I'm working on a startup-life-broadcasting idea. Basically, you follow me through the process of building my company. Hopefully you're building yours too at the same time. Maybe this is much more transparent than anything you've paid attention to before. So, not just blog posts about how things are going down (ala patio11 or Nathan Barry), but videos, audio recording, actual code, bank statements... like, lots of details, very open. Lots of live-broadcasting. Kinda like the way Justin.tv started.
I've often thought/day-dreamed about such an idea. Not just for a start-up but for a big well established company. If everything was open how would it affect their business dealings etcetera.
I imagine going into negotiations where the opposing party has watched your board of director meetings, looked at your profit margins and ascertained all manner of information pertinent to the negotiations and completely owning the negotiations.
I'd like to think this volatility/risk would occur only in the initial stages and in the long run it would lead to a powerful new business structure. Idealism isn't always reality however.
Given start-ups are fragile taking on this extra risk could be the death pill. How do you propose to deal with these issues if/when they arise?
It's not really a serious project it's just to practice web development. I also wanted to make something that works with "real" money but isn't that complex to implement doesn't require accounts etc, so bitcoin seemed like a good choice.
I'll save your email address and send you a quick notify when the beta is up and running.
HIPAA issues are going to be a nightmare, I agree. I think before we truly launch we're going to have to bring someone with thorough domain knowledge in for that. I went over-board with encryption, pretty much everything in the database is encrypted but naturally it's going to be some quirk with legalese that will catch us up. "The patient's mood is technically a medical condition and so cannot be displayed without waiver a-123" or something.
I appreciate your two ideas. Medication is something we're VERY hesitant to approach. God forbid a query gets screwed up (or even user error) and they end up with double dosages. Maybe later on, but for now... they can send messages with reminders or something :)
The mood ratings are a wonderful idea. I will be adding that to our to-do list. :)
A) The save Mz charitable fund.
B) Some stupid comic that I am creatively stuck on.
C) A raging fever, which is apparently far more productive than either A or B
D) Other super secret projects that I can't mention here.
E) Breaking the rules by cracking jokes on HN.