Startups I Want to Fund • Hacker News Board

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#111

Post by TeMPOraL » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:27 AM UTC

exabrial wrote: post #96

kjksf wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hydrogen is not economical for most use cases. For example if you have solar/wind energy, you can transfer it very efficiently over existing power grid to provide energy for heating or lights. Transmission losses in power lines are 8-15% so the efficiency is 85%+ ( https://blog.schneider-electric.com/energy-management-energy... ) If you do the same via hydrogen, you have to convert solar energy into hydrogen. That co…

Great points, but don't lose the trees in the forest: This isn't about efficiency, it's about convenience. Fueling a car for 400miles in 2m is acceptable at 16% efficiency if the energy wasted is "free". That's not possible with battery technology.

It's possible if you allow for battery swapping.

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#112

Post by anonytrary » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:29 AM UTC

> What if a social app was optimized for the creation experience rather than the consumption experience? What if the goal was to minimize time-in-app rather than maximize it? What social products would people pay for? (note: Google Photos is the closest I’ve seen to this so far)

Interesting. Facebook is like a camera that has an internal overlay over the lens, saying "Wait! Don't stop looking through the lens, stay, I promise -- there's more!". Maybe social sites really are just tools and not things to be spending time on, but more like recording devices for our lives and personal history. Then again -- what is HN? Is writing a comment a form of consumption or a form of creation? It would seem like the latter, but it's very easy to stay on HN for an hour.

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#113

Post by ilolu » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:34 AM UTC

mayop100 wrote: post #19

phlowbieuq wrote: post #3

How do you see these two sentences resolving into a single company that you would fund? > A normal first check from me ranges from $50k to $250k. > I’m very bullish on a capital-heavy, asset-full future for startups.

(author here) Angel investors almost never provide the bulk of the capital for a startup. We provide initial money, advise, and introductions to help raise more. So, yes, I expect the bulk of the "heavy capital" to come from institutional investors in later rounds. Also note that I invest in follow-on rounds, so my total investment in a startup might get much larger than $250k.

Do you fund US only startups or startups anywhere in the world ?

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#114

Post by mmt » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:54 AM UTC

deftnerd wrote: post #103

NoIWont wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm, Air Conditioners are heat pumps as are fridges. Pumping heat rather than generating it comes in at roughly 1/4 the energy budget. An innovative "Air Conditioner" that could store the usually dumped heat for later use (Say in preheating water for a hot tap to lower costs of heating) would probably be extremely popular if it was a decent product otherwise (Cheap, durable, easy to install). Effectively what is nee…

I remember reading recently about heat sinks for AC units that expel waste heat in as specific infrared band that sees the atmosphere as entirely transparent. In effect, it allows you to 'beam' the waste heat directly to space. Similar to an AC unit, I would love to see two-part refrigerators. It always seemed dumb to me to cool the interior of your refrigerator by dumping heat into your home, which your AC has to th…

> seemed dumb to me to cool the interior of your refrigerator by dumping heat into your home, which your AC has to then extract and dump outside.

This doesn't strike me as dumb at all, unless the refrigerator's heat pump is more efficient [1] than the AC. Although it may be, it's not a foregone conclusion, and it stands to reason that a refrigerator would be designed to function better when pumping [2] heat into room temperatures than outdoor temperatures (as opposed to an AC).

Regardless, all heat pumps have to work harder (use more energy and/or run longer) when the temperature differential on either side is worse. You wouldn't be getting something for nothing by moving a fridge's hot side to a hotter outdoor location.

[1] Overall, including maintenance/replacement cost due to longer run-time

[2] or dumping, though "dump" suggest something more passive than what I believe is going on

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#115

Post by jayalpha » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:58 AM UTC

tomjakubowski wrote: post #12

Jun8 wrote: post #9

Some ideas: 1. Social Silo-busters: Couple the evils of the garden walled social network approach with posts on how hard is it to make friends later in life, add a pinch of all that useless time spent in the car commuting (scraping the bottom of Spotify or Audible) and you arrive at: ad hoc voice-based social networks based on proximity, e.g. through limited range (100m) FM transmitters (one cheap way would be to use…

> ad hoc voice-based social networks based on proximity At the risk of being whooshed (the other points do seem sincere and "real"), do you mean... conversation? Like, you know, encountering another person in meat space and speaking to them?

Honestly, I am not so impressed about his list.

But "ad hoc voice-based social networks based on proximity" vaguely reminds me of:

https://www.dw.com/en/new-german-disaster-app-getting-help-w...

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#116

Post by MentallyRetired » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 6:14 AM UTC

smacktoward wrote: post #10

phlowbieuq wrote: post #3

How do you see these two sentences resolving into a single company that you would fund? > A normal first check from me ranges from $50k to $250k. > I’m very bullish on a capital-heavy, asset-full future for startups.

He's very bullish on a capital-heavy future for startups, as long as it's someone else providing the capital? :-D

I think his goal is to get in, help prove viability and then help secure said capital.

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#117

Post by MentallyRetired » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 6:15 AM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #22

AI is already being used in waste management; specifically image recognition to help sort plastics. This is similar to techniques used in fruit/veg production to grade/bucket produce.

Not to mention machine learning helping to plan routes nowadays.

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#118

Post by jayalpha » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 6:15 AM UTC

kjksf wrote: post #47

exabrial wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think hydrogen should get a huge push because it completes a zero impact ecosystem. If the hydrogen is powered from solar/wind, then fuel cells process that into heat for homes, electricity for lights, and purified water for drinking.

Hydrogen is not economical for most use cases. For example if you have solar/wind energy, you can transfer it very efficiently over existing power grid to provide energy for heating or lights. Transmission losses in power lines are 8-15% so the efficiency is 85%+ ( https://blog.schneider-electric.com/energy-management-energy... ) If you do the same via hydrogen, you have to convert solar energy into hydrogen. That co…

"Hydrogen is not economical for most use cases."

Oh, wow.

"For example if you have solar/wind energy, you can transfer it very efficiently over existing power grid to provide energy for heating or lights."

This is correct. And the wind energy created at night you can just store. Somewhere. But where?

"If you do the same via hydrogen, you have to convert solar energy into hydrogen. "

You can also use wind energy or whatever energy to create H2. H2 has the advantage, that you can both, store energy in it and transport it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_fuel_cell

"Then you have to transport the hydrogen from where it's made to where it's used."

In the worst case you just mix it into the natural gas pipeline. Worried about diffusion losses? They are lower than you think.

"That's additional expense and efficiency loss."

The expense is low because the gas pipelines already exists. The efficiency loss is not very high.

"Then you have to convert hydrogen back into energy. Additional loss of efficiency."

You can just burn hydrogen together with natural gas.

It just doesn't make sense economically (https://phys.org/news/2006-12-hydrogen-economy-doesnt.html).

Quote from the article: “More energy is needed to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds than can ever be recovered from its use,” Bossel explains to PhysOrg.com.

Yeah, right. This is not the case with any other energy storage available. Wait a second....

"Therefore, making the new chemical energy carrier form natural gas would not make sense, as it would increase the gas consumption and the emission of CO2."

If it is created from renewable energy as an energy storage, then this statement is wrong. Be advised that hydrogen is also needed for methanol fuel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_fuel

Instead, the dwindling fossil fuel reserves must be replaced by energy from renewable sources.”

"Hydrogen is not an electricity source. It doesn't compete with solar or wind. I stop reading here. Batteries are not an electricity source, they don't compete with solar or wind.

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#119

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 6:20 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #110

csydas wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, a lot of major cities in Asia have already solved this by either changing how they handle the public garbage pickup requirements (e.g., Korea has special bags for regular trash and organic trash you need to purchase, else the garbage collectors won't take it), and also doing more frequent/regular pickups and having you sort your trash in order for it to be accepted. In my short time in Korea, just knowing you h…

I also hope they have severe penalties for dumping trash near the nearest river or bush. Because this is what I still see happening in my country, especially on the countryside.

[deleted]

Re: Startups I Want to Fund

#120

Post by malux85 » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 7:24 AM UTC

rajekas wrote: post #82

I like much of this list - doesn't strike me as first world problems at all (I am not from the first world). Having spent the last two years building a climate action platform I have lots of climate change problems with startup worthy solutions, but the item that really struck me was the online zoo. As an animal lover, the very idea of zoos - even the most enlightened ones - is problematic. Instead, why not let the m…

I know that hacker news is a place for serious discussion and memes are not appropriate, but there really isn’t a sentiment more fitting than:

Shut up, and take my money