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Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

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Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#111

Post by neiman1 »

jagger27 wrote: post #108
neiman1 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What issues do you face with online dating?

The “hook” is the worst part. It’s so hard to start a conversation from nothing and get it to stick in a meaningful way. People like to joke that those who treat Twitter like a dating app are misusing it, but I think it’s a better analog for real world dating than most things. Once you build a sufficiently big group of mutuals on Twitter and get to know them a little bit without the pressure of relationship expectati…

Strongly agree. Online dating can feel super unnatural & somewhat demeaning compared to organic convos, the typical meat market analogy seems apt.

Funnily enough, I threw together a landing page a couple of days ago [1] to run Google Ads and gauge whether there's wider interest in a solution that would avoid you having to come up with a "hook" + reinvigorate those sparks you mention.

The thought so far is that you'd fill out a pretty invasive character assessment that would be analysed by AI + professional matchmakers to set up one date a month for you with another user (who you won't see or speak to until you actually meet in person).

[1] https://penthouses.date

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#113

Post by mlac »

CommanderData wrote: post #91
mlac wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don’t you email this question to a researcher in the field?

I would love to, how would you go about finding a researcher? Preferably someone local to the vacinity.

Look at local medical schools and their faculty lists. Universities as well.

Basically write what you wrote and ask if they are the right person or know someone in that area of research.

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#114

Post by 7steps2much »

CommanderData wrote: post #91
mlac wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don’t you email this question to a researcher in the field?

I would love to, how would you go about finding a researcher? Preferably someone local to the vacinity.

Be aware that I haven't done this before, but I imagine it would go like this:

1. Figure out which field of science you are interested in 2. Find a couple of universities that teach this field of science or you think have someone specialising in that on staff 3. Go through their list of researchers 4. Pick one out and send them an email. Or if you cannot find a mail address, send an old school letter to the university

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#115

Post by CommanderData »

7steps2much wrote: post #114
CommanderData wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to, how would you go about finding a researcher? Preferably someone local to the vacinity.

Be aware that I haven't done this before, but I imagine it would go like this: 1. Figure out which field of science you are interested in 2. Find a couple of universities that teach this field of science or you think have someone specialising in that on staff 3. Go through their list of researchers 4. Pick one out and send them an email. Or if you cannot find a mail address, send an old school letter to the universit…

Perfect thank you. I'm also willing to go as far as funding researchers myself provided all controls are followed.

How would you incentivise or why would any researcher want to help out in this endeavour from a seemingly stranger? How best to cover come this.?

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#116

Post by CommanderData »

mlac wrote: post #113
CommanderData wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to, how would you go about finding a researcher? Preferably someone local to the vacinity.

Look at local medical schools and their faculty lists. Universities as well. Basically write what you wrote and ask if they are the right person or know someone in that area of research.

Excellent thank you. I'll try my hand at this and see what happens!

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#117

Post by bobwaycott »

monster_group wrote: post #8

Lack of reliable service from plumbers, HVAC, appliance repair people. There are many people available but the quality and consistency of service is highly variable and chances of getting ripped off are high if you don't do your due diligence. I wish there was more standardization in these services where I don't have to worry about getting ripped off and can expect a decent quality of service without spending too muc…

So. Much. This.

I have spent the last year sorting a number of repairs that involved plumbing, drywall, paint, and trim to walls, floors, and ceilings to repair damage. In every case, I’ve had to ask for things to be done 2 or 3 times at a minimum just to get things done right and look the way they did before the damage occurred and the work began. Not once has the job ever been done correctly the first time I’m asked to take a look and sign off on completion. I feel I’ve only been able to leverage such refusal because I’ve been able to refuse to write a check (or asked my insurance company to do the same) until the work was right. I’m always told I’m wrong when I call attention to something, and I’ve even had to track down the original builder for records and materials to prove I was correct. And that’s excluding when the workers carelessly cause more damage by doing things wrong, making shitty cuts, doing poor work on drywall mud and corners, carelessly paint edges onto opposing surfaces with different colors, or, you know, split my granite countertop in two.

It is exhausting.

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#118

Post by bobwaycott »

imglorp wrote: post #26
monster_group wrote: post #8

Lack of reliable service from plumbers, HVAC, appliance repair people. There are many people available but the quality and consistency of service is highly variable and chances of getting ripped off are high if you don't do your due diligence. I wish there was more standardization in these services where I don't have to worry about getting ripped off and can expect a decent quality of service without spending too muc…

So many of these contractors have zero comms skills or infra because they focus on the work and not basic customer relations. My personal frustration: (0) have someone answer the phone, (1) tell me when are you coming, and (2) be there. I suspect they all have a family member with QB and an answering machine as their whole back office. Someone should set up simple SaaS to do automated appointment slots, schedule upda…

My old business partner started a small company and built software and worked directly with small contractors to do exactly this. They seriously don’t care and don’t see a need for it.

The real problem is a lot of these contractors and subcontractors are running micro businesses—with just a person or two involved—and it’s usually independent subs all the way down. But they don’t treat it as a business—it’s just work. It’s how they earn a living. They don’t want to be businesses. The ones who care and think of it like a business are night-and-day different.

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#119

Post by wara23arish »

cvhashim wrote: post #90
wara23arish wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Larry David’s new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm has an episode where he highlights exactly this problem and comes up with a way to fix it. He calls it House Husband where someone who knows a little about everything can come and check to see if the repair being offered is legit.

Did you watch the episode through? Slight spoilers so stop reading here if you haven't watched the new season. Leon ended up causing an inconvenience for everyone as the the services he negotiated in place of his clients in the end was done poorly xD.

I did finish it. Felt that I shouldn’t give out too much information about the episode though :)

Re: Ask HN: What problem do you wish someone would solve?

#120

Post by swat535 »

Baldness and hair loss!

Honestly , I'm surprised that there hasn't been any breakthroughs on a problem that affects half of the world population.

We are even tackling aging but no one has bothered to massively invest in researching this and coming up with a potential cure? One could argue that it's not as important as deadly diseases but I would say the ROI could be phenomenal..

Admittingly I have no medical or scientific background so perhaps there is a good reason for this that I am not aware of.

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