Feedback on startup idea
I'm considering building a platform for companies to post real problems they face. Users would compete to win jobs at top companies. Problems would be around robotics, AI, ML and algorithms (but not fizz buzz/leet code questions). The tasks will not be pass/fail, instead, a score would be computed. Example tasks: - given a list of delivery orders, find best route for driver - given a simulator, write Roomba motion planning algo - given sensor data, write localization algo Does this sound fun/interesting? Any feedback appreciated. (I'm looking for a co-founder, must be located in the Bay Area, bonus point for biz/product experience. DM me if if interested or if you know anyone that could be interested)
You are conflating two things into one. The need for labor and solution to a problem. Just because you have a real world problem to be solved, does not mean you have open headcount. And vice versa.
Yeah I like the idea, lets say I solved a problem for my team and I want to see if there is a better way to do it, so I post a similar question on your platform and whoever gives the best answer in terms of efficiency or creativity, they will get a chance at an interview. One of the problems I see is that users might not be motivated enough to solve a problem if it already has many submissions. Another problem is that technical employees will have to scan the answers of the canadiates, because sure as well HR isn't capable of doing it, so this could be very time consuming. But overall I think it is a decent idea and better than all of leetcode questions which doesn't necessary map out to real software engineering, I mean seriously how often do you invert a binary tree in a real job lol
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated. Regarding user motivation, maybe cash rewards would attract users more easily (like Kaggle). Regarding scanning/scoring the results, that can probably be automated.
I think quite often the problems are either too big to solve it this way or too specific to the company and their product (like add feature X that integrates nicely with existing architecture).
Kaggle.com does this for AI/ML
www.topcoder.com looks like the same thing?
It is indeed related. Companies use topcoder to get work done, what I'm working on would be for hiring top talent.
I think some of the leetcode websites also offer to match talent based on skills in solved problems