4 ms·
Ask HN: How much would you pay to solve the largest problem you face?
I'm working on something new and I need to test it with real problems - the kind that keep you stuck for weeks or months. (basically stumbled on this framework, solving my own problems and want to see who else it could be useful for / what people would pay).
Really just looking for a conversation.
Here's what I'm looking for: complex situations where you've tried multiple approaches but nothing quite clicks. Business strategy paralysis, relationship dynamics you can't figure out, career transitions that feel impossible, creative blocks, or any problem where you know there's a solution but can't see it.
Not selling anything - just testing whether this approach actually works for problems other than my own.
- orionblastar 1y agoWhat I suffer from can't be fixed. I have schizoaffective disorder a mental illness that makes it hard to work much less remember things. Before I developed it I was a 10x programmer and a super debugger.
- YAndreaRusso 1y agoi would love to chat more about this. my backgrounds in bme and personally interested in health.
- orionblastar 1y agoMy email is orionblastar@gmail.com Here is a definition of my mental illness: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoaffective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354504 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoaffecti... Here is some more: https://www.bridgestorecovery.com/schizoaffective-disorder/living-with-schizoaffective-disorder/ https://www.bridgestorecovery.com/schizoaffective-disorder/l... Employers do not like me having it because it makes it harder to do work and some days are worse than others. Management just doesn't understand my mental illness so I am on disability because I cannot hold down a job.
- collingreen 1y agoYour condition sounds really challenging. I'm sorry you have to suffer from it and I truly wish you well.
- orionblastar 1y agoThank you not everyone is understanding. Less than half a percent of the population in the USA suffers from it so it isn't a priority for doctors to treat and cure. I am on psychiatric medication for it but it makes me drowsy.
- YAndreaRusso 1y agonot only in a business context, this could be a health issue. i helped someone develop a plan to treat their knee pain
- al_borland 1y agoHow much I would pay depends on what it is and if it actually solves the problem. A lot of people make bold claims that often fall flat. Maybe they work for others, but they didn’t have any lasting impact on me.
- YAndreaRusso 1y agofair, what are the scopes of your problems generally?
- kylebenzle 1y agoMy email is kbe@gmx.us, my company would EASILY be willing to pay anyone upwards of $100M/yr salary to help solve our number one problem of how to make $100 million/yr in profit!
- moomoo11 1y agoClaude and gpt can do it for $20/mo /s
- vivzkestrel 1y agofind something that cuts people s time for setting something up down from 1 month to 5 mins and that company ll defintiely do 100M ARR
- GianFabien 1y agoSome of the largest real problems are: climate change, energy instability, micro-plastics pollution, poverty, malnutrition, lack of clean potable water, tornadoes destroying communities, floods destroying towns and agriculture, etc, etc. Still waiting to see effective solutions being implemented.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- the__alchemist 1y ago40, single, can't get past the first date. "Don't feel the spark/connection" etc. Things aren't about to get easier. Below-avg attractiveness but not horrible, tall, in-shape. Nerdy hobbies. (Think engineering etc, vice DnD). Would pay $$$ to solve this.
- paulcole 1y ago> complex situations where you've tried multiple approaches but nothing quite clicks What are the multiple approaches you've tried?
- ksherlock 1y agoYou can pay $$$ to solve it. They say it's the world's oldest profession (or p2p business if you prefer).
- sejje 1y agoYou don't feel the spark, or they don't? Sample size issue?
- the__alchemist 1y agoThey. Probably a "someone better is one swipe away" (?) issue.
- nicbou 1y agoHow do you know?
- ipaddr 1y agoThings will get easier women after 40 are less selective.
- farseer 1y agoHe prolly wants someone younger, hence the difficulty. :)
- ipaddr 1y agoI would pay millions to solve my I want a billion problem.
- muzani 1y agoYou could join something like Founder Institute or Harvard Business School?
- rajeshpatel15 1y agoI had pay $500+ for a solution to my biggest bottleneck: aligning technical debt reduction with stakeholder urgency. We’ve tried sprints, documentation blitzes, and dedicated refactor cycles—but the core tension remains: ‘Fix now vs. build new.’ Your framework’s intriguing. If it can map this to clear business outcomes (e.g., ‘X% faster delivery in 3 months’), I’d test it. What’s your angle—systems thinking, behavioral psychology, or something else? P.S. For context: I lead eng at a Series B SaaS co. My ‘stuck’ example: Tech debt costs us ~20% velocity, but ROI arguments fail with revenue-focused execs.
- achempion 1y agoThis happens in many orgs. The truth of this situation is that it's engineering team's responsibility to build maintainable system, managers only care about results, risk management and team velocity. The problem you're trying to solve is not that features get more prioritisation, but your estimations doesn't reflect the reality and your code-review process is broken as engineers are not spotting growing technical debt and refactoring opportunities and think that someone should give them a permission or create a ticket to work on that. This is engineering culture 101 (look up the boyscout rule in software engineering).
- ensemblehq 1y agoAre they strictly focused on revenue and growth metrics? There might be a lot of relationship building needed beyond just the necessary ROI arguments.
- YAndreaRusso 1y agoi monologue in the morning and talk through whatever's top of mind. i process the transcript with an ai im building and its great at enabling me to solve my own problems.
- mmphosis 1y agobetween $300 billion and $50 trillion over the next two decades.