I haven't read OP's piece yet, but I agree with @dennybritz that there are plenty of us here in SV who care about solving the big problems.
For example we just launched Prime, an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family. http://stayinyourprime.com. We're not the only ones in healthcare. There's also Practice Fusion, drchrono, DoctorBase, and countless others.
And on the education side there's Inkling, for example. And on the banking side there's Simple (though they're actually based in Portland). And of course YC famously backed Watsi. Maybe you have different examples in mind of what big problems are but it does seem to me that as we are seeing more startups overall that means we're seeing more startups addressing bigger/more meaningful problems.
The bigger problems arent being solved because the people (or animals, plants) dont have money to pay back..
SV is solving problems for who can pay.. and that crowd already has too many people with their brains working all day to solve their problems..
The problems that are let unsolved, are the ones from marginalized people.. people smashed and invisible to the society.. the ones called the "loosers"..
Even if not targeting social issues.. the big problems and really cool innovations come from passionate human beings.. and not form short-circuit ideas; or money-traps companies.. this is just noise..
The passionate ideas may find a way to be profitable latter.. but it hardly start that way..
I agree with people that say that its hard to believe that really "disruptive" stuff will come from SV now.. because the culture that created the good things for start its constantly getting killed by the people who lend the money for the projects..
it need a long-term thinking, it needs to take a real risk.. the sort of thing banks and angels dont like to invest.. these are traditionally things that the state has invested in.. and the capital folks only get to the party later, when theres no risk..
So unless SV try to get back to its roots, and achieve that.. it wont be that magical place anymore..
>I mean no offense to you personally, but I fail to understand how this problem fits in a world in which 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.
some of the people making big on some app will become the next Musk (though unfortunately some will become the next Thiel) and will work on the big problems our civilization faces. That is is the beauty of SV - it allows people doing business here (or even merely employed) to generate resources to try to tackle something bigger. It is like springboard.
the beauty here that it sometimes produces a Musk at all. Nothing else does it. The closest we'd got is Gates - while not SV geographically, it is the same approach - make money in hi-tech and apply it to solve a big problem.
Sure, no offense taken. In addition to @VladRussian2's thoughts, here's a more explicit explanation of why we see both that problem and the one we're solving as big problems:
- 2.5 billion people worldwide lack basic sanitation. This is a fundamental human right and can cause harm by opening the door to disease which can sometimes lead to death.
- 130 million people in the US suffer from chronic illnesses and lack basic access to their medical records. This is a fundamental human right and can cause harm by opening the door to incorrect assessments and treatments which can sometimes lead to death.
For example we just launched Prime, an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family. http://stayinyourprime.com. We're not the only ones in healthcare. There's also Practice Fusion, drchrono, DoctorBase, and countless others.
And on the education side there's Inkling, for example. And on the banking side there's Simple (though they're actually based in Portland). And of course YC famously backed Watsi. Maybe you have different examples in mind of what big problems are but it does seem to me that as we are seeing more startups overall that means we're seeing more startups addressing bigger/more meaningful problems.