from Hacker News

Ask HN: What opportunities will Covid-19 create?

by allanmacgregor on 4/15/20, 4:10 PM with 9 comments

• by Scaur on 4/15/20, 6:27 PM

  Supermarkets and food delivery

  Disinfectant/hygiene products

  Sex toys and adult entertainment

  Meditation/self development resources (finding purpose)

  Webinars and online education

  Self organisation tools

  Lifestyle/outdoor equipment post quarantine

  Chewing gum, lip gloss, deoderant, dental hygiene products post quarantine

  Products that quell loneliness or provide comfort, feeling of connection - chocolate, alcohol, soap operas, music

  Online entertainment, especially ones that replicate social connection, like shared gaming or shared movie watching (check out Whereby.com YouTube video feature...)

  Potentially virtual reality meeting spaces like university campus, conferences

  I reckon nearly everyone is struggling with at least one of:

  Uncertainty about the future

  Feeling of disconnection from others

  Disruption in routine, no consistency

  Lack of structure, standards, no opportunity to exercise authority or feel as part of hierarchy

  Who can solve these will have a winning product...

• by jvdizzle on 4/15/20, 6:48 PM

  We're facing massive unemployment that could last an undetermined amount of time. We have models of previous economic downturns but this one is different because there is so much uncertainty with this virus.

  When UI benefits are exhausted, consumer behavior will change dramatically. People will come out of this a lot more conscious about what they're spending money on. The fact that unemployment in the US is expected to peak at 20% means a lot of the country (and world) will have been affected. How will consumer demand look for the years to come after the pandemic?

  We may not see a quick comeback in terms of employment because companies will be looking to replace productivity through automation as insurance against future disruptions. Additionally, small businesses which employed a large percentage of people will have been devastated by the economic shutdown. Many will have folded and won't be there when the economy resumes again.

  In terms of socialization, bars and restaurants aren't going to magically reappear. It's going to take time, years in some areas, to rebuild downtown.

  I think one thing is for certain: there are a lot of opportunities for tech to fill the gaps, but it won't be the same consumer world as it was before the pandemic. It's hard to predict what exactly those opportunities are-- this is uncharted territory.

• by matheweis on 4/15/20, 8:26 PM

  Womply has a ton of data that they’re sharing openly about how covid-19 is affecting businesses. Spoiler, as you suspect not all are down:

  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IUTHX2kTagUUV88HUJCk...

  https://www.womply.com/blog/data-dashboard-how-coronavirus-c...

• by BjoernKW on 4/15/20, 7:02 PM

  The somewhat obvious ones are remote work finally becoming a mass phenomenon - with everything that entails from tools to necessary cultural changes - and a huge increase in further automation.

• by rayhendricks on 4/15/20, 9:00 PM

  As there are more people who will not be able to pay their rent in June and July, I am building a website that will connect people with tax-subsidized housing via the MTFE exemption because the current website in Seattle is not entirely functional IMO.

• by DeathArrow on 4/16/20, 9:19 AM

  Real estate: buy when market will be low.

  I'm sure there are some opportunities in stock market, financial sector, Forex, but I am not knowledgeable about those sectors.

  IT: collaboration and automatization processes.

  Commerce: online stores.

  Services: food delivery, goods delivery

• by hackermailman on 4/17/20, 12:44 AM

  Opportunity for architects to rid of us of those horrible developer open office warehouses, and bio-research revolution will officially kick off to crush the industrial and information revolution.

• by scared2 on 4/16/20, 6:35 AM

  I expect a lot of research fund in areas related to epidemic