Don't just build things, help people

https://medium.com/on-startups/7196bbd2508b

by Peteris • 13 years ago

25 15 13 years ago

medium.com

selfexperiments3• 13 years ago

Animals are deserving of help and need voices in their defense as well. Even house pets aren't safe.

I just submitted https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6307569 but I don't think it's going to make front page.

Direct link: http://opensuffer.com/

EDIT: Sorry for piggybacking on the post. Important cause though.

sillysaurus24• 13 years ago

I upvoted you not because of the moralistic call to action ("save the pets" is as old and tired as "think of the children") but because it's true: my indoor/outdoor cat was stolen by someone who seemed to then be in process of selling him. The only reason I got him back is because I kept a GPS tracker on his collar for just this reason, and it led me straight to her house. She was very surprised when I showed up at her door.

So yes, it happens and it's very sad. I don't know whether there's anything to be done though. Bad things happen all the time.

selfexperiments3• 13 years ago

Glad you got your cat back! The GPS collar is a brilliant idea.

meowface2• 13 years ago

Out of curiosity, what did the person have to say once you showed up?

This is effectively kidnapping and should be prosecuted as a felony, really.

shubb• 13 years ago

In a world where most people eat meat, I think it is premature to campaign against animal testing. It seems like it aught to be the second problem on the list.

Sure, as seen in Unnecessary Fuss, these experiments can be pretty horrific, and the destruction of all test subjects even after the most minor test feels unnecessary. But the meat industry systematically kills vastly more animals a day. And I don't see vegans marching outside my local McDonalds.

selfexperiments3• 13 years ago

That's a great point. I'm a vegetarian, and I'm that way for compassionate reasons. But animal testing is bigger than people realize, and it's growing - claiming kittens on Craigslist and even house pets playing inside backyards.

arbuge• 13 years ago

Build it and they will come? No, ask them if they would use it — in fact ask them if they would buy it right now and for what price — then build it.

Any talk is cheap. Charge them for it as a pre-sale to really lock this down. Give them a reasonable discount if they prepay during the development period, of course, and refund everything if you can't deliver as promised for any reason.

brucehauman• 13 years ago

The title should probably be "Don't just build things, make things a little more convenient for people". Yplan is your example. Really? That is tremendously disappointing.

Is it possible that we can aspire to create better things than that? Can we bring food and shelter to those who don't have it? Can we bring counseling to the those who need it? Can we support and create real face to face local community? In other words can we take our gifts and the tremendous leverage that software and technology provides and actually help people? Can we fly in the face the current economic incentives and actually help people?

Otherwise we are just creating things that may be popular/successful in the the short term but die in the long term because they have no "real" value. And we as producers suffer under the truth denying myth that we are doing something of value when we actually know that we are just trying to cash in on a tiny worthless market wrinkle. We might as well be playing the stock market.

Peteris• 13 years ago

I agree that most apps might not be saving lives. I chose YPlan because the Founders used a rigorous strategy of looking for problems rather than looking for solutions.

This is beyond the post, but I agree that value should land where it can deliver the biggest impact. However, making money writing apps for 20-somethings isn't necessarily a bad thing, what matters is where that money goes afterwards. More on that in http://80000hours.com/.

meowface2• 13 years ago

Can we bring food and shelter to those who don't have it? Can we bring counseling to the those who need it? Can we support and create real face to face local community? In other words can we take our gifts and the tremendous leverage that software and technology provides and actually help people? Can we fly in the face the current economic incentives and actually help people?

While these are great pursuits, unfortunately most of these things aren't the best for profit generation.

Many startups are in fact non-profits, but a lot of the biggest innovation you see is in the for-profits (for obvious reasons).

We might as well be playing the stock market.

I disagree. Intel and AMD were startups at some point; Google was for a while. Amazon, ebay, etc. While these don't give value in the sense of providing food or homes, they add a lot of value to the current kind of world we live in.

unknownian• 13 years ago

Is it just me or is Medium becoming self-aware? Many of the posts bash the culture Medium is a part of.

Don't just build things, help people

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