Hard Problems.

Illustration of a person considering which way their career might take.

The challenge

“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks.” — Jeff Hammerbacher, 2011

Our mission

We are a non-profit that helps tech people to work on the hard problems that matter in the world: problems like public health, climate change, and good government.

While the loudest part of the tech world is focused on AI, VR, crypto, fin-tech, and advertising, other people are trying to tackle the hardest, thorniest problems.

Programmers, designers, and product managers know that these hard problems matter but they often wring their hands and stand by, unsure how to have any positive impact.

It’s time to refocus the tech world on what matters most. It’s time to build new relationships between doctors, environmentalists, scientists, not-for-profit leaders, public servants, and others tackling the world’s hardest problems with technologists who can help make practical tools to help them succeed.

We are a multi-skilled team of very experienced tech veterans and other subject-matter experts. We aim to push this effort — whether it’s by building teams to work on issues, creating bridges between ambitious experts and technologists, finding ways to fund tech initiatives, or inspiring a generation of tech people to work on these fundamentally important problems.

We are in the earliest stages of forming the Hard Problems non-profit. We don’t have all of the answers, but we’ll start anyhow and learn along the way.

What we offer

Illustration of hands in a heart shape.Events

Online and in London

Speakers who work on hard problems share their knowledge.

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News, job opportunities, and events from around the world.

MicPodcast

Coming soon...

Interview tech people who work on hard problems.

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A space for people who work on hard problems to work and collaborate.

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Coming soon...

For engineers, designers, PMs, UX researchers, and others.

ConversationOnline community

Coming soon...

A place to connect with others in your technical field.

Idea bulb3-month workshops

In the future...

Cohorts of tech people join experts to prototype and start on a path to success.

Lego bricksTBD

In the future...

We are just getting started and will adapt as we learn what people need.

Get involved

  1. Subscribe to our newsletter.
    We share job opportunities, great books, relevant news, and events.

  2. Suggest podcast guests. We are going to interview people who already work on hard problems. Suggest a future guest?
  3. Give financially. Want to discuss how you can contribute to Hard Problems? Get in touch.

Team

We are an all-volunteer team from around the world. Hard Problems is a global non-profit with a home base in London.

Elyce Cole
Daniel Burka
Mahima Chandak
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Coming soon...
Coming soon...