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Ask HN: If there was no internet, what business would you have started?
Apart from companies to try and create the internet, what offline businesses would you have started and why?
- TMK 14y agoI probably would do local woodworking and build furniture all by myself with my own hands, no robotics.
- michaelpinto 14y agoIs this an alternate universe where it's 2012 but we have a different set of technologies or is this in a previous period on this timeline? I tend to think that geeks go where the action is: For example if this was the 70s most of the folks here would be working the PC. I started my first company in 1989 and while the internet was around there was no easy way to use it, so we launched a dial-up BBS. We weren't able to monazite that so we focused on technologies like HyperCard and CD-ROMs.
- brk 14y agoI would buy a van and drive around offering virus removal services. I think that could really be successful in the right market.
- duck 14y agoA market without the Internet would probably not be the right one. :-)
- wtvanhest 14y agoWhen I was in high school in 1999 I worked for a guy that drove around a motor home "fixing computers" which was basically a mobile virus scan and removal operation. I guess there was the internet then, but it was still very, very limited. A lot of people didn't have it. I got the first virus on my computer before it was internet connected. Instead it was from a floppy disk from a friend. It took days, and days to figure out how to remove it.
- stretchwithme 14y agoI'd set up the world's largest local area network.
- areavic 14y agoI'd start a business that would have offices in the top 20 major commercial cities in the world and would trade physical commodities taking advantages of the price differences between these locations. My business would use telephone or telegraph. The presence of the internet and ensuing information exchange reduces these price differences to make such a business nonviable.
- kephra 14y agoThere wont be much change, besides chatting in #ai, #machinelearning and #lug-bremen, browsing the web for lol cats, and the like. My startup is applying machine learning to industrial processes - and guess what - most factories, power plants, chemical plants or oil fields don't have internet.
- cperciva 14y agomost factories, power plants, chemical plants or oil fields don't have internet. Some don't have internet. Most shouldn't have internet. But given the number of SCADA exploits I've heard about recently... there's an awful lot of places which shouldn't have internet but do.
- secoif 14y agoLink for such SCADA exploits?
- cperciva 14y agoSorry, no links. It was all personal discussions (aka. "war stories") with people working in the industry.
- tptacek 14y agoYou can search the news for them, but if you're looking to verify the anecdote: I don't have time to do anything more than pile them on, but you should know that SCADA evaluations of factories and utilities have been a mainstay of IT security for the past 6-8 years; there are hundreds of consultants who have found ridiculous exposures to insanely sensitive sites.
- patio11 14y agoAnecdote: "You can do what with an email to factory-control+wethinkthispasswordissecure@example.com? What possessed you to implement that? You didn't make e.g. a web service because the corporate policy kept restricting you from operating potentially lethal machinery from outside the firewall? That wasn't a strong enough hint?"
- callmeed 14y agoEncyclopedia sales or a travel agency
- mindslight 14y agoLacking the Internet, I'd probably follow the herd and play the Web-startup lottery.
- wheaties 14y agoI'd figure out how to put laser beams on shark's heads and hold the world hostage for 1 million dollars! No, really. I think I wouldn't start anything because without the internet and places like HN I'd never have found the courage to seek out new business ideas. I'd view failure as too high an obstacle and be content with climbing the corporate ladder through an established company.
- JamesLeonis 14y agoI actually did a computer repair service for a bit in high school. I started with my parents recommending me for my service and word spread around quite a bit. I made a pretty nice amount fixing/replacing/upgrading hardware, backups, and recovery. Even if there was no internet, PCs still broke.
- stevenj 14y agoI would have started Chipotle.
- chaseideas 14y agoA better mousetrap.
- zerostar07 14y agoI 'd work in academia, I would be useless for anything else
- guard-of-terra 14y agoIf there was no internet, it's obvious we'd have space exploration instead and so I'll probably either design spaceships or fly on them.
- thehodge 14y agoI started a sweet shop (online and offline) in September... I'd have probably done that a lot earlier in life..
- TillE 14y agoStill computer games. The industry was small but wonderful in the pre-internet days. Alternatively, I've always wanted to set up a fast food restaurant. Lot of work, but I think it'd be fun.
- tagabek 14y agoWhat kind of games are you working on now? Android, iOS, indie?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- imd23 14y agoConcert entreraiment company (a la sensation/tomorrowland)
- tptacek 14y agoI would go door-to-door soliciting contributions to a new encyclopedia, mailing the improvements out as a "National Geographic"-style magazine/journal.
- mcrider 14y agoI think this could still succeed, and I would almost certainly subscribe if the magazine was well-designed and had interesting topics. I was just looking at my parent's collection of National Geographics and the shelf of yellow spines looks beautiful as a thing in itself, not to mention that they are filled with amazing articles and photography. Edit: This would be a good Kickstarter candidate IMO!
- RealGeek 14y agoI would be a DJ.
- cdvonstinkpot 14y agoNo change. My startup's not primarily an internet-based venture. Its the marketing plan that requires a custom server app. Operations would be much different without the cloud.
- cynusx 14y agoI was toying with ideas for home automation systems before I discovered that the risk/reward curve for internet based businesses is pretty neat. I do remember that home automation systems usually are the lowest priority while building a new house, so a good entry in the market would be to make it dead-easy to fit into an existing house. One solution I thought was viable were small bluetooth enabled switches any DIY guy can install either as a socket adaptor or to be installed in an existing light switch wiring. This could then be hooked up by bluetooth or zigbee to check which devices are on and in the case of lights, turn them off remotely. Advanced uses can be measuring and controlling power or simulating daytime routines when you are away on vacation as an anti-burglary measure. Obviously I never built this, nor did I invest in acquiring the skillset to build this. However, I would have made the effort to get the skillset by now if the internet wouldn't have existed.
- ramanujan 14y agoIt's probably already on your radar, but Nest is a company that could mainstream home automation, if you are still interested in the area.
- jazzychad 14y agoA t-shirt printing company. I had one for a while in my basement before I moved to CA. Hand screen-printed thousands of shirts before it was over. I did take payment and orders over the internet, so I guess I would have to change that aspect.
- tagabek 14y agoI'm curious; how much did that earn you all in all in the end?
- rdl 14y agoCheap space launch, using a cannon (Gerald Bull style). Basically being able to put a 100kg payload into LEO every hour for $50mm capex and $10-20k per launch.
- tgrass 14y agoI would have written my second novel.
- rey12rey 14y agoHaha you guys have all missed the point! If there was no internet, I would try not create the internet and then accidentally created it (like mischievously lol ;))
- tuananh 14y agoFrom my own experience, without Internet, I will probably end up playing offline game and watching movies. So game dev and cd/dvd rental services are way to go.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- jameswyse 14y agoI'd start an ISP. Internet is important!
- bobdvb 14y agoBy trade I am a broadcast engineer, but I like the simple things in life, in my past I always said I wanted a small rural restaurant/pub/hotel. More recently my fiancée and I have discussed a small holding farming and opening a local produce deli. But this will probably be for early retirement, once I've made my millions...
- tjlytle 14y agoRight now I'm a contract developer (building web applications for clients) - if that wasn't possible (and, since it seems like a cop out, I'll ignore non-internet related programming) I'd likely be a carpenter/tinkerer (building physical things for clients).
- Toph 14y agoNo internet doesn't prevent software to be written or hardware to be made. That's where I'd be and where I'm going.
- hajrice 14y agoWould have started a nightclub or something like that
- sixQuarks 14y agoLemonade stand
- alpine 14y agoAssuming we had all taken a wrong turn technologically ie the Internet concept had not occurred to someone, then Rocket Mail would be fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mail
- gadders 14y agoI always wonder what I would have done for a career in a would without computers (broader than the original question, admittedly). What I would like to have done: successful chain of kindergartens/soft play areas for kids What I would probably have done: accountant :-(