Ask HN: Tell me your pains that you want paid solutions for

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3682860

by marcamillion • 14 years ago

5 12 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Do you have any problems on a day-to-day basis that you just wished there was a product/startup that solved that problem?

If so, tell me and who knows...maybe you may get your wish :)

vyrotek2• 14 years ago

I wish it was this easy ;)

The problem most folks have here is usually finding an idea someone will pay for. It takes being at the right place at the right time and a bit of luck to stumble onto those tough problems that people want to pay money to make go away.

Forrest77782• 14 years ago

This may sound extremely silly - but I'd love to have a desktop organizer application. Like I could decide to segment my desktop into 4 equal areas: games, pictures, applications, work-related. And then there could be a spot in the middle with an unsorted aspect. I could then click every item in the unsorted category and decide which category if any I wanted them in.

It would also be neat to have options on how many segments you wanted, the size of them, location, that sort of thing.

I'm not saying everyone wants this - maybe this will spur you into thinking of something else innovative. I just think that it's really annoying to drag and drop icons on my desktop as is - and an application could potentially make that easier.

I hope this helps :)

vyrotek2• 14 years ago

http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/ ?

Forrest77782• 14 years ago

Thanks!

newman3142• 14 years ago

I wish there was a tool with an Excel-like front end that let me do modeling coupled with a database backend.

It let me do a lot of what-if questions along with data input, formatting etc.

endersshadow• 14 years ago

Does this get you what you need? http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bi/powerpivot.aspx

I build the modeling and what-iffing systems for enterprises as a living, and we see some use of this for decentralized modeling. SQL Server Analysis Services does heavy lifting if you have enterprise data to worry about.

newman3142• 14 years ago

I'll take a look at it but first glance seems to indicate it's Windows and SQL Server only.

I was hoping for something that I could use on a Mac and let me plug into a variety of backend sources via some mapping utility/connector: MySQL, Oracle, NoSQL, etc.

polyfractal• 14 years ago

May I make a suggestion? You are asking the wrong crowd of people.

You are asking a group of highly motivated, highly technical people what problems they have at their dayjob. This is the exact reason we have a hundred to-do lists, time-trackers and project management packages.

I'm not saying there is no room to innovate in the "serving other technical people" field. But if you step outside and talk to someone in some totally different field, I imagine you will not only be solving problems but will be doing so in a less competitive, more lucrative environment.

You would be surprised/aghast at how crude of technical solutions many careers put up with on a day-to-day basis.

AznHisoka• 14 years ago

I agree. Go ask a bunch of moms or business owners what they want. not hackers

paulhauggis• 14 years ago

I think you will have a much better chance at success if you solve a problem that you also have.

revorad• 14 years ago

I want better documentation for all software I use. Just this morning I have spent 3 hours trying to install something. Give me better documentation, make it easy to search.

joelmaat• 14 years ago

Startup idea brainstorming, research, and market testing :).

Small market for that though.

Ask HN: Tell me your pains that you want paid solutions for

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