BUSINESS IDEA | CASH FLOW BUSINESS

Cofounder-as-a-Service 🧑‍💻 

Cofounder found

Available Domain: Cofounderflow.com

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: Jobs and Wozniak. Page and Brin. Zuck and Saverin just Zuck. Having a great cofounder can make or break a business. But often for founders with an amazing idea it can be incredibly hard to go out and find a cofounder. Particularly in the early days when all you really have is your idea.

But also, having a cofounder can be very costly for a business, since you give away half the equity which could equate to hundreds of millions of dollars in the future. So let’s create an effective, non-dilutive alternative to this.

Market Size: Close to 5.5 million businesses were started in 2023 in the USA

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A platform to work with outsourced co-founders who work with a founder on their business idea on a subscription basis

How it Works:

• Founders sign up to the platform and give details about their ideas and the skills they have

• Then, based on the skills they lack and are looking for in a co-founder, they are matched to a highly skilled individual who complements them perfectly

• The founder pays a flat monthly subscription fee for the services of the founder and can elect to give them a small piece of equity on an earn-out basis

Go-to-market: Find people with ideas looking for co-founders (like Half Baked readers) and build from there

Monetisation: Take a % of each subscription fee

Startup Costs: Pretty minimal, super cheap business to start

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Hold: This is another business which falls in the cash cow bucket. It’s less about getting a huge exit here, more about creating a profitable, cash flowing business.

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Auto Saunas

Saunas are a huge health trend right now. And with our auto sauna product you can turn your car into a sauna, wherever you are.

Get the health benefits of sauna usage on your morning commute, on long roadtrips or even just sitting in your driveway. Easy and convenient.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Startup Formations

America’s startup boom is still going strong. New company formations exploded during the pandemic but numbers have remained high as more and more people opt to take the plunge and start a business.

Business Ideas

• Side hustles-as-a- service: The idea we shared on the first edition of Half Baked

• Venture Capital Consulting: Help new companies prepare for and secure venture capital funding

THE MONEYSHOT

The 24 Year-old Who Built a $250m Chicken Nugget Empire

Would you believe me if I told there’s a founder out there who raised money from VCs at age 15 and built a $250m company by the age of 21?

Well there is. This is his story.

Ben Pasternak showed incredible promise as an entrepreneur from a very young age. At age 13 Ben started coding and one day, when he was bored in science class, he designed Impossible Rush, a game which was downloaded millions of times and peaked at 16th in the app store.

At age 15 he moved to the US and raised $500k for his first startup, Flogg, a social networking app for young people to buy and sell. He pivoted the business to a live 1-on-1 video chat app and rebranded it as Monkey.

In early 2017, Monkey raised US$2 million and just one year later the app was acquired by Holla, a competitor in the space.

Still not satisfied by his success, in 2018 Ben jumped straight into his next venture. He noticed the increasing popularity of plant-based meat alternatives, so he decided to work on the holy grail of the meat replacement market…chicken nuggets. So he founded Simulate which manufactures plant based chicken products like nuggets and tenders.

He raised a $7m seed round to get the business going and to support their R&D efforts. They shipped their first product, nuggs, and started selling in large retailers like Walmart. Business was booming and in 2021 they rasied $50m from investors including Alexis Ohanian, Jay Z and Chris Sacca in a round that valued the business at $250m.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows though. Since the heights of 2021 demand for these meat alternative products in the market has softened, meaning growth in the business has slowed.

Recently Ben transitioned from CEO of the business to Chairman and no doubt has ambitions to work on something new alongside this business.

An incredible CV for a guy that’s still just 24 years old.

INFLUENCER IDEAS

#HalfBakedBizIdea

Cj Z trying to solve the digital addiction problem.

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