Ask HN: What are the problems that are willing to pay more than $1000 to solve?
Same as Title.
The only way I can think to do this well is by giving everyone a different phone number, like many of us do with email addresses. Implementing this would require a way to create and vend phone numbers quickly, similar to creating a password with a password manager. There would need to be a way to associate each number with who I gave it to. When my phone rang that identity would need to be surfaced in some way. I would need a way to make outbound calls using these numbers.
I'd happily pay $100+/month for <some number of> phone numbers (50-100?) plus $x/month for each number above that. If the service was metered by call minute there would need to be a generous number included in the monthly flat rate and excess minutes should be inexpensive.
I imagine the user experience would be similar to what Sidecar/Flyp/Cloud SIM deliver.
(1) if it's a blocked # or a # from a known blacklisted source -> straight to voicemail, and we notify you by text if a message was left (or we transcribe it)
(2) new # you've never discussed -> you can set up the options here, e.g. if commercial or otherwise, go to VM or enable to "ring" for you
(3) if the call a known caller to you -> pass through
Would you use something like this?
Venice probably is the only place that matches that criterion.
On Malta, there also is Mdina, which is largely car-free but still allows for limited car usage by residents. Still, although it's called a city, at a population of less than 1,000 it doesn't really qualify by any modern definition of the word.
As for the US there's this list, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Car-free_zones_in_the...
However, probably none of these places could be called a city in the narrow sense of the word.
- A system to build knowledge more effectively than whatever it is that people do now. This would go along with some sort of training to improve idea synthesis, factual integration, etc. Basically, activate my inner savant for the low, low price of $999.99.
- Direct training-to-employment pipeline: Employers provide the service a list of skills they need, the service generates a training plan, the employer approves the plan, vetted students pay to join with a guarantee of employment if they meet some milestones, successful students are refunded then employer pays the service a commission.
- A car service that shows up to do routine maintenance, clean your car and track major issues
Assuming you are "people", have you tried roam[1][2][3]?
> health plan
If you do end up figuring something out for this I'd be very interested. SelfDecode's privacy policy gets very close to being acceptable for me, but sadly 23andme-level genomic analysis is either prohibitively expensive (I simply cannot drop thousands on it) or it's actually 23andme and will sell you wholesale. That more than anything makes it unacceptable to me.
[1] https://roamresearch.com/ [2] https://www.orgroam.com/ [3] https://logseq.com/
Regarding SelfDecode, I literally had the tab open on my laptop and my phone for months before I signed up. I would revisit it every once in a while but the dystopian terror of my DNA on someone else's server kept winning.
My wife then got me an ancestry.com test, which I was hesitant about too. A month of being nagged finally got me to submit it. With that seal broken, SelfDecode wasn't such a leap. I submitted my ancestry stuff to them and I can honestly say that what their reports revealed has been life changing. The major revelation I'm still trying to accept is a marker that indicates I may soon develop an untreatable degenerative disease, the symptoms of which are beginning to show.
Anyways, if you can find a lab that has a policy you trust, there are genetic databases online that you can manually reference your results against. It's tedious, and requires interpreting piles of obscure research papers.
I use it to structure projects I do for work (and in my personal life, but these days that is mostly eating good food and taking walks - no need for roam there :) ). I also have my daily task lists in there. What I like about it is cross-linking, especially with people (so I can easily see what I do for which people). When I have to pull apart an article about a new series of exploits I create cross-referenced entries about the techniques in the article, this allows me to more quickly get up to speed with other articles I read (because they often refer to the same concepts).
As time has gone on I've started to use it for more things. In the beginning I just had a few files with my tasks, which was already better than what I had before. I use org-roam and sync my org-files to all my devices and backup spaces with syncthing and rclone (with the crypt backend), which is nice because it means my todo entries come with me. For most people that is probably not such a big thing because they can just use "regular" cloud sync, which I will not use because of privacy reasons.
> there are genetic databases online that you can manually reference your results against.
This is a good idea. Perhaps I will try that, thank you.
> a marker that indicates I may soon develop an untreatable degenerative disease
That is rough. I hope knowing about it earlier at least lets you take some palliative measures. Good luck.
Do you think people would actually pay upfront to join on the promise they'll be refunded if they complete the course syllabus successfully?
I have assumed you'd have the offer the course for free and then make your money by placing successful "graduates" with employers who pay a commission for each one.
The trainer is incentivized to perform because the collected tuitions might only represent a fraction of what could be earned. The commission is where the profit is.
I would personally be super motivated to sign up, especially if the curriculum and employer partnerships were attractive.
I'm riffing but I know it's a super hard problem. I wonder if game theory could or has helped here.
It’s not like I do well in real life either - it’s ultimately that most dating apps just amplify what I already experience in real life. I’m not physically attractive (5’10”, 120-135lb) and so I have always had a very large uphill battle trying to combat traditional western beauty standards. But if someone could figure out an app that got me out on dates - I’d pay that $1000+.
Skilled trades where once you need them, they have you over a barrel!
Just this week, I had a recruiter tell me that they won't tell me the end client, until after the interview happens. They are expecting candidates to interview with them, without telling them who they would be working for (also, pay is shit).
Another recruiter sends a ridiculous legal document that I am supposed to sign (it was a long, scary document, I didn't understand most of it), before even revealing who they are hiring for. Yet another recruiter wanted to edit my resume and lie, before they'd proceed with the process.
Those are just a few examples. In case you are wondering if these are for high level positions, they are not. These are run of the mill, ordinary developer jobs.
I do not want to deal with recruiters, at all, ever. Even a 5 min phone call with these upstanding people is enough to ruin one's day.
So yeah, I'd pay for this "privilege"
Some mechanism to significantly improve intelligence. This could be in any form: book, coaching, game, etc. Some examples of benefits:
- Avoiding making mistakes that cost time among other things (an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure). Programming bugs are on my mind at the moment but could be in other areas as well.
- Make faster decisions with more confidence
- Crush programming interviews
Deep learning is uterly irrelevant for the famework but it is a heuristic that could be employed ...
Money can only solve poverty when property rights are respected and enforced, when there is an open market of sorts to spend the money for useful stuff, when the bearer does not spend the money on useless stuff (lotteries, payments to cult leaders, etc), and when the bearer is not addicted (to substances, games, etc).
All the above are not problems money alone can solve.