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Re:YC's request for startups: Government 2.0 by Jun8 on Thursday May 23, 2019 @02:23PM (#19994432)
You're absolutely correct that good approaches to social problems (don't want to use the term "solution" which is ill-suited, I think) will not come from VCs: It will come from naive entrepreneurs, naive in the sense that they don't quite appreciate the problem they are tackling, because if they do they would never take it on. A simple fact I learned in volunteering that's applicable here, too, is that in tackling these issues money is not the bottleneck, it's finding people who want to be involved. If you have a good idea in this space it's not hard to secure money from many different foundations and sponsors.

You have focused on a single idea to criticize. It's true that some who venture in this space may be young, privileged, out of touch, etc. I don't think this negates the approach.

Many times what happens with non-profits is that they start great with founders' motivation but have a tough time turning that into a sustained operation.

Re:YC's request for startups: Government 2.0 by mwseibel on Thursday May 23, 2019 @02:35PM (#19994538)
Great reply! We don't expect to be the source of solutions. We just want to help founders who are brave enough to take these challenges on.
Re:YC's request for startups: Government 2.0 by hitekker on Thursday May 23, 2019 @02:59PM (#19994797)
> It will come from naive entrepreneurs, naive in the sense that they don't quite appreciate the problem they are tackling, because if they do they would never take it on

... I'm not even sure where to begin.

Re:YC's request for startups: Government 2.0 by llamataboot on Thursday May 23, 2019 @07:11PM (#19996947)
As someone who spent my first career in both high-level policy analysis and research into social interventions and also consulted with and helped run multiple non-profits doing direct work with measurable outcomes the idea that it is easy to fund this type of work is ludicrous to me. The lengths I've seen small-medium size non-profits go to stretch a dollar would humble any VC talking about maximizing a runway.