
Problems that people have that can be turned into meaningful businesses - XavierPladevall
Hi everyone. I have been aggregating a weekly list(http:&#x2F;&#x2F;houston.substack.com) of interesting problems that people have shared that if solved might turn into great businesses. A couple of interesting things have repeatedly come up and I thought HN might find them interesting. Here&#x27;s what seem to have resonated the most with people:<p><i>1. I wish the startup I work at allowed me to choose my own perks</i><p>&quot;A lot of the office perks I get at work are kind of useless. I wish that I could choose my own perks like free Spotify and Netflix rather than some obscure &#x27;wellness benefit&#x27; that I have to remember to expense to get a reimbursement.&quot;<p><i>2. There&#x27;s no good software for managing a campaign and running for office.</i><p>If you&#x27;re someone young like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, it&#x27;s hard to figure out how to run for office and manage a campaign. NationBuilder is the legacy player in the space you can tell it&#x27;s not a mobile or video native product (doesn&#x27;t natively support YouTube, Insta, Snapchat, etc.). Another problem is that this software costs some real money so playing around with the business model might unlock substantial value (e.g., charge a % of $ raised).<p><i>3. A dedicated social network for memes is something that doesn&#x27;t exist</i><p>My Instagram is now a basically feed of memes but Instagram itself was not built for this purpose. It’s impossible to create memes on Instagram so creators use other tools, import them to Insta and do a similar process for people that send them memes to upload to their accounts. I think 9gag might have been too early to the game but right now feels like the perfect time.<p><i>4. We need a way to process cannabis payments! Processing cannabis payments is too bureaucratic</i><p>&quot;I just found out that Stripe will not process CBD payments. I love Stripe, and sure there are many reasons this is the case. But doesn’t this seem crazy in 2019? I can buy CBD products at almost every corner store in Los Angeles, including CVS and Walgreens.&quot;
======
XavierPladevall
HN caps it at 2000 character but here are a couple more. Let me know what you
think

 _5\. There are no good tools for building my church’s community online_

"This might sound a little weird but I am part of a congregation (church) and
I wish that we could have a way to build our community online. I imagine
something that combines Slack, Facebook Live, Shopify and Patreon.” All of
these things can be done independently today but a software that bundles
everything together would remove a ton of friction.

 _6\. There is a need for tools (e.g. CRMs) for creators that will make use of
Instagram’s new Checkout feature._

"This week Instagram launched checkout. There’s a massive opportunity to help
a new generation of creators and creatives more easily become entrepreneurs."
These sellers will be phone-only, and there are no good CRMs and adjacent
tools to help these creators manage their business.

 _7\. In the US It 's extremely hard to compare prices across hospitals_

"Hospitals in the USA are now required to publish online price lists of the
services they provide. I hope someone is working to aggregate and make these
easily searchable/comparable."

 _8\. I wish there was something like MoviePass but for museums and other
attractions_

“It sucks that I have to pay $25 to go to SFMoMa. As a college student I got
free access to all of these museums in New York. I wish there was something
like MoviePass but for museums and stuff like that.”

 _9\. A good karaoke app out there (for individuals or bars) is something that
doesn 't exist_

“For a while now I've been trying to find a good Karaoke app that works with
Spotify or Apple Music but there's nothing out there. Smule and Musixmatch are
ok for lyrics but this isn't actually Karaoke. The same thing applies for
Karaoke bars. They either use YouTube or some crappy software. One app that
creates a great user experience for individuals and clubs/djs/bars etc. could
be a game changer.”

~~~
StriverGuy
Number 8 is a fantastic idea -- as a resident of nyc I would happily pay for
this. Especially if you created family oriented packages/pricing.

------
abstractpanda
10\. It will be empowering to have a "Voice Based Programming Language"
allowing people to code more , program more , build more.

