Huh, I half-agree with other commentators that the list is almost like a joke. On the other hand, it’s starting the startup conversation here again. The startup world is not exactly at its peak now; less rags-to-riches save-the-world stories, and more like scandals and housing crises and Juicero-dumbo moments. At least, it’s making me think about what AI can actually be useful for, even though I’m mostly not a fan of it and most certainly don’t see its worth in pet interactions.
In my view, it's not at its peak partly because startups have drunk a bit too much of the "Startups are all about execution" Kool Aid and forgot that executing on crappy ideas just produced crap.
To the average marketer, some HN threads are absolutely mind-boggling. Not too long ago, someone posted a thread essentially saying that he had freshly graduated from a top school and assembled a team of brilliant people, but they couldn't find anything to do with all their talent.
How is that possible?
Y Combinator's motto is "Make something people want."
Well? What are startups waiting for?
Mostly, they've again drunk a bit too much Kool Aid here — the "get out of the building" and "customer development" type. These are both good things to do — but if your original impetus is stupid (business-wise), you'll only converge towards mediocre outcomes.
In fact, it's very easy to come up with things that people want. Because people have always wanted the same things, and probably always will. Everything the market provides is there to satisfy basic, universal human needs [1].
Fundamental needs and desires are the magma on which the tectonic plates that define product categories and product are moving. They're the deepest drivers of product adoption.
Current product categories and products are just a byproduct of those needs meeting technological and economic limitations.
Find out how you can satisfy some fundamental need better by leveraging technological changes, and you'll have a good startup idea.
OP did say it’s an experiment :x