BUSINESS IDEA | STARTUP

AI Companion for Memory Impairment 🧠 

Making (memory) bank

Available Domain: Memaide.com

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: AI wearables are all the rage right now, from Humane’s AI pin to Friend’s AI pendant which launched a few weeks ago. And people had particularly strong opinions on Friend’s launch.

But here’s the thing. All of these companies building AI hardware are focusing on the wrong markets, like Friend.com pitching their product as an alternative to making friends in real life. What they should be building is an AI device which helps those with memory impairments, that’s the use case here. So let’s show them the way.

Market Size: The global wearable AI market size was valued at $31bn in 2023

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A wearable AI-powered device designed to assist individuals with memory impairments

How it Works:

• The patient wears the device as a discreet pin on their clothing

• The pin is AI-powered and can be interacted with through voice. The pin identifies people in the user's life, can help them to navigate around familiar and unfamiliar environments and can offer guidance for completing routine tasks

• The app could also detect unusual behavior or potential emergencies and alert friends, relatives or healthcare workers nearby when one occurs

• All personal data would be stored locally on the device for privacy reason

Go-to-market: You could start by selling the device to nursing homes who could be your early adopters

Business Model: Upfront fee for the device + monthly subscription fee.

Startup Costs: You’ll need a lot of cash to get this going, from building the software to the hardware testing

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: You could sell this business to a large medtech company like Medtronic

Exit Multiple: Hardware businesses can sell for around 12x EBITDA

TOGETHER WITH ARTISAN

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Double Decker Couch

Looking to fit more seats in your living room but don’t have the room?

May we present the answer…double decker couches.

You’re welcome.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Decline of Dating Apps

People are getting more and more burnt out on dating apps. And it’s no wonder why. They’re pretty awful. So as dating apps see declining usage we need new business ideas to help people meet and fall in love.

Business Ideas

• Proximity Dating App: From issue #116 of Half Baked

• Singles Travel Groups: Organizing trips and adventures for single travelers, creating opportunities for romantic connections

• Pet Lover Meetups: Organizing events for single pet owners and their pets, like dog park socials or cat café mingles.

THE MONEYSHOT

The TV Star Who Built a €150m Chocolate Empire

The chocolate business is a $19bn per year industry dominated by giants like Mars, Nestlé and Hershey’s.

But this Dutch guy was so appalled by their behaviour that he decided to take them on all by himself.

This is his story.

Back in 2003 Teun van de Keuken was a journalist, producer and the star of his own investigative TV show, Keuringsdienst van Waarde (wow that’s a lot of vowels). And while making his TV show Teun decided to turn his attention to the chocolate industry.

In 2002 the Harkin-Engel protocol was signed by 8 of the biggest chocolate manufacturers in the world with the goal of ending child labor and slavery in supply chains. But Teun’s investigation found that these problems were still widespread in chocolate supply chains.

So Teun decided to take drastic action…by getting himself arrested. He publicly declared himself a "chocolate criminal" on his TV show and turned himself into a Dutch police station for knowingly purchasing chocolate made with slave labor.

This stunt brought significant media attention to the issue, but still nothing changed.

Then in 2005, when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was being released, Teun asked Nestlé to create a child-labor free bar. But they wouldn’t do it.

So Teun, also known as Tony, took matters into his own hands and decided to start his own chocolate company.

He founded Tony’s Chocolonely.

Tony’s Chocolonely, with the name symbolizing his lonely battle against slavery in the chocolate industry, started with a single chocolate bar, produced in collaboration with a Belgian chocolate manufacturer. The bar was deliberately divided into uneven pieces to symbolize the unequal distribution of wealth in the chocolate industry.

By having visibility over 100% of their supply chain and paying cocoa farmers a living wage the company is able to ensure that their chocolate is 100% exploitation free.

The company’s mission quickly resonated with consumers, and Tony’s Chocolonely quickly gained popularity in the Netherlands. In fact by 2007, it was the most popular chocolate brand in the country.

And since then the brand has gone from strength to strength, growing steadily over the years. In 2023, Tony’s Chocolonely reported a revenue of €150m and is slightly profitable, but opting to reinvest in the business to sustain their growth.

Tony’s story is an incredible one and for us it proves that you can do a lot of good in the world while making a lot of money at the same time.

INFLUENCER IDEAS

#HalfBakedBizIdea

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