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The overlords of Silicon Valley need to do a bit more to turn America's best minds towards solving serious social problems. Personal anecdote: Right now, I am
by kevmo 9y ago
The overlords of Silicon Valley need to do a bit more to turn America's best minds towards solving serious social problems.
Personal anecdote: Right now, I am building software that automates the process of filing super-simple Chapter 7 bankruptcies. We give the product away for free.[1] Technologically, this is a really straightforward problem and solution: You just collect some documents and fill out a long questionnaire, fill out a PDF, show up to a couple of meetings, then you've discharged a bunch of unsecured debt and have a fresh start in life and the economy.
There should literally be millions of these Chapter 7 bankruptcies filed every year[2]... but nobody has built the software before! Despite its enormous potential impact and amazingly low cost (we have two full-time employees, though we could use more), nobody has really tackled the problem because there's no way to simultaneously get rich while building the most successful product.[3]
There is a crazy amount of low-hanging fruit out there like this. Much of it could be plucked by small, bright teams of the sort Silicon Valley has in abundance. The most powerful people just need to dedicate a little more money and 5-20% of their time to it - not just money, but serious, ongoing advice. [4]
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[1] https://Upsolve.org https://Upsolve.org. The product is free and we're a non-profit because you trigger an avalanche of regulatory activity if you try to make money doing this. We've also been able to garner an incredible amount of institutional (judicial) buy-in because we are a non-profit.
[2] http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~miwhite/white-jleo-reprint.pdf http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~miwhite/white-jleo-reprint.pdf
[3] Our #1 success metric is simply "number of Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges received".
[4] Real advice - not sending it down the black hole of billionaire philanthropy. Without even getting into the subject of how those institutions grind their founders' personal axes, there is a huge qualitative difference between their advice and Silicon Valley-level "Let's build a huge thing on a lean budget" advice.
- lostboys67 9y agoAnd how would SV (outwith funding a civil war) solve the problems cased by an devolved and outdated political system that is more appropriate for serving the needs of 18th century rich landowners?
- noonespecial 9y agoThat is a really cool idea. Make sure to do a Show HN on the Monday morning after you launch.
- kevmo 9y agoThanks! Will do. We applied to YC Winter 2018 batch - waiting to hear if we got an interview. WSJ profiled us last month if you're interested in reading more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-struggling-consumers-a-cheaper-way-to-file-for-bankruptcy-1505096071 https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-struggling-consumers-a-chea...
- existencebox 9y agoA tangential curiosity, perhaps you can give some insight on a very naive question I've had regarding nonprofits: You mention re: avalanch of regulatory activity if you try to make money; where does the line get drawn between providing competitive salaries and "making money"? I've always been somewhat curious of the band Non Profits have to operate in to maintain that status vs. what pragmatic benefits it gives. (I realize this is a very broad question, so any "sparknotes" breadcrumb you have would also be welcome)
- kevmo 9y agoThe avalanche I'm referring to there has to do with whether the company itself is for-profit or non-profit, and the legal, institutional, and PR ramifications thereof. The non-profit competitive salary question is one which people endlessly debate. Some people think it is ridiculous that the head of the Southern Poverty Law Center makes a $300k salary despite SPLC's tremendous success and the fact that he could clearly command much more in the private sector.
- existencebox 9y agoThanks for the response, To be more precise to the second part of my question: I was more wondering how the 300k would be decided; e.g. why not 400k or 200k? (Personally that seems like a very acceptable salary, but if non-executives are scaled down to something commensurate as opposed to squeezing the distribution, that becomes harder to sell.)
- kevmo 9y agoHaha, as I said - The non-profit competitive salary question is one which people endlessly debate!