HACKER Q&A
📣 Jeff_Brown

Who funds important tech with no business plan?


I know there are people with money who want to save the world. I think a higher-order knowledge base like Hode[1] could be useful in search, in AI, and in social networking. But I have no idea how to monetize it. It's more of a science project than a business. Am I out of luck until I do have such idea?

[1] https://github.com/JeffreyBenjaminBrown/hode

  👤 codingdave Accepted Answer ✓
> It's more of a science project than a business.

Then you should be seeking grants, not investors. I have no expertise in the area, but there is a clear line between investors who fund for-profit ventures, and grants that support non-profit projects. It sounds like you fall on the non-profit side of the fence and should be researching grants and other non-profit fundraising techniques.

👤 runawaybottle
Governments, if you have to ask. That is the only correct answer. Chomsky usually harps on this point, that a lot of our tech innovation came from govt funding with no clear objective (deriding the notion that only the market can innovate).
👤 ThePhysicist
Check out Prototype Fund [1], they fund public interest tech, although only with small (50 T€) grants.

1: https://prototypefund.de/en/

👤 PaulHoule
If you can't point to "there is $X of value behind project Y" then isn't X=0?

That is, how can it be important if you can't put a value on it?

👤 cpach
Y Combinator sometimes do that