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These questions pop up every now and then, and while I get the intent, you're not gonna get anything useful out of it. The idea that someone who knows how to co

These questions pop up every now and then, and while I get the intent, you're not gonna get anything useful out of it. The idea that someone who knows how to code can disrupt an industry that they are not a part of is disingenuous, and the examples that you can find are exceptions, not the rule. It's also extremely naive and presumptuous...what makes you think people in the industry haven't already tried? People who fall ill to this delusion end up in one of two categories: those that attack easy problems with tiny markets, and those that attack hard problems and spend decades learning about and becoming a part of the industry before they solve them. As someone in the supply chain and logistics industry, I can list for you hundreds of people that know the traveling salesman problem and precisely why its not applicable to their situation. I know hundreds of people that already know how to better manage their safety stock than someone who suggests using Gaussian demand models. I know hundreds of people who can optimize last mile delivery costs orders of magnitude better than a drone engineer. I know hundreds of people who can manage inventory distribution and ordering automation better than someone who knows databases. And sure, there are companies out there that are doing everything ass backwards and could use some help, even if it is primitive and simplistic. And when they decide to look for it, who are they gonna choose: the guy who saved Amazon $500M/year with their truck load optimization expertise, or you, with your shiny website and a trick you learned from a textbook? So as a piece of advice, if you aren't part of the industry already, don't try to do B2B in that industry. B2C is fine, because as a consumer you are ostensibly a part of the industry...but B2B is a death march.

tomtheelder 10y ago
I'm sorry, but this is rude, discouraging, and flat out wrong. This sort of stuff happens all the time. I personally work for a company whose founders implanted them in an incredibly calcified industry despite no industry experience, and I can rattle off dozens of successful examples of this. In fact, this very attitude is the exact reason why there have been industries that are primed for "disruption." If only those within the industry, burdened with preconceived notions and patterns of thought, try to improve an industry, you are very rarely going to see revolutionary change. You don't need to "disrupt" anything to be a very good business, but I really resent this "leave it to the pros" attitude.
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >I'm sorry, but this is rude, discouraging, and flat out wrong. I'd rather people feel slighted than to have a bunch of kids fresh out of college trying to disrupt, say, the health insurance industry. This isn't about "fresh eyes". The problem with having no domain knowledge is that you can't identify many of the issues that needs solving within an industry. Every job I've ever had, I see issues that I can solve with my experience.
  - doingmyting 10y ago
    I'd argue the opposite. Too much domain knowledge leads to creation of the very same "solutions" that have existed with minor tweaks. See Henry Ford faster horse for reference.
ThomPete 10y ago
This just as wrong as anything can be and you have nothing to back it up. Furthermore you seem to have missed why they are asked. The problems in many industries er hidden problems which can only be understood by those in the industry, but the solutions are often made by people outside the industries in partnership with insighters. So they are imensly useful and many time more relevant than most other discussions about building companies.
- saosebastiao 10y ago
  I probably shit on the idea more than I needed to, simply because it's entirely possible that you could be looking to form a team and rally around a serious problem, and that team could be composed of people who deeply understand the problem in addition to fresh faces with a different approach. And I would fully support that approach. Lately I've been approached by a lot of "startups" who have made it inadvertently apparent that they know about a serious problem in the industry but have no experience in the industry, are taking absolutely idiotic and long-discredited approaches to solving the problem, and don't even speak enough industry lingo to be understood. These are the people I tried to address with my comment. If you'll notice, I was actually the top commenter on your original discussion [0]. I still stand by everything I've said in that comment. It is a potential multi-billion dollar idea, and the market size can be verified by pretty much anybody with basic market research experience. And while I have plenty of valuable and marketable experience in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry, even I am well short of qualified to lead a company trying to tackle that problem. I would definitely consider being a part of a team that was formed to solve the problem, but here's the thing: If you learned about the idea from an Ask HN thread, I almost certainly wouldn't join your team. Maybe if Elon Musk vouched for you and Marc Andreesen was throwing money at you. Maybe if you and 9 other committed engineers had a collective 100 man years of proven experience solving hard problems across a variety of industries. But trying to be the leader of a team trying to solve a problem that you didn't know about and don't fully understand is a huge obstacle to overcome. And I think it is perfectly reasonable of me to try to dissuade the average HN reader from even trying. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9799851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9799851
  - 10y ago
AndrewKemendo 10y ago
The idea that someone who knows how to code can disrupt an industry that they are not a part of is disingenuous Uh, no. The idea is that you identify the problem, build the team to solve it, build something quick that can prove that you can solve it in a better way than others, iterate to the point that CAC < LTV, scale.
- saosebastiao 10y ago
  How can you solve a problem that you can't adequately analyze or characterize? How will you know if you aren't trying a failed solution if you don't know what has been tried? How will you know if your simplifications and assumptions are realistic if you haven't seen how they've played out in the past?
  - AndrewKemendo 10y ago
    See step 1 and 2.
    - saosebastiao 10y ago
      So hire people that already know the industry?
      - AndrewKemendo 10y ago
        Yes exactly. Often they don't have the tech skills or desire/will to start something themselves, but are happy to join you if they recognize that it's a big enough problem.
        saosebastiao 10y ago
        If your expertise is organizational and can put together the right team with those that do have the domain knowledge, I'll concede the point. But domain knowledge is irreplaceable if you actually want to solve hard problems with scalable markets.
- 10y ago
ImTalking 10y ago
As a former architect, that's what domain experts and workshops are for.
anjc 10y ago
I sort of agree. But it is also true that there are many industries and groups that are way behind the state of the art in technology. That may be for good reason, or it may be because it hasn't worked for them yet, or may be because it can't work, or because they avoid tech, or...umpteen reasons. So yes, a CS grad probably wont come along and revolutionise the Supply Chain industry, but mainly because SC has been at the forefront of areas of tech for decades. A CS grad may, however, come along and revolutionise...well just look at all of the recent famous tech companies...communications, travel, social, arts and crafts...whatever. Many areas are ripe for fresh eyes and new approaches. I do agree that domain knowledge is often massively under-emphasised though.
AznHisoka 10y ago
before reading the comments i would have agreed but man.. there really are a lot of juicy suggestions.. not just trivial ideas like another travel app.

tomtheelder 10y ago

I'm sorry, but this is rude, discouraging, and flat out wrong. This sort of stuff happens all the time. I personally work for a company whose founders implanted them in an incredibly calcified industry despite no industry experience, and I can rattle off dozens of successful examples of this. In fact, this very attitude is the exact reason why there have been industries that are primed for "disruption." If only those within the industry, burdened with preconceived notions and patterns of thought, try to improve an industry, you are very rarely going to see revolutionary change. You don't need to "disrupt" anything to be a very good business, but I really resent this "leave it to the pros" attitude.

forgetsusername 10y ago
>I'm sorry, but this is rude, discouraging, and flat out wrong. I'd rather people feel slighted than to have a bunch of kids fresh out of college trying to disrupt, say, the health insurance industry. This isn't about "fresh eyes". The problem with having no domain knowledge is that you can't identify many of the issues that needs solving within an industry. Every job I've ever had, I see issues that I can solve with my experience.
- doingmyting 10y ago
  I'd argue the opposite. Too much domain knowledge leads to creation of the very same "solutions" that have existed with minor tweaks. See Henry Ford faster horse for reference.

ThomPete 10y ago

This just as wrong as anything can be and you have nothing to back it up. Furthermore you seem to have missed why they are asked. The problems in many industries er hidden problems which can only be understood by those in the industry, but the solutions are often made by people outside the industries in partnership with insighters. So they are imensly useful and many time more relevant than most other discussions about building companies.

saosebastiao 10y ago
I probably shit on the idea more than I needed to, simply because it's entirely possible that you could be looking to form a team and rally around a serious problem, and that team could be composed of people who deeply understand the problem in addition to fresh faces with a different approach. And I would fully support that approach. Lately I've been approached by a lot of "startups" who have made it inadvertently apparent that they know about a serious problem in the industry but have no experience in the industry, are taking absolutely idiotic and long-discredited approaches to solving the problem, and don't even speak enough industry lingo to be understood. These are the people I tried to address with my comment. If you'll notice, I was actually the top commenter on your original discussion [0]. I still stand by everything I've said in that comment. It is a potential multi-billion dollar idea, and the market size can be verified by pretty much anybody with basic market research experience. And while I have plenty of valuable and marketable experience in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry, even I am well short of qualified to lead a company trying to tackle that problem. I would definitely consider being a part of a team that was formed to solve the problem, but here's the thing: If you learned about the idea from an Ask HN thread, I almost certainly wouldn't join your team. Maybe if Elon Musk vouched for you and Marc Andreesen was throwing money at you. Maybe if you and 9 other committed engineers had a collective 100 man years of proven experience solving hard problems across a variety of industries. But trying to be the leader of a team trying to solve a problem that you didn't know about and don't fully understand is a huge obstacle to overcome. And I think it is perfectly reasonable of me to try to dissuade the average HN reader from even trying. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9799851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9799851
- 10y ago

AndrewKemendo 10y ago

The idea that someone who knows how to code can disrupt an industry that they are not a part of is disingenuous Uh, no. The idea is that you identify the problem, build the team to solve it, build something quick that can prove that you can solve it in a better way than others, iterate to the point that CAC < LTV, scale.

saosebastiao 10y ago
How can you solve a problem that you can't adequately analyze or characterize? How will you know if you aren't trying a failed solution if you don't know what has been tried? How will you know if your simplifications and assumptions are realistic if you haven't seen how they've played out in the past?
- AndrewKemendo 10y ago
  See step 1 and 2.
  - saosebastiao 10y ago
    So hire people that already know the industry?
    - AndrewKemendo 10y ago
      Yes exactly. Often they don't have the tech skills or desire/will to start something themselves, but are happy to join you if they recognize that it's a big enough problem.
      - saosebastiao 10y ago
        If your expertise is organizational and can put together the right team with those that do have the domain knowledge, I'll concede the point. But domain knowledge is irreplaceable if you actually want to solve hard problems with scalable markets.
10y ago

ImTalking 10y ago

As a former architect, that's what domain experts and workshops are for.

anjc 10y ago

I sort of agree. But it is also true that there are many industries and groups that are way behind the state of the art in technology. That may be for good reason, or it may be because it hasn't worked for them yet, or may be because it can't work, or because they avoid tech, or...umpteen reasons. So yes, a CS grad probably wont come along and revolutionise the Supply Chain industry, but mainly because SC has been at the forefront of areas of tech for decades. A CS grad may, however, come along and revolutionise...well just look at all of the recent famous tech companies...communications, travel, social, arts and crafts...whatever. Many areas are ripe for fresh eyes and new approaches. I do agree that domain knowledge is often massively under-emphasised though.

AznHisoka 10y ago

before reading the comments i would have agreed but man.. there really are a lot of juicy suggestions.. not just trivial ideas like another travel app.