If you’re not familiar with first world problems, they’re things that we consider “problems” that most people wouldn’t. When we say “most people”, what we are referring to are the 38% of the people living on this planet that live on less than $2 a day. With that in mind, please consider some of these sample first world problems we face:
- Blisters after buying new shoes
- Going to fridge in middle of night and not finding anything you want to eat
- Hotels with plug sockets too far away from the bed
- No merlot so you have to use shiraz in the beef bourguignon
You get the picture. Most people don’t have new shoes, a fridge to store food in, or electronic devices to plug into a socket. These are all first world problems that shouldn’t even merit any complaints from those of us who are privileged enough to have these “problems”.
We do a lot of research here at Nanalyze to bring you insightful articles that help you make more informed investment decisions. In the process of researching, we often come across startups that we would qualify as solving first world problems. We’re publishing this article in hopes of getting some of these down on paper as it were so we can keep adding to this list in hopes of finding the most unnecessary startup ever. Here’s a few we thought were good contenders.
Is your dog not really engaged? Does your dog forget isht? Yeah, we know what you mean. So while most people can’t afford to feed a pet, your pet just isn’t behaving in a manner that makes you feel your getting your money’s worth out of it. A startup called CleverPet has taken in $1.42 million in funding to develop a food bowl with pads that light up. If the pet puts it’s paw on the lit pads, they get food.
So yeah. That’s about it. According to one customer’s feedback “I can see a difference in his mood and engagement”. You can pick one up for just $299 (or 150 days of living costs for the less fortunate).
Remember all those people working for less than $2 a day? They probably don’t have things like a 401K or a health insurance plan. For those of us that do though, it is a serious emotional drain to go through all this stuff and make decisions like which funds to invest in. Now you might say that this is the job of human resources. We would wholeheartedly agree. Apparently though, there are at least 800 companies where HR can’t be asked to do such meaningless tasks. Or maybe their HR staff speak Engrish. Who knows. Whatever the reason, a startup called Jellyvision has taken in…