BUSINESS IDEA | CASH FLOW BUSINESS

Y Combinator for Teens 👦 

Kid’s stuff

Available Domain: Teensparks.com

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: Being a teenager is hard. The angst. The awkwardness. The drama.

But some teenagers are prodigious talents. They’re coding and robotics experts who can run rungs around people 2x or 3x their age. So let’s create a business around nurturing this young talent.

Market Size: This is a subset of the wider startup funding market which is huge

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: An accelerator programme for talented young people who want to create businesses and work on impactful projects

How it Works:

• Teens from 13 - 17 can apply to join the accelerator based on their previous achievements and what they want to work on

• For a 6 week period over the summer they come to a facility where they can meet with other founders, attend talks and build to their heart’s content. You could also do part-time cohorts/an after-school program throughout the school year too

• You could charge students for the course or get VCs to sponsor it and give them the right of first refusal to invest in the companies these kids eventually go on to build

Go-to-market: Start by finding some successful entrepreneurs looking to encourage entrepreneurship in their area and work with them

Business Model: The program is free, charge a fee from investors funding the program

Startup Costs: There will be hefty startup costs here, so you’ll need to get this sponsored by some investors with deep pockets

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Hold: You’d hold this business forever since it would allow you to build up an incredible network in the VC space

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Donut Holster

Have you ever got yourself a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and thought “wow, I wish there was a really convenient way for me to hold all of these delicious donuts…“

Well now, with the donut holster, there is. You can use it to hold all of your donuts from your belt for convenient access.

You can also use it for bagels or even pineapple!

Truly an incredible invention.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Fiction Book Sales

In a world where we’re all constantly consuming media and information, more and more people crave the escapism that fiction books offer. And the data shows that since 2020 fiction book sales have surged. So let’s build some businesses from this trend.

Business Ideas

• Fiction Audiobook Production Services: Helping indie authors turn their books into high-quality audiobooks with professional narration and sound design.

• Collaborative Fiction Platform: An online space where multiple authors can work together to create interconnected stories within a shared universe.

• Fiction-inspired Escape Rooms: Designing interactive puzzle experiences based on popular book themes or specific novels.

THE MONEYSHOT

Making $65k/day Selling Sour Candy

Many huge creators have launched consumer products in recent years. Mr Beast and Feastables. Logan Paul/KSI and Prime. Emma Chamberlain and Chamberlin Coffee.

But this creator has flown under the radar and sold +$40m of sour candy.

This is his story.

Maxx Chewning is an OG fitness creator.

He first started posting fitness related content on Youtube back in 2013 where he boasts 385,000 subscribers.

But like most creators Maxx decided to diversify his income by starting businesses through leveraging his personal brand.

So he decided to start his own clothing brand called Ever Forward Apparel in 2014, the brand's name reflecting Maxx's personal motto, inspired by his late father's words, to continually move forward despite life's challenges.

But while Maxx was passionate about clothing it wasn’t his true love. That was something very different…sour candy. He used to joke in his videos that sour candy companies should hire him to taste test their products to see if they were sour enough, which they never were.

But at the time it was rare for influencers to venture out of their circle of competence - ad revenue, brand deals or selling merch. Very few had managed to create a successful mainstream brand that grew beyond their own fanbase.

But Maxx decided to take the risk so finally, in 2019, he made his move, investing $50k into his new venture.

He launched Sour Strips.

In its first year the brand sold 1 million bags of sour strips and generated $3m in revenue. They have become one of the fastest growing confectionery brands in the category and Sour Strips can be found in the largest retailers in the USA such as Target, Walmart and 7/11.

To date the brand has generated more than $40m in revenue and is doing $2m per month in revenue. In fact in early 2024 Maxx shut down Ever Forward in order to focus solely on Sour Strips.

Maxx’s story really shows the power of the creator economy today. Maxx built a personal brand from the ground up and has managed to leverage this to build multiple big businesses around areas he’s passionate about.

Now one takeaway from this story could be to spend 7 years building a personal brand, take $50k of your savings and boom you can start your business. But I think the real lesson is something a little different: build a business around whatever you’re passionate about, regardless of what that may be.

That’s your greatest chance of success.

INFLUENCER IDEAS

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