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Requests for Startups Refreshed

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Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#81

Post by prawn »

Mao_Zedang wrote: post #22

We need the spotify of media, where journalists are paid directly from their readers maybe an aportioned rev share model. People who want articles about the kardashians still get them and people who want to read about conflict in the middle east get theirs. No more editorializing based on the current trendy group think, no more editorializing based on what their rich billionaire owner thinks their next crusade is. Th…

Isn't an existing newspaper or media company doing that already to some extent, aggregating different types of media for a common fee? You can read the sections of a newspaper you want, and the company apportions salaries to content producers based on what seems to get the most interest.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#82

Post by TuringNYC »

Cromatico wrote: post #49

An idea for mixing AI with healthcare, using Tensor Flow with a huge image database of skin conditions so the user takes a pic on a phone and it determines the illness and the cure.

The technical aspects can be de-risked fairly quickly here -- check out the ISBI dataset http://biomedicalimaging.org/2016/?page_id=422 and all the papers around it.

The societal challenges will be a devil to defeat. FYI I actually quit my Wall St job several years ago, did something similar with diagnostic imaging, built a working classifier that is doctor-level sensitive (low false negative especially). For us it was near impossible to succeed in the US because the US healthcare system is designed from all directions to be inefficient.

Our tepid success came from moving overseas temporarily and proving out the system in a smaller country with a forward-looking healthcare system with less conflicts of interest. We focused on a local problem (Tuberculosis.) Even then, I'm almost two years in and ended up acquiescing to a premature acquisition because the healthcare system is so difficult to navigate. My lockup is almost complete, the next startup, I'm going to focus on something easier like world peace.

I don't mean to discourage you, but you would likely be a lot more successful if you have some "in" with a hospital system willing to work with you. IMHO, in healthcare, the technology is the easiest part.

Incidentally...yes...we've built it on TensorFlow! And if you do wish to talk tech about this idea, feel free to reach out to me.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#83

Post by timv »

40acres wrote: post #56
icebraining wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Empathy might help you find and understand their problems; the problem seems to be how to finance the solution. When selling to a well-to-do middle-class professional, you're probably competing for cash that would otherwise go to purchase some toy or extra night out. When selling to the working-class, you're often competing against rent and food. Essentially, how to sell to someone who has no discretionary income?

I grew up in an underserved community and in poverty, so this is a situation that is near and dear to my heart. I am also an advocate of internet privacy and against big companies selling my data to 3rd parties, but I believe a trade off is needed here. Google and Facebook are free, but they sell your data to advertisers and 3rd parties in exchange for your usage, I would imagine that a startup that caters to those w…

Maybe, but who has a particular desire for the data of people without discretionary income?

The advertisers that buy Google/Facebook data (or more accurately consume that data when buying ad space) are trying to target potential buyers, typically those with disposable income.

I fear that the businesses that would want the data on lower income earners would be payday lenders and the like which is not an appealing prospect.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#84

Post by vollmarj »

bpicolo wrote: post #65
snerbles wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pain if you're relocating from said farmland, even if it's only in Modesto or Fresno.

Yeah. That said, there's certainly prior art here (Farmlogs)

Yeah, we (FarmLogs) did YC in Mountain View and realized that needing to get on a plane every time we wanted to visit a customer was just not worth it. We picked up and moved back to the Midwest after YC to be near our customers.

You can either commit to getting on an airplane often, or find ways to test in simulated environments instead. My guess is you will need some combination of both.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#85

Post by orthoganol »

acconrad wrote: post #3

I've constantly racked my brain on the Underserved Communities and Social Services: my dad is a Vietnam vet and my mom (while we were growing up) fit that single mother middle-class type...how does technology help them? Part of the problem is they aren't tech savvy the way the HN community is - so what works for our community doesn't exactly work for theirs, or that they even use technology to the extent that we do (…

> Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve these kinds of problems?

Redistribute advantages, using that term in a broad way. That's what the underprivileged actually need. The US government will likely never solve it, so the best I can imagine is a platform that connects the poor with successful, wealthy people who meet with them semi-regularly and actually give them money upon completing plans that they design together. If a successful person was willing to enter your life and give you money if you worked with them to achieve some goals, you would be in a significantly better position. At scale it would change society.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#86

Post by rojobuffalo »

ricw wrote: post #6

Farming is an interesting one, particularly with regards to the quoted statistic of 40%. From a technological perspective this has already been largely solved. Developed countries typically have 1-3% of the population working in agriculture. This is only possible because of large scale efficiencies, that allow 1-3% of the population to feed the rest. So am genuinely curious: what are you envisaging? How to market thi…

It's kind of a common misconception that farming in its current state is working. Farmers who run a factory model basically live on government subsidies. The ecological destruction that accompanies this model is also entirely unsustainable. Soil dies, water is polluted, species go extinct, crops and animals are highly vulnerable to pathogens (which leads to antibiotic resistance), greenhouse gas emissions are through the roof, etc. Also, it encourages a horrible diet of cheap grains and meat. Diet-related disease is the number one cause of human death; where we simultaneously have obesity and starvation. And flavor sucks.

So I imagine YC's goal in adding this to the RFS is to promote companies exploring sustainability, quality, and fairness in food. Btw, this is the focus for my application.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#87

Post by rojobuffalo »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #11

Don't think flavor matters as much as yield -- at least not from the farmer's perspective. Plenty of flavorless vegetables and fruit everywhere, because they're mostly sold by weight, not by flavor or other qualities.

It should be though -- flavor is a signal for nutrition, it almost always signals ecological health in it system of origin, and it makes life more interesting. We already produce 50% more food than gets eaten and huge portions go to livestock. We don't have a yield problem.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#88

Post by rtpg »

For Underserved Communities, there are social aspects that also need to be tackled.

Many many many many organisations target these kinds of communities to try and help them. People are often suspicious of the help, because there are also many many many organisations that try to exploit them! Misleading terms, much higher hidden fees, etc, etc. Many have almost no access to high-quality services, just misleading ones.

Tackling this trust issue is essential to any success. In particular, I think that a 1099-style service like Uber is a bad fit for building trust. Though there are other ways to help someone apart from 'make them your employees'.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#89

Post by discodave »

ThomPete wrote: post #76
vrdabomb5717 wrote: post #5

I think funding mass media is less interesting than finding a way to have sustainable investigative journalism, both at the local and national levels. Investigative journalism, especially at the local level, has been hit hard by local newspapers getting shut down and the media forced to either pull out of unprofitable areas or focus on money-making ventures. Most media outlets are not the New York Times or Washington…

Sustainable investigative journalism is most likely going to solve itself by technologies and access to information and so it makes little sense to want to focus on that as a business category IMO. Making it sustainable is a byproduct of the technologies, tools and legislative work we develop. In fact one of the best tools is already here we are using it right now. It's never been as cheap to do as it is right now. A…

Your answer isn't even consistent with itself.

> Sustainable investigative journalism is most likely going to solve itself

This sounds like your saying the business model for investigative journalism is obvious and easy.

> People in general don't pay for investigative journalism and so it's never going to be a business category in itself

This shows that you actually don't think it's solvable / there is no business model. If it's being done as charity or thankless hard work then I don't think that's solved.

Re: Requests for Startups Refreshed

#90

Post by cash4cult »

somekindaplan wrote: post #48
cloudjacker wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pointing fingers all the wrong directions. Hope it feels good to get it off your chest at least. A more productive discussion is methods for capital formation and how some methods can reduce inequality better than others. Judging from what you wrote, it doesn't seem like a search query you would ever have run yourself. There are some interesting things going on around the world on this issue.

Feel free to disagree with any of what I've said. I think my suggestion for YC is far bigger than anything else being suggested. It may be controversial to say they're doing a bad job right now but that's what I think the truth is. YC is in the unique position of being able to fund thousands of poor people and yet they choose not to. Why? They don't believe poor people can be successful? They don't want to help poor…

Wow most excellent comment.

Yes, RICH Bill Gates had his father most powerful lawyer in Seattle. Larry Ellison had the CIA/NSA's full backing.

If you want to be over $100M company, U must be involved with the GOV ( real secret shadow gov, not the public circus )

...

Helping poor people to be entrepreneurs is not what they really want, I think they have other priorities.

If U study 'richest man in babylon' you can see that in all human history it's 2-3% of all men who always get all the money, its just human nature, a 'real' entrepreneur first and foremost must be a member of that genetic 3%.

...

YC is a VC firm, their job is to get 100X return for their, and their clients ROI, that means they must find good investments and convince young-in's to sign over all their rights to the lawyers.

I'm a firm believer in boot-strap startup, so that when the game is over, U own it all, 100%, otherwise you just waste your life for other people.

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