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YC: Requests for Startups

ycombinator.com

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Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#161

Post by lunarboy »

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…

Fully agree with the experience, but I don't understand this call to action from a logical point. If you build something to make this better for patients, then... you are the middleman. Sure you might start off with morally good ambitions, but your company has to turn profit to keep running, I feel like you end up in the classic "grow big enough to see yourself become the villain" situation.

The fundamental problem is that the facilitator cannot be a for-profit entity, which is why universal healthcare in other countries are run by the government.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#162

Post by kfk »

brettv2 wrote: post #51

> NEW ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SOFTWARE Very curious if anyone knows how to pull this off. There's so much value to be unlocked but it's just impossible to break through. I've personally met three very talented founders that tried and failed (one was accepted to YC as a mid-market ERP and successfully pivoted into an application tracking system) and failed very quickly. I'm guessing an important feature would be…

Not a direct answer, but I am targeting data marts from ERPs and other Enterprise applications like CRMs. I think data marts (data warehouses) are very valuable but they are too expensive and hard to build, so an AI that could generate the sql for the marts directly from the apps could be very valuable. What do you think?

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#163

Post by siyinghz »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #74

For the AR/VR space, I'm curious about YCs thinking about the addressable market and the possibility to have a unicorn-scale company developing solely for VR/AR in the foreseeable future (that isn't a device manufacturer). The devices seem to be getting better and better, but the software seems rather lacking (currently typing this from a gorgeous giant display on my Vision Pro, which I use mostly exactly like how I…

Hi there, I wrote this RFP. We like to back strong technical founders, and some may be interested in working in AR/VR like I did years ago. You are right that the software is lacking which is more of an opportunity. Wrt with the market, yes, it is still very nascent, so founders working on this space have to be be very excited and inherently believe in it in the long run.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#164

Post by mandmandam »

nonethewiser wrote: post #158
mandmandam wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably some middle ground between no defense tech whatsoever , and trillion dollar illegal wars and genocides . Every American - and the rest of the world too - is paying that very real debt. We're all paying the opportunity cost too, and the societal cost. It will be paid for generations, and many of the true costs are incalculable. Some very few people are making a tonne of money, and here, YC is saying t…

> There's probably some middle ground between no defense tech whatsoever, and trillion dollar illegal wars and genocides. There is obviously middle ground. Which is why categorically condemning defense spending is indefensible. What are you referring to as genocide?

> Which is why categorically condemning defense spending is indefensible.

That doesn't actually follow.

> What are you referring to as genocide?

Take your pick.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#165

Post by roflyear »

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.

Yeah. YC acts like they are doing you a favor? Come on. They basically give these companies nothing in exchange for a huge stake.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#166

Post by nonethewiser »

scythe wrote: post #45

>New defense technology If you want to build machines that kill people, you should at least be willing to say it clearly. If it makes you uncomfortable to talk about, maybe that should tell you something. And it's not a very good excuse to argue that you didn't build a weapon, you just built something that makes it easier to use weapons. Arms races are not the way. The biggest threat to the West isn't somebody else's…

> If you want to build machines that kill people, you should at least be willing to say it clearly.

Well maybe that's not at all what they're saying.

Perhaps you could share what you consider the least extreme version of "building machines that kill people." Building missiles - OK yeah obviously. Improving satellites which are used for information gathering which could be used for missions where people are killed? Does that fall within "building machines that kill people?" What is the mildest example of something that constitutes "building machines that kill people?"

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#167

Post by codegeek »

lunarboy wrote: post #161
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…

Fully agree with the experience, but I don't understand this call to action from a logical point. If you build something to make this better for patients, then... you are the middleman. Sure you might start off with morally good ambitions, but your company has to turn profit to keep running, I feel like you end up in the classic "grow big enough to see yourself become the villain" situation. The fundamental problem i…

SO I am not totally against Universal healthcare idea Heck, anytihng will be worth tyring compared to what we do today. But US is a very large country and we already have Medicare program which is full or fraud and abuse and pork. I am not one of those "GOvt is bad in everything" but I am suspicious of Govt. being able to run most things efficiently.

I personally think if you calculate the cost of healthcare paid by an individual/family to Insurance companies and take most of that way by getting rid of insurance in EVERYTHING, even paying out of pocket for most visits will be cheaper overall. Keep Insurance only for catastrophic stuff like a major illness, accident, surgery, cancer etc.

A good compromise/balance would be "get rid of insurance premiums/deductibles/copays for general stuff" and let people pay out of pocket. Govt can subsidize those who cannot afford even the lower out of pocket costs (may be baswed on income etc).

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#168

Post by sethkim »

riemannzeta wrote: post #62

Anybody interested in talking to a potential customer for: * Developer tools inspired by existing internal tools * LLMs for manual back office processes in legacy enterprises Feel free to message me. Having worked in-house for the last 15 years, I've seen a variety of these, have built more than a few of them myself, and am in the middle of building some new ones using LLMs right now — all within large enterprise leg…

Hey - can you shoot an email to seth@skysight.cloud? Curious what you've seen.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#169

Post by google234123 »

scythe wrote: post #45

>New defense technology If you want to build machines that kill people, you should at least be willing to say it clearly. If it makes you uncomfortable to talk about, maybe that should tell you something. And it's not a very good excuse to argue that you didn't build a weapon, you just built something that makes it easier to use weapons. Arms races are not the way. The biggest threat to the West isn't somebody else's…

It’s funny how morally bankrupt you are. It’s wrong to spend on defense but you want us to smile and embrace autocracy? If India assassinates our citizens you want us to smile and hug them?

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#170

Post by gavinhoward »

gavmor wrote: post #91
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.

You don't think you're cutting off your nose to spite your face? Maybe all those user-hostile features are a small price to pay for the resources to ship the "vital few" that are positively game-changing for your customers. For me, it's an open question.

You have a point. May I give my experience?

I have spent years building my stack. This stack gives me extreme velocity.

For example, I built my own localization. I query the OS for the locale, but beyond that, everything is mine. This allows me to make more assumptions and move faster.

In addition, this allows me to cull tech debt aggressively. [1] After years of this, when other codebases are molasses, mine is clean and easy to extend.

In other words, I did the hard work upfront, before getting clients. I hope this will give me the ability to add the "vital few" with few resources.

[1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2023/12/code-is-not-technical-debt/

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