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Startup idea list

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Startup idea list

#81

Post by mpfefferle »

This may be more of a pipe dream than a viable idea, but I'd like to see someone come up with a new model for an insurance company where everyone's interests are more aligned. For example, a health insurance company that paid doctors a dividend on the long term health of their patients minus costs instead of per procedure. If it worked, doctors and patients would be the ones balancing the effectiveness of treatments vs costs rather than an insurance bureaucracy.

Note that to prevent doctors from working with only healthy patients, they'd be paid out for improvements in health rather than absolute health.

Re: Startup idea list

#82

Post by euccastro »

rms wrote: post #12
falsestprophet wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An easy to use operating system for computer users in general would be nice.

Agreed, an easier to use operating system would be great for most power-users too. I'd start by eliminating the desktop and completely abstracting away the file system, instead letting you browse all of your media files at once, all of your documents, etc. I'd do it with a dynamic start page that would let you accomplish everything from within Ubuntu/Firefox in kiosk mode. The design's the hard part, but I have the b…

Jef Raskin's Humane Environment (the whole design, zooming UI and all) would be pretty much that.

Re: Startup idea list

#83

Post by euccastro »

mpfefferle wrote: post #81

This may be more of a pipe dream than a viable idea, but I'd like to see someone come up with a new model for an insurance company where everyone's interests are more aligned. For example, a health insurance company that paid doctors a dividend on the long term health of their patients minus costs instead of per procedure. If it worked, doctors and patients would be the ones balancing the effectiveness of treatments…

I think I read somewhere that in China doctors's salaries are, or used to be, linked to the healthy days per year of their 'customers'.

Re: Startup idea list

#84

Post by andyn »

These have been floating about in my head for a while. Mostly social web sites but with a twist:

mmmbop: A Hanson based social networking site. Haven't quite worked out how this would work.

pandr: A social networking site for bears.

prson: A social networking site for like-minded people to organise crimes.

Feel free to use them yourself.

Re: Startup idea list

#85

Post by mdemare »

mpfefferle wrote: post #81

This may be more of a pipe dream than a viable idea, but I'd like to see someone come up with a new model for an insurance company where everyone's interests are more aligned. For example, a health insurance company that paid doctors a dividend on the long term health of their patients minus costs instead of per procedure. If it worked, doctors and patients would be the ones balancing the effectiveness of treatments…

If you could commit to one insurer for life, your interests would be fairly aligned, (assuming insurers care about their reputation and don't want to pull the plug as soon as cost > premium.). Suddenly prevention programs would be worth the costs. The problem is that you couldn't switch if the insurer turned out to be really bad, or started to jack up prices.

By the way, this is basically how health care works in Europe - single payer 'socialist' health care: More cost-conscious, more prevention, everybody covered, less choice, lower quality for those who could afford it.

Re: Startup idea list

#86

Post by mdemare »

euccastro wrote: post #83
mpfefferle wrote: post #81

This may be more of a pipe dream than a viable idea, but I'd like to see someone come up with a new model for an insurance company where everyone's interests are more aligned. For example, a health insurance company that paid doctors a dividend on the long term health of their patients minus costs instead of per procedure. If it worked, doctors and patients would be the ones balancing the effectiveness of treatments…

I think I read somewhere that in China doctors's salaries are, or used to be, linked to the healthy days per year of their 'customers'.

Measuring performance doesn't work, Joel says: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/oldnews/pages/July2002.html

Re: Startup idea list

#87

Post by [deleted] »

mpfefferle wrote: post #81

This may be more of a pipe dream than a viable idea, but I'd like to see someone come up with a new model for an insurance company where everyone's interests are more aligned. For example, a health insurance company that paid doctors a dividend on the long term health of their patients minus costs instead of per procedure. If it worked, doctors and patients would be the ones balancing the effectiveness of treatments…

[deleted]

Re: Startup idea list

#88

Post by DanielBMarkham »

ivankirigin wrote: post #48
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #18

A program that scours the obituaries to reverse-engineer email addresses and online identities so that people that you've met online can find out you've croaked.

the list would be more valuable to those looking to steal identities. How do you think I win all my elections?

Hey -- if the money's there, it's a business :)

Seriously. That what makes this exercise a little dubious. It's never version 1.0 of the idea. Sometimes it might be version 23

For example, here's v2.0 of my idea.

Identity Life Insurance. For a fee, either use the internet and/or a physical inspection of people's computers after death to shut down online accounts and notify correspondents that you are deceased (and perhaps what to do about sending flowers, etc) This would give the insured privacy in their final online affairs and also make sure the people you chat with daily know what happened to you. Sales would be to traditional insurance companies (which could offer it as a rider) and funeral homes.

Now does that sound better? The fun of this game isn't necessarily in the idea, it's in the evolution of the idea in response to market forces. Cool stuff!

Re: Startup idea list

#89

Post by mdemare »

mstevens wrote: post #76

A better email client - automatic classification of incoming mail, understanding mailing list headers, reminding me to add attachments if I've said "see attached", understanding bounce messages and tracking them against that address in my contacts list ("You're trying to email . I see that didn't work last time. Please check the address is correct."). etc.

If you make a better webmail-client, make switching easy! Allow me to give your site a try with my current archive of (gmail) messages and contacts, and keep gmail up-to-date, so I can switch back if I decide (and I'm a pessimist) that your service isn't good enough.

Re: Startup idea list

#90

Post by chaostheory »

iamwil wrote: post #54
rms wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is a YC funded company doing this already, I'm sure someone here will remember the name. My fashion idea involves you being presented with a bunch of different outfits and picking which ones you like to train a recommendation engine. Then, the site recommends complete in-season outfits (with affiliate links)

Dammit, hook that crap up to my closet, so it prepares an outfit for me to wear every morning, instead of having to fumble around for that crap when I just woke up. If I don't like it, I can say, "another suggestion!" And allow it to order one new outfit every 4-6 months based on which outfits I've been wearing, so I don't have to go to the mall to buy clothes.

i actually suggested this idea 2 years ago to the devs at delicious monster as a product similar to their delicious library (since their product already supporting lending, isight, cool cataloging, ...)... no bites
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