
Ask HN: Any well funded tech companies tackling big, meaningful problems? - digitalmaster
Are there any well funded tech startups &#x2F; companies tackling major societal problems?
Any of these fair game: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_global_issues" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_global_issues</a><p>----<p>I don&#x27;t see or hear of any and want to know if this is just my bias or if there really is a shortage of resources in tech being allocated to solving the worlds most important problems. I&#x27;m sure I&#x27;m not the only engineer that&#x27;s looking out for companies like this.<p>Ran into this previous Ask HN (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24168902" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24168902</a>) that asked a similar question. However, here I wanna focus on the better funded efforts (not side projects, philanthropy etc).<p>One example I&#x27;ve heard so far is Tesla. Any others?
======
doitLP
If you’re interested in having an impact I highly recommend visiting
[https://80000hours.org/](https://80000hours.org/)

The biggest impacts can often be made in areas that are most neglected and
have high negative or positive outcomes. At the very least it will help you
form a mental model of how to spend your time and the types of problems to
focus on.

~~~
kuzee
Thanks for sharing. Their emphasis on the neglectedness of an issue and
focusing on the margins is great.

------
tosmith
At CIONIC, we're tackling how to overcome disability through precision
bionics. Whether a diagnosis at birth (Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida) or an
acquired disease or impairment (Parkinson's, issues resulting from a stroke),
we're engineering sleek, wearable solutions that will provide comprehensive
analysis and precise augmentation to enhance human performance, restore
physical function and increase independence. Check out more information here:
[https://cionic.com/](https://cionic.com/)

~~~
jsin
This looks cool. Why do you think this hasn’t been done before?

~~~
tosmith
Good question. I think it's the right time for the confluence of technology
and human need. It's not an easy problem, but it's an important one

------
bjacobt
Loon from Google/Alphabet [1]. They are attempting to connect remote and rural
areas of the world. They are currently providing commercial service in a
difficult to reach/low ARPU area in Kenya [2].

Loon uses standard 3GPP (LTE) protocols, so devices are available at low cost
and even lower in used markets.

I don't work for Loon or Google, just interested in HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo
Satellites) to provide low cost connectivity.

[1] [https://loon.com/](https://loon.com/)

[2] [https://medium.com/loon-for-all/loon-is-live-in-
kenya-259d81...](https://medium.com/loon-for-all/loon-is-live-in-
kenya-259d81c75a7a)

Edit: fixed references

~~~
Mayzie
Wow, Project Loon. It’s been a while since I’ve thought about it. It seems
kind of pointless now, doesn’t it? StarLink will displace it in a couple of
years.

~~~
bjacobt
One disadvantage with Starlink is the need for external antenna. With HAPS,
project Loon and HAPS Mobile [1], you can use regular mobile phones and modems
making it cost effective for most people. The idea would be for an operator to
have terrestrial network in urban/sub urban areas and high altitude cell
towers in less dense areas. This way you can use the same subscription and
device.

Starlink could also be used to provide backhaul to cell towers which work with
standard 3GPP protocol and provide the same service as terrestrial networks.

HAPS Mobile has got a good video (< 5 min) on what it is and their vision [2]

[1] [https://www.hapsmobile.com/en/](https://www.hapsmobile.com/en/)

[2] [https://youtu.be/zxWODb6Uqgs](https://youtu.be/zxWODb6Uqgs)

Edit: I've no affiliation with HAPS Mobile, Softbank, Google :)

------
TYPE_FASTER
Check out the startups working at incubators like Greentown Labs:
[https://greentownlabs.com/](https://greentownlabs.com/).

Not all these companies will make it. There's a risk associated with working
on these problems that is not always countered by the rapid revenue growth
associated with a well-funded tech company. Having worked at a company that
was briefly situated at Greentown, I will say there is an energy associated
with working there. It made my optimistic that people are actually working
hard on these problems, and we have a chance at solving some of them within my
lifetime.

~~~
logoman04
I spent 18 months working as a SWE at a company within Greentown Labs. I can
confirm the companies there are all committed to making a meaningful impact
around the domains of clean energy / green technology.

------
lrobinovitch
Stuff that Saul Griffith works on:
[https://www.saulgriffith.com/](https://www.saulgriffith.com/)

In particular, Otherlab companies:
[https://www.otherlab.com/](https://www.otherlab.com/)

------
audenaert
What it means for a well-funded company to tackle big, meaningful problems?

Most (not all) of the people (engineers, founders, leaders, etc) I talk to
want to work on these problems. Google and Facebook are both driven by
missions to do this. They get a lot of things right. They also get a lot of
things wrong. So does Microsoft. But take a look at the mission and impact of
both the Gates Foundation and the Zuckerberg-Chan foundation and I think
you'll see that the founders care deeply about the impact that they are
having. Execution on that impact is another matter.

The best companies focus on a specific well defined problem. When looking at
companies, ask what problem they are trying to solve. Is this a mission that
you can get excited about?

Next, is the company approaching this problem from a direction that resonates
with you? Is there approach likely to work? What are the risks and potential
side effects?

Facebook has done a lot of amazing and wonderful things. It's also created
some problems. You have to balance that tension. All well-intentioned efforts
come with risks regardless of whether those efforts originate from government,
non-profit or business activities.

I'd encourage you not to slip to far into a cynical view of the world. Yes,
there are lots of problems. Fantastic. Focus on what you can change and go
find solutions.

------
dangus
If you want to use your technical skills to make a difference in the world, a
lot of less glamorous options are out there: working for a non-profit, working
for a university, school system, library system, or other government entity of
your choosing.

> One example I've heard so far is Tesla. Any others?

Lol, Tesla is not an example. They are a carmaker. Nothing Tesla does will
change the world for the better. In fact investing in automobiles in any form
is counter-productive when we should be reverting post-war city design
mistakes. The best thing for the world would be to live in walkable
communities with inter-city trains taking care of long-distance travel.

Tesla is a great example of the flaw in your question: looking toward a
highly-funded company out to change the world is an impossibility. Highly
funded companies are expected to produce revenue growth. That’s it. There’s no
such thing as a for-profit company out to solve world problems unless solving
those problems involves increasing profit.

So, like I said, what you’re looking for is probably a non-profit, a
government agency, or research institution.

And don’t expect to get highly competitive salary to do work that helps
people.

~~~
digitalmaster
> "Highly funded companies are expected to produce revenue growth."

Yup, this is exactly what I was hoping wasn't true: That it's impossible to be
both well funded, high revenue growth AND do so while tackling a meaningful
problem. \---

Don't want to make this thread about all the ways in which Tesla is a bad
example (just first one that came to mind).

------
zaphod12
How about a tech company using data to accelerate the creation and approval of
cancer fighting drugs: flatiron.com (acquired a couple of years ago, but still
independently operated)

Interested in improving the state of the art in detecting cancer - paigeai is
building automated pathology tools.

A somewhat USA specific one, but goodrx is helping folks afford medications.

Quite a few of those "issues" in your link get you way past traditional Tech
company turf, but all will need software engineers! There are a lot of cool
biotech companies out there who would need software engineers!

------
matt_s
Say you worked in a software development organization that was dysfunctional,
shipped updates 3-4 times a year and had lots of infighting/political battles
between teams. A vendor came by talking about a new development process with a
cool tool touting amazing features - do you think buying into this process
plus tool is going to solve your organizational problems?

Is tech the right tool to attempt solving societal problems?

If Tesla's goal was to have an impact on climate change they should allow
other car companies to purchase their batteries and motors to build from. Or
actually build an economical car, sub $25k, no self-driving or fancy features,
no performance mode, etc. Just a working, fully electric car that any working-
class person could buy, globally. That would have much more impact than
building luxury electric vehicles.

~~~
GeertB
Their goal is absolutely to drive down cost. Right now they're battery-
constrained, so it would not make sense to sell them to third parties. If
Tesla can only sell a given number of cars, it makes financial sense to sell
them at a higher price. The extra revenue serves to build more factories and
grow faster. As production keeps scaling, average selling prices will keep
going down. If they'd attempted to start with a $25K car, they'd producing no
cars today.

~~~
cvhashim
I view them as the iPhone of cars right now. And thats by design. Maybe if
they take away all the bells and whistles and just ship out a barebones
electric car for regular people, it might get mass adoption.

------
anandpdoshi
Plenty ([https://plenty.ag](https://plenty.ag)) is trying to scale hydroponics
using plant science and automation. (I worked here till a few months ago.)
Indoor agriculture is going to supplement our nutrition needs in the future.
Plenty is focusing on flavor as its selling point, and after eating Plenty
produce, everything else seems like eating cardboard.

~~~
kickout
Why'd you leave--just curious?

~~~
anandpdoshi
I wanted to do more creative work, whereas the work at Plenty was more about
problem solving.

~~~
digitalmaster
Oh interesting, I guess I've always thought about problem solving and
creativity as being one and the same. Mind expanding on this a bit?

~~~
anandpdoshi
Ah I should have been more specific. For some context, I learned software
development on the job and later studied Human-Computer Interaction. I want to
be at the intersection of software and design.

Software Engineering at Plenty involved a lot of creative problem solving. But
I wanted to work on visually creative projects. Some of my initial projects at
Plenty did involve interactive UIs, but as I gained better understanding of
our stack, I was required to do a lot more back-end work which wasn’t very
exciting to me.

~~~
digitalmaster
Ah! Got it! That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing!

------
chris_st
International Justice Mission [1] and Thorn [2] are tackling child
trafficking, sex trafficking, and modern-day slavery successfully (IJM
internationally, Thorn in the US).

[1] [https://www.ijm.org](https://www.ijm.org) [2]
[https://www.thorn.org](https://www.thorn.org)

------
giantg2
I don't know that I would use Telsa as an example. Sure, they are replacing
fossil fuels with renewables, but I see this as trading one dirty commodity
for another. Lithium mining is environmentally damaging and the impact will
likely get worse as demand increases. So maybe a step in the right direction,
but definitely not a true solution.

~~~
twunde
Tesla is actually a good example assuming that you believe that lithium mining
is better than coal mining or at least an equivalent problem.

Tesla's utility-level batteries (MegaPack) make wind and solar projects more
economically feasible since any excess wind can be stored instead of being
sold at negative rates when its not being used. These batteries will allow the
replacement of many coal-powered generator plants since those are typically
used for peak times when we need more energy. They're responsible for pushing
the electric car revolution forward (making it fashionable), which is
forecasted to lead to less peak energy usage and a more balanced usage during
non-peak hours (since people will be charging their cars at home after hours).
In theory, this reduces the need to make upgrades to the US electricity
distribution network and we should lose less energy transporting it. This also
reduces the need for oil, and could prevent more wars in the middle east
(since their major resource is less valuable)

~~~
giantg2
I can agree that the view of whether something is helping or not could be
subjective.

That's not necessarily true about the infrastructure. The estimate I saw said
if all the gas cars were replaced with electric ones then the infrastructure
would have to double or triple depending on how much off-grid equipment is
adopted. I know my house would need an upgraded connection to handle a 50amp
charger. I'd probably need a whole extra line and panel if we needed to charge
2 or three cars at once.

~~~
twunde
I was actually thinking about the long-distance transmission lines, but that's
a good point about potentially needing to upgrade local lines. As a non-EV
owner, I can't discuss much but I was under the impression that you could just
plug in to a normal wall socket for a slow charge. I suspect that you're
referring to the Level 2 quick charging station. If that's the case, that
would certainly impact you depending on how old your house is and whether
you're running your own solar panels

FYI, if you have a source, I'd be interested in reading about it.

~~~
giantg2
I can't find the original article I saw this in (8 or so yrs ago), but here's
one that talks about some of the infrastructure sizing issues (45 vs 100 kVA).
The second one talks about current grid storage/production and the need for
increased capacity.

Good news is that we are nowhere close to the breaking point, but the numbers
in the article are way less than if all (or even half of) cars were replaced
with EVs. It should take a long time to get to that level of adoption anyways.

At least for me, I would want access to fast charging options, whether in
homes or at dedicated stations for trips. The 8 hour charge is great for daily
usage though. I wonder how that time can hold up as the range gets longer
(increased capacity with same 15 amp wall plug).

[https://www.fleetcarma.com/ev-clustered-charging-can-
problem...](https://www.fleetcarma.com/ev-clustered-charging-can-problematic-
electrical-utilities/)

[https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-influx-electric-
vehicles...](https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-influx-electric-vehicles-
grid.html)

~~~
twunde
Thanks for adding the sources. I'm 80% sure that The Grid
[[https://www.amazon.com/Grid-Fraying-Between-Americans-
Energy...](https://www.amazon.com/Grid-Fraying-Between-Americans-Energy-
ebook/dp/B01DM9Q6CQ)] had discussed electric cars helping solve some of the
distribution/transmission problems, but that was from the view of the large
power companies, not the smaller local munis (and maybe paired with smart
meters? It's been a while since I read it). However, after reading the two
articles you cited, it's actually just moving the bottleneck and in the wrong
direction to a point where it's harder to manage changes.

------
mstatner
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is building an entirely new healthcare system to empower doctors with advanced
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cities across the country.

If you’re interested in playing a major part in one of the most ambitious
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See our open roles here:
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Check out this article written by our CEO, Adrian, about how we plan to rewire
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healthcare-rewire-i...](https://blog.goforward.com/dont-bail-out-healthcare-
rewire-it-fe2d8ad7a5f6)

Watch a video tour of one of our doctor's offices here:
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~~~
digitalmaster
This seems like a good one! Thanks for sharing.

------
fiftyacorn
Is start with Gates Foundation. It is addressing some of these problems

------
psmithsfhn
Telsa, Gates Foundation, etc. Ugh. Please stop 'helping' us.

My general guess is that anything actually worthwhile will have little to no
private funding behind it.

Global heating. Racism. Soil extinction. Fascism. Disenfranchisement.
Inequality. Female disempowerment. etc.

I guess there is government cheese for global heating. Not sure how much
useful work would be done outside of government-run and/or -funded
laboratories.

And anything that could potentially start out as being at least notionally-
well-intentioned will come around to being not that.

My general thinking at this point is I have to find or help to create a small,
well-organized group of people who start a not-funded social movement that
will oppose almost everything most philanthropists and investors and do-
gooders actually care about.

~~~
digitalmaster
This is exactly what I was hoping this thread would disprove. But so far I
think you're probably right. Private interest just doesn't seem to be
seriously willing or able to tackle the big issues.

------
fsflover
One could argue that Purism, Social Purpose Corporation, is trying to fight
with pollution (by providing devices with lifetime updates and choosing their
sources) and supports human rights (by using exclusively free software, by
creating a new market for surveillance-free user-respecting devices, by trying
to shift manufacturing from China to USA).

[https://puri.sm/about/manufacturing-and-
sourcing/](https://puri.sm/about/manufacturing-and-sourcing/)

Not sure if you consider them "well funded" though.

~~~
stann
From China to US... surveillance-free?

~~~
3np
I’m so bummed out that they’re basing themselves and manufacturing in the US.
It’s such a risk that it’s difficult to make sense of the reasoning with
anything else than that they’re already compromised, possibly simply by
funding capital that comes with conditions. Not saying I believe that’s the
case but how else can you explain it?

~~~
fsflover
I do not understand people who think that trusting a company is all about
geography or funding. The real trust should be built when you and everyone
else can verify everything and speak up whenever something is wrong. Most
companies do not even allow any reasonable verification (by closing their
sources and schematics). Purism is the most transparent company I know.

~~~
3np
The problem with the US specifically is that the intentions of the current
team and founders doesn’t decide in the end. It’s entirely plausible for them
to be compromised and gagged, against their will.

It’s also not necessarily something that more than a very small number of
people in the company needs to be aware of.

This is due to how legislation and the operations of federal agencies work.

Over the past decade, I feel USA has become pretty damn close China in this
regard if you put all countries on some kind of scale.

Anywhere in the EU would have had way less of that risk.

I could also add that I had similar feelings with Keybase for a long time;
promising team, solution and openness (though not to the extent of Purism). My
main gripe was the US location. And then they were acquired by Zoom. This kind
of nihilistic dynamic is also more common with US businesses, even if it’s
just a cultural thing.

~~~
fsflover
1\. Purism have the warrant canary.

2\. You can check the source code and schematics. Can you do this for any
other company in any other country?

3\. At least there are courts in the US, not so in China. Practically all
electronics is produced in China.

> My main gripe was the US location. And then they were acquired by Zoom.

So the actual problem turned out to be NOT the location, right? Purism is a
Social Purpose Corporation, so it's hard (impossible?) to buy them.

~~~
3np
1\. Can’t be trusted

2\. I’m not saying I can recommend you a better company with a comparable
product. But with the way they’re positioning themselves, they have extremely
high standards to live up to.

3\. Fair point. Let’s see how the Assange trials go.

Yes, China is a concern but if you’re going to provide a better alternative,
why make your base and operations in one of the top 3 remaining global concern
countries?

I’ve been keeping checking in on Purism for years and have been close to
ordering early several times but this uneasiness is what has been preventing
me from pulling the trigger.

You are totally free to make a different judgement call and I respect
supporting a good cause where you believe in the team. I also do still hope
that Purism does become successful and grow and the team is showing promising
progress.

Sadly the US is just too corrupt to have this be trustable and sustainable as
things look now. I hope they realize this and move. And that we see more
actors in this space.

------
bsldld
Do a web search for the term "impact investment". You will find some
information on what you are looking for.

~~~
fsflover
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_investing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_investing)

------
Michael_Sieb
Type Studio disrupts all the over engineered video editors by developing a
text-based editing approach. [https://typestudio.co](https://typestudio.co)

------
WMCRUN
Sahara Forest Project
[https://www.saharaforestproject.com/](https://www.saharaforestproject.com/)

Desalination + desert greening + solar + farming. Awesome

------
maxmorlocke
Lexria ([https://www.lexria.com](https://www.lexria.com)) is focused on
helping solve student loan debt issues through bankruptcy.

------
sgtnoodle
I've been working at Zipline for over four years now. We're building a
scalable and reliable UAV based delivery system with a focus on making medical
supplies accessible to all humans that need them. We're operating distribution
centers in Rwanda, Ghana, and North Carolina, and I believe we're still the
only such system operating in production.

I'm an embedded software engineer, and I work on a lot on the firmware running
in the vehicles, as well as in all the various ground equipment we've
developed to make our system easier to operate. I also touch a lot of "high
level" python to build out developer tools and when interfacing to the
company's broader software stacks. It's important for our system to be as
automated as possible so that we can hire and train local flight operators to
serve their communities with minimal engineering support. I think that's
something really cool about Zipline. Our flight operators are the most
awesome, dedicated employees, and they're in the trenches launching hundreds
of flights per day through extreme rain, heat and cold. I want to say that
something like 1/3 of flights are for medical emergencies, too.

I've been very happy working here, also. It's a really good group of people.
Everyone's dedicated and self motivated to move quickly, without compromising
family or work life balance. We try to keep communication within the company
as flat and direct as possible, too. There's no corporate politics or egos to
maneuver around. Our CEO's car is one of the crappier cars in the parking lot.
For surprise medical reasons I had to take quite a bit of time off at a really
quite terrible time in the schedule earlier this year, and my coworkers
happily picked up the slack and sent me an embarrassing amount of very
luxurious chocolate.

Since I joined, my team has grown from just me to about a dozen people, and
all the growth has done is made us busier with all the cool projects we're
taking on. We're generally always hiring across the company, and especially on
the embedded engineering team. Since I've been around a while, I tend to focus
on broad architectural work while helping out on whatever project is the most
on fire, and try to give newer team members a chance to focus on projects that
they can own long term.

[https://flyzipline.com/careers/](https://flyzipline.com/careers/)

This is what I've been working on improving this past week. If you sign an
NDA, I can tell what relevance it has to 1980s rap music...
[https://youtu.be/FeSCEalMOL8?t=85](https://youtu.be/FeSCEalMOL8?t=85)

------
fsflover
[https://fairphone.com](https://fairphone.com)

------
person_of_color
Cruise Automation. Startup that pays as well as FAANG.

------
westurner
You can make an impact by solving important local and global problems by
investing your time, career, and savings; by listing and comparing solutions.

As a labor market participant, you can choose to work for places that have an
organizational mission that strategically aligns with local, domestic, and
international objectives.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_alignment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_alignment)
... "Schema.org: Mission, Project, Goal, Objective, Task"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12525141](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12525141)

As an investor, you can choose to invest in organizations that are making the
sort of impact you're looking for: you can _impact invest_.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_investing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_investing)

You mentioned "List of global issues"; which didn't yet have a link to the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (the #GlobalGoals). I just added this to the
linked article:

> _As part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Millenium
> Development Goals (2000-2015) were superseded by the UN Sustainable
> Development Goals (2016-2030), which are also known as The Global Goals.
> There are associated Targets and Indicators for each Global Goal._

There are 17 Global Goals.

Sustainability reporting standards can align with the Sustainable Development
Goals. For example, the GRI standards are now aligned with the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals)

Investors, fund managers, and potential employees can identify companies which
are making an impact by reviewing corporate sustainability and ESG reports.

From [https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-
develo...](https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-
goals/goal-12-responsible-consumption-and-production/targets.html) :

> SDG Target 12.6: _" Encourage companies, especially large and transnational
> companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability
> information into their reporting cycle"_

From
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21302926](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21302926)
:

> _> What are some of the corporate sustainability reporting standards?

> _> From
> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_reporting#Initi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_reporting#Initiatives)
> :

> _> > Organizations can improve their sustainability performance by measuring
> (EthicalQuote (CEQ)), monitoring and reporting on it, helping them have a
> positive impact on society, the economy, and a sustainable future. The key
> drivers for the quality of sustainability reports are the guidelines of the
> Global Reporting Initiative (GRI),[3] (ACCA) award schemes or rankings. The
> GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines enable all organizations worldwide
> to assess their sustainability performance and disclose the results in a
> similar way to financial reporting.[4] The largest database of corporate
> sustainability reports can be found on the website of the United Nations
> Global Compact initiative._

> _> The GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) Standards are now aligned with the
> UN Sustainable Development Goals (#GlobalGoals).
> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Reporting_Initiative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Reporting_Initiative)
> _

> _> > In 2017, 63 percent of the largest 100 companies (N100), and 75 percent
> of the Global Fortune 250 (G250) reported applying the GRI reporting
> framework.[3]_

What are some good ways to search for companies who (1) do sustainability
reports, (2) engage in strategic alignment in corporate planning sessions, (3)
make sustainability a front-and-center issue in their company's internal and
external communications?

What are some examples of companies who have a focus on sustainability _and
/or_ who have developed a nonprofit organization for philanthropic missions
which are sometimes best accounted for as a distinct organization or a
business unit (which can accept and offer receipts for donations as a non-
profit)?

How can an employee drive change in a small or a large company? Identify
opportunities to deliver value and goodwill. Read through the Global Goals,
Targets, and Indicators; and get into the habit of writing down problems and
_solutions_.

3 pillars of [Corporate] Sustainability: (Environment (Society (Economy))).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability#Three_dimension...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability#Three_dimensions_of_sustainability)

~~~
westurner
"Launch HN: Charityvest (YC S20) – Employee charitable funds and gift
matching"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23907902](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23907902)
:

> _We created a modern, simple, and affordable way for companies to include
> charitable giving in their suite of employee benefits._

> _We give employees their own tax-deductible charitable giving fund, like an
> “HSA for Charity.” They can make contributions into their fund and, from
> their fund, support any of the 1.4M charities in the US, all on one tax
> receipt._

> _Using the funds, we enable companies to operate gift matching programs that
> run on autopilot. Each donation to a charity from an employee is matched
> automatically by the company in our system._

> _A company can set up a matching gift program and launch giving funds to
> employees in about 10 minutes of work._

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doopy-loopy2
Tesla

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misanthropian00
Boston Dynamics. Their robot overlords may one day replace us thus neatly
solving most of our problems.

~~~
bjornsing
Replace us? Isn’t it enough to just enslave us, feed us scraps and tell us
what to do? Lot’s of startups are working on that. (It’s called the gig
economy.) :P

Footnote: I’m not this critical of the gig economy, just couldn’t resist the
opportunity for some gallows humor. :)

~~~
biztos
But what would a robot sufficiently smart/powerful to enslave us actually need
us to do?

Entertain them?

~~~
misanthropian00
Sure. Pets. We could perform tricks in exchange for slices of robot made
pizza. Sentient robots may get bored too. Weird bipedal monkey creatures with
delusions of grandeur should be good for a laugh at least.

~~~
biztos
Mmmm, pizza!

[https://youtu.be/okVM0sSwmNQ](https://youtu.be/okVM0sSwmNQ)

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chrisseaton
> Are there any well funded tech startups / companies tackling major societal
> problems?

Why would you look to tech companies to do this?

Isn't this what charities do?

~~~
hprotagonist
isn't this what _governments_ ought to exist to do? "promote the General
Welfare" is within the first 30 words of the Preamble.

~~~
thrill
Promote - as in cheerlead, facilitate, protect - not as in, well, try to do by
forcing participation.

~~~
giantg2
Exactly. It's designed from the perspective of protecting people's rights, and
by protecting those rights promotes the common good.

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piuspatel
DLT labs. They are providing Blockchain solutions check out Walmart logistics
they have built for their transport partners.

