If it's a calculated risk, why is this a problem that needs a YC startup to fix, rather than simply a risk that didn't work out?
There're certainly people that take on debt as a calculated risk because they believe it'll pay off in the future. My parents did that to send me to college, and it did pay off. But when it fails, they usually just go "Well, shit," and fall back on their contingency plans for how to handle it if it fails. If it's a calculated risk, they've been making those plans, right?
But the fact that there's a startup out there to solve this problem (several, actually, but this one seems more above-board than the alternatives on the radio) indicates that this wasn't a calculated risk for many people. The essence of a calculated risk is that you go into it having done all the due diligence you need to weigh the possible consequences, and then make your calculations based on that. What's there for this startup to sell if people have already done that?
You're taking a calculated risk every time you get in your car, right? So, what's your backup plan in case someone T-bones you and you end up a paraplegic? You have one, I assume.
you're making the definition of calculated risk much more technical than it needs to be.
I ain't saying they did a formal cost-benefit analysis of the whole thing.
You seem to think that people can or ought to have an answer for every situation, should be prepared for every contingency; that there is a perfect understanding that one can just _follow_ and have everything turn out alright. That's great if it's how you can live your life, but 1) one day I bet you'll find that your preparation and contingencies were just an illusion, that luck has had its way with you--I mean, haven't you ever wondered what would have happened to you if your dad just died when you were 12? _That happens to people who were just like you_; and 2) most people don't have that and have to make choices without knowing what's behind the next door.
It's a YC startup because even if a person was willing to accept the cost of the contingency labeled "risk that didn't work out," there's still a valuable service in saying, surprise!, you will pay less for taking that risk by using our shiny software!
There're certainly people that take on debt as a calculated risk because they believe it'll pay off in the future. My parents did that to send me to college, and it did pay off. But when it fails, they usually just go "Well, shit," and fall back on their contingency plans for how to handle it if it fails. If it's a calculated risk, they've been making those plans, right?
But the fact that there's a startup out there to solve this problem (several, actually, but this one seems more above-board than the alternatives on the radio) indicates that this wasn't a calculated risk for many people. The essence of a calculated risk is that you go into it having done all the due diligence you need to weigh the possible consequences, and then make your calculations based on that. What's there for this startup to sell if people have already done that?