Ask HN: Who funds important tech with no business plan? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Who funds important tech with no business plan?

4 pointsJeff_Brown11 comments

I know there are people with money who want to save the world. I think a higher-order knowledge base like Hode[1] could be useful in search, in AI, and in social networking. But I have no idea how to monetize it. It's more of a science project than a business. Am I out of luck until I do have such idea?

[1] https://github.com/JeffreyBenjaminBrown/hode

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> It's more of a science project than a business.

Then you should be seeking grants, not investors. I have no expertise in the area, but there is a clear line between investors who fund for-profit ventures, and grants that support non-profit projects. It sounds like you fall on the non-profit side of the fence and should be researching grants and other non-profit fundraising techniques.

Governments, if you have to ask. That is the only correct answer. Chomsky usually harps on this point, that a lot of our tech innovation came from govt funding with no clear objective (deriding the notion that only the market can innovate).

Check out Prototype Fund [1], they fund public interest tech, although only with small (50 T€) grants.

1: https://prototypefund.de/en/

If you can't point to "there is $X of value behind project Y" then isn't X=0?

That is, how can it be important if you can't put a value on it?

I don't know how to put a value on it, nor how to capture that value, but basic science does seem to get funding ... sometimes ...

Start with putting a value on it, even a crazy high value.

Why is it necessary at all? How much are people spending because it doesn't exist?

Science has always been valueless for very long periods of time. Look at quantum physics. For decades, it was just observing a weird phenomenon. Then they invented transistors, diodes, lasers, and cheap lighting with it.

This is not science, it is engineering.

X=[0,∞]

"Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective" by AI researcher Kenneth Stanley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9GooyI

Y Combinator sometimes do that

There's literally an "Apply as a Non-profit" button

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