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YC: Requests for Startups

ycombinator.com

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Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#341

Post by austin-cheney »

There is an unfulfilled niche for rapid defense applications. If you have ever used a military information system you are already fully aware of the many constraints imposed for security. I have always bypassed these limitations by writing my own applications in JavaScript because they simply execute in the browser.

I have always found it interesting that JavaScript is one of the most consumed programming languages in the world and nobody can write in it, especially in the browser. When I say write in it I mean without abstraction libraries (React, Angular, jQuery, and so on) and doing something other than CRUD apps. Until last year I was writing JS full time and met only 3 or 4 other people who do this and of them had security clearances.

There is a huge opportunity there that nobody is filling. While the talent for it is completely absent the surprising thing is that it’s ridiculously easy to train for provided the candidates are smart enough to follow simple instructions and write original code.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#342

Post by hobofan »

quartesixte wrote: post #326
groby_b wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we have the aluminum milling capacity at scale? Can we manufacture touch screens at scale? Can we manufacture Li-ion batteries at scale? (Tesla and Panasonic might be able to, with large new investments, but I don't think there's anybody ready to go) Do we have 3nm fab capacity? (TSMC is planning to build one, but AFAIK not yet) Do we have the ability to manufacture various sensors at scale? (Some likely yes - amb…

That aluminum milling scaling problem itself is like, an entire category of hard. CNC machines are hard to scale anything more than linearly. We need to train up hundreds of thousands to become CNC machinists. An entire support industry for machine maintenance, tooling manufacturing (an even harder problem), consumable commodities needs to be similarly scaled in parallel.

> We need to train up hundreds of thousands to become CNC machinists

What? Are you suggesting that aluminium phone cases nowadays are created by an army of trained CNC machinists? And not programmed once by a (few) dozen engineers per model of the handful of existing phone models and then executed by highly automated factories and an army of "low-skilled" workers.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#343

Post by alanlammiman »

8en wrote: post #223

Cool list! I hope yc will also fund creative consumer companies. Ways to have fun, enjoy life, build healthy habits, cherish memories, dream about the future, and deepen relationships with friends. This is 100% selfish - I want more fun and meaningful products to use.

I was going to say... All so serious and grownup and utilitarian. Whatever happened to 'the next big thing will start as a toy'?

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#344

Post by gautam14 »

When PG wrote this essay (last year?) about climate tech, it was a deep dive into what the problems were, what the potential solutions and roadblocks could be, and who they're looking to fund in that space. This essay is "Solve cancer," "stablecoin finance," and "ml in robotics." Like, thanks for the insights, lol.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#345

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

samsolomon wrote: post #142
ibash wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve met a few people who’ve been on the buyer side of an erp migration. It’s a multi million dollar affair that takes years. Two approaches I can think of: 1. Target mid market or smaller and grow with customers (will be slow) 2. Take a front-door-wrapper approach

Or 3. Target a small slice of ERP/CRM tooling and gradually evolve into something more fully-featured.

I could see where a startup can solve one of these slices in SaaS form with the intent that it could be also sold as installable via containers on premise or in a private cloud for a customer.

Then do the same for another slice, offer it to existing customers and make the completed slices work well together. Then another slice.

And along the way there could be profit to fund the next slice, as well as existing customers you can tap into to solve their problems. It would be simpler to niche down vs. the SAP/Oracle path of ERP-fits-all.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#346

Post by 542458 »

skrbjc wrote: post #239
Animats wrote: post #221

Most of those take a lot more time and money than YC usually offers. There are some opportunities in "New Defense Technology". Something like a low-cost replacement for the Javelin anti-tank missile based on off the shelf phone camera parts ought to be possible. Of course, once that's out there, every insurgent group will have some. "Explainable AI" is really important. "Stablecoin finance" is mostly how to make sure…

"Bring manufacturing back to America". Is it possible to build a cell phone in the US? I think we should start more basic and work our way up. For example, there isn't a real reason we can't produce all of our domestic iron and steel needs in the USA, but we end up importing a lot right now. Same with aluminum, etc. But this isn't something YC is really going to help with unless they are funding manufacturing and ind…

You can do advanced electronics manufacturing in North America, it just has tradeoffs - primarily cost and process availability. I work for a company that builds high-end electronics over in Canada; Opinions are my own.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#347

Post by Draiken »

dang wrote: post #227
zug_zug wrote: post #80

One interesting thing about this is that this what investors want you to make for them to invest in, not necessarily what you want to make. Investors are very happy with moonshots (1% chance of you succeeding, but 10,000x return if you do). But I don't think any rational founder should be. Not all of these are moonshots, but some of them are (e.g. securing defense contracts seems lower risk). Also I imagine getting t…

I don't know how other investors operate but if YC sees a good founder working on something they don't care about, just because they think investors want them to work on it, they'd almost certainly tell them to switch to something they do care about. pg's most frequent advice to founders about ideas is to ask themselves what they themselves wish would exist, then make that—i.e. solve a problem you yourself have. Anot…

Interesting, because on existing startups I've seen them build features/products solely because they believe VCs will like it.

Just look at AI and the amount of useless chatbots and other half-baked "AI" solutions several startups built in a rush after the topic became the latest fad and VCs were saying it's hot.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#348

Post by marcosdumay »

tomashertus wrote: post #327
marcosdumay wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost the entirety of that market does not actually improve the security of anything. The rest looks much more like services than products.

I understand and agree with your point that you can't just "buy" cybersecurity by throwing money at the problem. It's more like building a well-defended castle, where multiple elements work together to create true security. Cybersecurity is a company-wide process that needs to be powered by specialized tools. The fact that one of the fastest-growing markets is omitted by YC is shocking to me. The opportunity to build…

I can agree with the opportunity analysis, but my argument is that it's understandable for people to feel uncomfortable to operate on that market at all. That said, I'm not sure there's any consideration for "comfort" on that list, so I may indeed be completely wrong here.

Anyway, I do agree there's plenty to work on the solutions. But those will probably come from areas like "correctness", "user empowerment", and etc. The closest I see to it is "policy enforcement".

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#349

Post by porphyra »

> Robotics hasn't yet had its GPT moment, but we think it’s close.

Hmm Tesla is using end to end GPT-style model for FSD V12. It actually works surprisingly well.

For actual robotics, Electric Sheep is doing something similar for their lawnmower [1]. However, I am a lot more skeptical about that than Tesla's FSD.

[1] https://sheeprobotics.ai/technology/

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#350

Post by porphyra »

pests wrote: post #262
Animats wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China sometimes does that. Zheng_Xiaoyu, the head of China's equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration, was caught taking bribes to allow tainted drugs to be sold. He was executed in 2007. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_Xiaoyu

Wow and only 40 days from sentencing to execution

Say what you want about the death penalty, but it is hard to feel sympathy for a person who, by approving dangerous pharmaceuticals after accepting bribes,

> caused the deaths of over 800 people in Panama from cough syrup that contained diethylene glycol in place of glycerin.

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