

Ask HN: What startup idea would you create if you were in 20 years ago? - tuyguntn

I live in a country where internet penetration is low on a desktop, but growing in mobile. We have plenty of internet services for social, amusement, classifieds. We have almost any alternative to western services.<p>But most of them are failing. facebook? yes we have, but with 10-20K users probably, not active, most of the users are using russian social networks. google? yes we have, very small audience (probably 3-5K&#x2F;day). groupon? yes we had, all of them shut down.<p>Only amusement services like local-youtube, local-4chan has some audience (60-80K users&#x2F;day) and only one monopolistic classified service which has 80-100K users&#x2F;day with &gt;1M views.<p>If you were in my place and you have experience which you have gained in your country or in tech bubble somewhere in 2000s, what kind of service would you create?<p>Info. population &gt;25M, internet penetration is growing, but trust to internet services are very low.
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akg_67
> trust to internet services are very low

What could you do that doesn't require "trusting" the internet? This may be
the key to any project you might consider. You may want to look for ideas from
the time periods when Internet was not trusted in US and Western World
(pre-2000).

I will guess anything related to e-commerce or whatever requires direct money
exchange between the user and internet will be out. That leaves you with
information products or ideas that enable deal initiation online but
facilitating transactions offline. The business model most likely will be
based on advertising and sponsorships.

How is the understanding of English for people using Internet in Uzbekistan
and/or younger generation who is most likely to use Internet in near future?
If not, you may consider information products in the relevant language other
than English.

What type of things and activities people are addicted to in your country?
Could you make some of those things or activities more accessible through
Internet to addicted people?

* News

* Reviews of Products & Services

* Event Listings

* Digital version of popular 'offline' games

* Gambling, horse racing info, etc.

Similarly, you could look at some of the B2B activities that require low or no
"trust".

------
mtmail
I'm going to assume you talk about Kyrgyzstan, simply because I've traveled
there. I will also assume you're a junior developer with very little cash to
invest.

Lots of services won't work because they require a working payment system
(credit cards). 20 years ago we started with payment via SMS or the phone bill
or calling an expensive phone number for small transactions because not enough
people had credit cards.

Party photos: hire somebody or go yourself to parties and take photos, give
out a "secret" code. Those with the code can view the photos of that day,
everybody else needs to pay (or another time limit). Become the best "party of
last night" website. You might get invited to more parties, sponsorships, free
drinks. It will also attract competition.

Ride sharing like [http://www.blablacar.com/](http://www.blablacar.com/). I'm
sure the classified website already have a category where you can offer or
search for rides. But you can create a better service with a map, user ratings
and pre-payment.

Online dermatologist. Actually that idea is quite new. Users take photos of
their skin a doctor (you need to work with one) tells them if it's ok (for
example: just wash more) or if they need a creme or if they urgently need to
see a doctor. I've read a large percentage is users with sexual transmittable
deceases and thus the photos are their private parts. The users are too afraid
or live too far away from a doctor. But they are willing to pay. I think I've
read $40. It's also good business for the doctor.
[https://us.klara.com/](https://us.klara.com/),
[http://medcitynews.com/2014/05/dermatologists-virtual-
visit-...](http://medcitynews.com/2014/05/dermatologists-virtual-visit-
startup-secures-2-9m-expand-states/),
[http://skinaccess.com/](http://skinaccess.com/)

~~~
tuyguntn
I am talking about Uzbekistan, which has more population than Kyrgyztan (30M
vs 5M). Financially, Uzbekistan is growing in every aspect, except mind share
of people for internet services. Yes, I am junior in web development, mostly
programmed for systems and embedded, I can invest my own time 3-6month of
working.

We have payment system via sms (takes from credit card) or offline (go and pay
service, lots of them almost in any corner). But it is difficult to make
people to pay for web service. they may pay in the future but currently people
immediately look for free alternatives or they don't have trust in web service
and they don't pay.

Ride sharing service failed (I guess 2-3 years ago)

The biggest problem with internet services here is mind share of people. When
they have need for buying or finding, people usually don't use internet for
this, pick up the phone and call to friend to find out whether they have
people who do this kind of service in their contacts.

------
firebones
I was going to say Craigslist, where you do something simple and sticky and
just be content to make a living, but it sounds like the monopolistic
classified service already covers it.

The key is that it has to be something with a local bent.

~~~
dqdo
I second that. Craiglist is very easy to build and useful for a local market
and new market.

Yelp for your country may be another good idea. Though it does take some time
for people to get used to it.

You can also try other location-based application. As a local market, a lot of
the SV companies do not have a strong hold there yet so copying the companies
that are location-focused is your best bet.

