I think we need a good, solid list of the big problems. Then we need to break them down into smaller problems.
We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
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Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#22Lets not take ourselves so seriously. Lets not let YO be representative of what investors, entrepreneurs, developers and technologists are doing as a whole, despite its outsize media coverage. Lets remember that quirky, weird, seemingly useless things like YO can still put a smile on someones face, even if it didnt solve any of society's problems. What a dry place the world would be if we didnt have things like YO. V…
I agree. Though Yo should not have a 1.3 million funding. However, any sane person would quickly recognize that investors put in that 1.3 MM to fund the founders. They don't care about Yo. It may be a situation of "give some smart people who get the internets a bunch of money and hope it sticks". Which is a bit of a bubble IMO.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#23Your reasoning suggests that if the people who built Yo were not building Yo, that they might be out there curing the world's diseases. See the flaw there?
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#24The triviality of Yo is obvious, it's not an amazing feat of engineering, but it is an important app. It shows that millions of people would much rather use an app that takes two "touches" to let someone know they would like to have their attention when they are available.
It's a data point on what people are looking for. Many tiny data points can lead to big conclusions and inform design decisions far down that road. Finding out that users still want things that reduce the friction of communication was worth having built Yo.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#25https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_relative_privation
Disclaimer: I thought the aftermath of Yo was absolutely stupid, as well.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#26"The problems facing us - energy, food, water, health, education - require big solutions and we are just starting to see some of these solutions come out of a new wave of startup businesses."
You can't engineer technological solutions to social problems. You will get so far, but then you'll run into politics and religion.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#27Let's do whatever gets us out of bed in the morning, lest we end up doing nothing at all.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#28It strikes me as the company equivalent of a fart app.
If money is easy enough to come by that investors can drop $100k like you and I can drop $0.99, sell them what they're buying.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#29"some of the worlds most driven, focussed, intelligent and inspiring individuals"
It's quite possible that a company does not contain any people like this. This article seems to assume a lot about a large group of random programmers and business people. There are plenty of hacks out there and some of them will be founding a start up near you.
Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
If an app that does nothing and has a half life of 3 weeks can raise $1 million, then the industry has a problem.
It doesn't mean the industry has a problem, it means the people who put the $1 million into the company have a problem.
The hype and funding is based on the HOPE that something will come of it. However, retention is already a problem in Tel Aviv, where the app got its start. As fast as it has risen, it will fall (my prediction, anyway).