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YC: Requests for Startups

ycombinator.com

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Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#131

Post by atlasunshrugged »

codegeek wrote: post #104

"ELIMINATING MIDDLEMEN IN HEALTHCARE" I honestly am game for this even though I have zero experience in healthcare but as a consumer, where do I start how bad it is. I would do anything to change our shitty healthcare system where there are so many middlemen b/w me and my doctor. Recent event: Went to ER because my toddler son spilled hot coffee on him (thankfully he is ok and wasn't as terrible as it could have been…

Let me pitch an idea that I've long been noodling on that I think gen AI finally enables -- automated healthcare patient billing support for individuals. In essence, when you get that bill in the mail, you can fight with the hospital to decrease it, fight with your insurer to cover more of it, or not pay it and fight with a debt collector down the line. Maybe there's an alternative world where an AI agent does this for you, helping you negotiate down your medical bills and in return taking some percentage cut of the savings? There have been businesses like this before but hit some issues with 1) cost of employing humans to fight these bills, 2) customer acquisitions costs, 3) heavy churn/non-recurring customer base which goes along with 2

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#132

Post by dang »

goles wrote: post #54
diggan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That explains the admin on this forum throwing a "you're a nationalist!" at me recently Are you referring to this? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39315543 If so, it seems wildly unrelated to "BRING MANUFACTURING BACK TO AMERICA".

Interesting, I have never seen this chinamod list before and it's undocumented[0][1][?]. https://news.ycombinator.com/chinamod Are there more? [0] https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/lists [?] https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+...

I put lists like that together sometimes to answer specific user questions—primarily when I can't use an HN Search link because there's no search query that's precise enough.

That one stuck around because the perception that it corrects (of HN moderation being against $COUNTRY, where $COUNTRY = China in this case) shows up semi-regularly—as does the opposite perception, of course. These things always come in opposing pairs.

As a side note, it's interesting to see how different users react to reading such a set of comments, i.e. comments that contradict their assumptions about how HN is moderated. In some cases the reaction is something like, "Wow, I had no idea - thanks for the information" and the person presumably goes on to adjust their priors. In other cases the reaction is a complex explanation of how none of that matters and the original perception remains intact, even though it's inaccurate.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#133

Post by gavinhoward »

Bagged2347 wrote: post #79
gavinhoward wrote: post #77

I am building a company that falls under two categories (commercial Open Source and developer tools based on internal tools), but I would never take YC money for it. Because of that stake, they want an "exit" in some form, and the drive to that exit will pave the road to user-hostile software and make it the path of least resistance.

I'll bite, I'm interested in the OSS dev tools field and I agree with your stance on investment money tending to corrupt good products. It's a big trade off. What are you working on? Do you have a website to share? Is it just you right now or do you have partners or employees?

I am surprised at the interest, thank you!

One note: technically my software isn't quite Open Source; it's source available. [0]

I will have my first release in less than two months, hopefully. It will include a scripting language and a build system.

If the language gets interest, I'll expand it and build the standard library.

If the build system gets interest, I will expand it. The end goal is Nix for mere mortals.

If neither gets interest, I will have to move to my next idea: VCS with project management and that handles large, binary files.

Beyond that, we'll see.

I have a business website, but not yet for those projects. I will at release, including tutorials.

You can read an old commit of design docs at [1], [2], and [3].

It's just me; I want to run my business like Hwaci, the SQLite guys. That also reduces overhead and will let me provide excellent support [4] for paying clients.

[0]: https://gavinhoward.com/2023/12/is-source-available-really-t...

[1]: https://git.yzena.com/Yzena/Yc/src/branch/master/docs/yao

[2]: https://git.yzena.com/Yzena/Yc/src/branch/master/docs/rig

[3]: https://git.yzena.com/Yzena/Yc/src/branch/master/docs/yar

[4]: https://github.com/gavinhoward/bc/issues/66

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#134

Post by dang »

paganel wrote: post #9

> BRING MANUFACTURING BACK TO AMERICA That explains the admin on this forum throwing a "you're a nationalist!" at me recently, turns out I was ahead of the game on that (only that I was doing it for the wrong geo-political bloc) > NEW DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY Ooo, that certainly explains lots and lots of stuff, including the "warnings" whenever the comments don't support the correct geo-political bloc mentioned above. All…

I hadn't any idea that YC was going to say this when I replied to your comments the other day. Moderating HN doesn't leave any time to be plugged in on YC's internal plans.

People often reach for an exotic explanation in their own case, but anyone who's familiar with HN's rules can see how your comments have been breaking them. It's just that simple.

We don't care about your, or any other commenter's "geopolitics". It's all endlessly more tedious and obvious than that.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#135

Post by KittenInABox »

bradgessler wrote: post #120
emseetech wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two factors to consider though. On the one hand, you're correct that it does nothing for the American worker to bring manufacturing back if it means huge buildings with skeleton crews and machines that effectively run themselves. I don't particularly have a solution for this. Americans have gotten used to the price of goods being artificially low because of inexpensive labor in impoverished countries. Unles…

> On the one hand, you're correct that it does nothing for the American worker to bring manufacturing back if it means huge buildings with skeleton crews and machines that effectively run themselves. This seems analogous to the transition from bespoke manufacturing of goods to mass production. I think what we need is leadership that can get people excited, in good faith, about a future where small groups of people ca…

> Feudalism doesn’t get pluralities excited, so how does that mainstream narrative change in a manner that feels like everybody is part of the journey instead of an exploit?

The problem is not the need for a narrative change. The need is actual change.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#136

Post by mightyham »

eltondegeneres wrote: post #122

Jared Friedman and Gustaf Alströmer want to make it easier to kill other human beings, and turn a profit while doing it. Shame on them and anyone else who works on "defense technology." > I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. I have also told them not to work for companies which…

This sort of blanket condemnation of war is ridiculous. Statecraft, even in the modern day, revolves around what each country's power projection capabilities are. To say that nobody should participate in building defense technologies is to say that we should cede a significant amount of leverage when it comes to international diplomacy.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#137

Post by n2d4 »

fakedang wrote: post #82
gavinhoward wrote: post #77

I am building a company that falls under two categories (commercial Open Source and developer tools based on internal tools), but I would never take YC money for it. Because of that stake, they want an "exit" in some form, and the drive to that exit will pave the road to user-hostile software and make it the path of least resistance.

I don't know, I would argue that YC might be the best place for Open Source and Dev Tools, because you start along with a large cohort of former and current YC startups who will be willing to try out your product. Plus the YC partners actually have experience in working with successful companies in this space, so that's actually equity that they would deserve. That being said, dev tools is one of the sectors they hav…

I was in one of the recent batches and they definitely didn't stop funding devtools. In fact, it felt like we were encouraged to pivot into the devtools space by some of the group partners.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#139

Post by nonethewiser »

earthwalker99 wrote: post #125
nonethewiser wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And then suggest the answer to that is robotics and ML, which does nothing but exacerbate the social and political divisions Maybe it does those things. But clearly it doesnt do “nothing but” those things. It brings manufacturing back which is the entire point. I really think you’re ignoring the whole point to go off on a highly partisan political tangent.

> It brings manufacturing back It is completely unsurprising to me that those making this nonsense claim never accept the burden of proof. If they did, it would only further reveal that they are pushing total bullshit.

I don’t understand what you are trying to say but “bringing manufacturing back” is the starting premise. He already begets bringing it back.

Its not that automation necessarily brings back manufacturing, its that if it does its not only going to increase social and political division.

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