the circumstances. It doesn't mean that the generalization holds universally, though (which is why you're getting objections to it here). In fact the opposite generalization might be equally true: every great idea has never exactly occurred before.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#144

Post by noodle »

noodle wrote: post #29

its depressing, i've had some ideas that i think are good that touch on some of those areas but i'm not applying to YC because i don't have the time to make it up there for a few months. :(

actually, i have a few ideas i can't take action on. i'd be willing to spread the love if someone has the time and drive and wants an idea that might fly for a YC app.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#145

Post by benbeltran »

pg wrote: post #120
dcurtis wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had Sam Altman done other projects before Loopt?

Not that I know of. He wouldn't have had much time; he was a sophomore when he started Loopt.

Well then I guess I'm at a good age to think about a proper startup. I just finished sophomore year :P

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#146

Post by jerry5 »

Hm, seems like pg & co. want to have all the big problems of business and the economy solved for $15,000. I guess if you're only funding kiddies with amounts equivalent to the allowance they get from their parents, all you get is kiddie solutions. As soon as $15m are on the table, call me.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#147

Post by rms »

jerry5 wrote: post #146

Hm, seems like pg & co. want to have all the big problems of business and the economy solved for $15,000. I guess if you're only funding kiddies with amounts equivalent to the allowance they get from their parents, all you get is kiddie solutions. As soon as $15m are on the table, call me.

What's your number?

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#148

Post by ambition »

mlinsey wrote: post #53
Alex3917 wrote: post #22

Some things I want: 1) A way to ensure that each person can only create one account on a website, without having to sacrifice anonymity. 2) A day planner that plans my day for me; based on my to-do list, what my friends are doing, and also what's going on in the local area. Also, populate the bulk of my to-do list automatically based on what my friends in the same classes are adding to theirs. Plan social dates for m…

For number (6), I've been thinking about something in a similar area but a different take. The whole journal system itself is broken. My university's Math & CS library dropped its subscriptions to several journals a few years ago because they cost too much. Even though they picked the least important/prestigious journals, at one of the top CS departments in the country, this should not happen. And this is to say noth…

Great comment. One consideration is that the credibility isn't global or transferable across fields. It's constrained to each niche. So you really want a slinkset for academia more than an HN.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#149

Post by ambition »

dood wrote: post #46

I'm passionate about online learning. I like James Burke's knowledge web idea [ http://www.k-web.org/ ], but I'm not terribly optimistic about their approach/implementation. The idea is to make a network of knowledge which enables self-directed learning. Could incorporate tests/games, dependencies (to learn x, you need to learn y, or even complete a subgame), external references for further reading, and possibly a lo…

A large and frequently overlooked part of what good teachers do: motivating. In my opinion, it's the true hard problem in online learning.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#150

Post by gscott »

jerry5 wrote: post #146

Hm, seems like pg & co. want to have all the big problems of business and the economy solved for $15,000. I guess if you're only funding kiddies with amounts equivalent to the allowance they get from their parents, all you get is kiddie solutions. As soon as $15m are on the table, call me.

(Catfish Jerry?) You know they get you started then put you in front of the right people to get the 15m. But there are too many people beating down the door to get in, but email me I have several things going on that can provide you with more income then you can spend.
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