America’s fertility rate is 1.66. I’m part of the problem — 39 with no kids thus far.
With so few babies being born, America’s leadership is at risk. So, how do we get people to have some kids around here?
Here are a few company ideas that might fix this mess:
1) Better IVF. A single cycle of IVF runs around $20,000. Many women take 3 or more cycles to have a baby.
What if IVF were cheaper and more effective? What if it cost $1,000 and it only took 1-2 cycles?
When you lower the cost of something, you get more of it.
This could involve easier methods of egg retrieval, better preimplantation genetic testing, etc.
2) Make Embryos Great Again. As women get older, the quality of their eggs tends to fall.
Apps to help women track their food and exercise, helping them optimize for egg health, could be interesting.
Another option is to help women freeze their eggs sooner and more cheaply.
The startup Cofertility has a fascinating spin on this. You can freeze your eggs for nothing if you donate half to another family.
This is absolute genius. I would’ve loved to invest had I seen the deal.
Alas, I did not. Next time!
3) Back to the Land. Urbanization is bad for fertility. Space is at a premium and costs are eye-watering. Indeed, urbanization is negatively correlated with fertility all over the world.
If folks could live in rural areas more easily, they might have bigger families.
But rural areas can be hard to live in. All too often, schools are bad and jobs are few.
Bringing better education and jobs to rural areas would help.
Take Primer, a fascinating tool to pop up your own microschool of 25 children. You pick the teacher — no union involved. This way, you can get the best person on earth, even if he’s in India.
I only wish I had seen Primer’s seed round. I would’ve loved to invest!
4) Be Fruitful and Multiply. Religious families tend to have more children. One of the best ways to promote families could be a Bible study app.
Imagine a Duolingo for the Bible. How does this not exist? And yet, I can’t seem to find one.
We also need apps for natural family planning and apps to get religious communities together outside church.
There are countless possibilities here. And they’re a lot more interesting than the 100th AI SDR.
Wrap-Up
More babies means more fun! It’s so great smiling at them, waving to them, and making funny faces.
Moreover, a country and a world cannot thrive without humans. Aging, declining populations get poorer and poorer, as we’ve seen in Japan.
If you’re interested in this issue, I heartily recommend the book Empty Planet. It gives a great overview of the problem.
Now it’s our job to fix it.
This is the last of the Empty Planet series. I’ll be back tomorrow with something…completely different. 🙂
Ciao!
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