As a parent and citizen, I'm concerned about the dangers for young and disenfranchised people across the country. While the founder community seems to have a handle on B2B SaaS solutions, crypto platforms, and online marketplaces, there's a gap in the private sector in addressing critical social issues typically left to our government.
Founders and VCs, it's time to apply the best business minds to issues that are literally killing us. Here are a few matters that could use your brilliance.
Fentanyl
The latest drug overdose statistics state that deaths are up 30 percent year-over-year. More than 71,000 overdoses involved fentanyl and synthetic opioids, marking a 23 percent increase from the previous year. A Beaverton, Washington, school district website points out, "Most teens who use pills do not fit our dated notion of a drug user."
The days of harmless experimentation are over and innovation and fresh ideas are necessary to end this epidemic. "This crisis is killing a New Yorker every three hours," Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan told ABC News, last month. Just last week, a baby in the Bronx died from fentanyl stored under the floorboards of a daycare. In Baltimore, the metro area with the highest death rate, there have been 174 drug overdoses per 100,000 residents.
The opioid crisis has been going on now for 30 years, and with the past 10 dominated by lethal synthetic opioids, the situation is more desperate than ever. Current solutions, while somewhat effective, feel more than a little gut-wrenching in their emphasis on preventing death rather than usage. They include "safe injection sites," fentanyl test strips, over-the-counter narcan, and decriminalization. All of these are helpful but what can the startup community do to innovate new approaches to education about the consequences of drug experimentation and shifting behaviors to start with?
The Truth anti-tobacco campaign, which I worked on briefly in the mid-2000s, prevented 2.5 million young people from taking up tobacco between 2015 and 2018 alone. Now, they are tackling opioids. Also, take a look at the Ad Council's Real Deal on Fentanyl campaign as well as the DEA's One Pill Can Kill in-school program.
There are ways to get through with education and messaging, but how can we use A.I. or immersive tech like AR and VR to make an impact? How can we create spaces that deter or educate? How can we pioneer new ways to educate people and avoid catastrophe, possibly through A.I., family alert systems, or other ways to tap into behavioral psychology that engage the public? HR innovation, edtech, health tech platforms (like Bicycle Health which raised $5 million last year), and consumer tech can play a role
Intimate Partner Violence
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. A U.N. Study in 2022 found that more than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family.
Founders, how can you apply tech innovation to relationship violence? Can A.I. be used to protect endangered partners or alert family members to red flags? Can we start at the source? How can we build relationship training into formative education to help potential perpetrators learn vital skills for emotional management before they enter into relationships in the first place? We have a lot more awareness of toxic masculinity, rape culture, and maintaining personal boundaries, yet communication and respect have broken down in society. Can we use our tech startup brain power to help prevent intimate partner violence or create stronger support networks for victims from school age and throughout life so cycles are not repeated and men and women can foster positive relationships with one another and each other?
Teen Depression
Could A.I. be used to help young people unpack confusing feelings about an uncertain time or help parents navigate the communication divide that forms around adolescence as teens spend more time with their peers or retreat into digital life if they are feeling overwhelmed or alienated?
Additional Concerns
Housing for migrants continues to challenge cities across America. Government solutions have fallen short. How can our greatest systems thinkers find solutions to housing for migrants and homeless people built into city planning and commercial development? Could you put your mind behind an architectural feature like this rapid-access safe room or use recognition software or A.I. wearables to protect our kids' schools and other public spaces?
And last, as coal and blue-collar work winds down and the cost of higher learning winds up, upskilling and reskilling have never been more urgent. With AR and VR training tools and remote learning, this is another area ripe for revolution.
These issues impact all of us. Their solutions don't need to be relegated solely to the nonprofit sector or government. Founders looking for your next business idea, look no further than your front door to show why we have all of this tech in the first place.
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