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sighs Another one of these articles. The whole article is a fantastic example of the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy. It finds a bunch of ideas that fit the authors

by enjo 10y ago

sighs Another one of these articles. The whole article is a fantastic example of the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy. It finds a bunch of ideas that fit the authors thesis and ignores the thousands of companies working on hard problems that impact nearly everybody. Even the examples in the article are sharpshooters. They drew a circle around a set of people and held them out as support for the idea that tech startups are solely focused one demographic. It's bad logic, but it's also wrong. Single mothers? There's a whole litany of apps targeted at them. Like SupportPay (https://supportpay.com https://supportpay.com) for child support collections. Or CareLulu (http://carelulu.com http://carelulu.com) for finding child care options. The rest of the list (rural poor, out of work Americans over 50, and veterans) can all very much benefit from the huge number of startups trying to make educational accessible over the Internet. Energy startups are out there trying to help folks shave dollars off their energy bills (shamless plug: I work for Gridium at https://gridium.com https://gridium.com - check us out!). Healthcare startups are out there trying to solve hard problems with medical record keeping and information access. Hell those inwardly focused tech companies like Stripe and Gusto have made starting a small business the easiest it's ever been. Want to solve problems for veterans and the out of work over 50 crowd? Remove the friction around starting a small business and let them put a lifetime of experience and knowledge to work. So ya some people are out there trying to solve the small problems. That's great, because sometimes solving a small problem leads to a big one. Amazon went from selling books to completely redefining how commerce happens for a large number of people. Solving those small problems also creates a class of person with experience in company building. Maybe they'll put that towards solving those generational problems in a couple of years.

Apocryphon 10y ago
Good links. It'd be nice if someone composed a list somewhere of all startups that are working on social problems. It'd make for a good counterpoint to these articles- and a good resource for job applicants.
cycomachead 10y ago
I think there are plenty of startups working on valuable things, but since you mentioned education... Typically, the largest group of students in open online courses like MOOCs are those from privileged backgrounds, like white males, and those who already have high or relatively high levels of education. Certainly, I still believe that these online courses are an amazing resource but they haven't been shown to increase access in ways that people hoped. There are dozens of reasons for this. I think the real problem is that some startups are unable to recognize exactly what problems they are solving and for whom they are solving them. Extra disposable income from driveways is good, as are promoting healthy drinking habits. However, there's a very real chance that these potentially useful tools never reach the audiences where they would be most impactful. For example, it seems like the people who could most benefit from extra income from rentable driveways are most likely to live in areas that are less desirable (high crime rates), are not even likely to have a driveway (apartments). Now, I have no idea what app this even is referring to, to be clear. This is just a potential situation.

by enjo 10y ago

Apocryphon 10y ago

Good links. It'd be nice if someone composed a list somewhere of all startups that are working on social problems. It'd make for a good counterpoint to these articles- and a good resource for job applicants.

cycomachead 10y ago

I think there are plenty of startups working on valuable things, but since you mentioned education... Typically, the largest group of students in open online courses like MOOCs are those from privileged backgrounds, like white males, and those who already have high or relatively high levels of education. Certainly, I still believe that these online courses are an amazing resource but they haven't been shown to increase access in ways that people hoped. There are dozens of reasons for this. I think the real problem is that some startups are unable to recognize exactly what problems they are solving and for whom they are solving them. Extra disposable income from driveways is good, as are promoting healthy drinking habits. However, there's a very real chance that these potentially useful tools never reach the audiences where they would be most impactful. For example, it seems like the people who could most benefit from extra income from rentable driveways are most likely to live in areas that are less desirable (high crime rates), are not even likely to have a driveway (apartments). Now, I have no idea what app this even is referring to, to be clear. This is just a potential situation.