BUSINESS IDEA | STARTUP

Class-action Lawsuit Tracker 🧑‍⚖️

Strength in numbers

Available Domain: Lawsuitspot.com

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: America. It’s the land of opportunity, freedom and highly questionable food products…

But America is also the land of lawsuits, where people and businesses get sued for crazy reasons, like the $2.9m lawsuit against McDonald’s that their coffee is served too hot or the lawsuit against Subway for their footlong subs measuring just 11 inches. And where there are class-action lawsuits there can be money to be made. So let’s unlock these funds.

Market Size: The top 20 class action settlements in 2023 totalled $41.1 billion

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A platform which tracks when a class-action lawsuit is filed against a company you’ve engaged with and makes you a part of the lawsuit

How it Works:

• Users sign up to the platform and link up their banking data and email to the platform

• The platform has a comprehensive system to monitor new and existing class-action lawsuits filed across various jurisdictions.

• If a class-action lawsuit is filed against a company the user has interacted with they are automatically added to the lawsuit

• If any payout is made as part of the lawsuit it is wired to the user

Go-to-market: Focus on industries where class-action lawsuits are more prevalent and expand from there

Business Model: Take a % of any payout earned by users

Startup Costs: You could start this business very cheaply since the tech build out here won’t be too taxing

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: You could exit to a legal case software provider, like Clio

Exit Multiple: You could sell the business for 4x - 8x revenue in a few years

TOGETHER WITH OMNISEND

Spend $1 ➡️ Earn $72

E-commerce is a game of money-in vs money-out. You spend $1 and make $2.The higher that ratio is, the more successful you’ll be.

So check this out…In 2023, for every $1 spent on Omnisend’s email & SMS marketing, merchants made $72!

We (Half Baked) want to work with brands that deliver for our readers (you). That’s why we asked Omnisend to work with us. They agreed.

Omnisend offers affordable, scalable pricing that grows with your business. From popups to newsletters & abandoned carts, 100,000 e-commerce brands are selling more stuff while paying less.

Use code: HALFBAKED10

(you won't get a discount for Omnisend anywhere else)

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Rock Skipping Set

Skipping rocks is one of the great pleasures in life. But finding the perfect rocks for skimming at the lake or beach can be tricky.

But with this rock skipping set you can have the perfect rocks for skimming every time.

A truly incredible product.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Digicams

When smartphones came along the digital camera was decimated over night. But digital cameras have made a huge comeback in recent months due to Gen-Z’s love of “vintage” photography.

Business Ideas

• Physical Photo Back-up Service: From a previous edition of Half Baked

• Camera Gear Rental Platform: Create a peer-to-peer platform for renting high-end cameras and equipment, allowing enthusiasts to try expensive gear without purchasing.

THE MONEYSHOT

How a Rubber Hose Turned into a $15bn Company

Business ideas can come from almost anywhere.

Like this trio, who turned some rubber hose glued to the sole of a shoe into a $15bn company.

This is their story.

Olivier Bernhard was an incredible athlete in his time. During his more than 2 decade career as a triathlete he was a 2x World Champion and 6x Ironman champion, always looking for ways to push himself further.

But in 2006, at the age of 37, Olivier decided it was time to hang up his running shoes and retire from competition.

This left a gaping hole in his life, one which he tried to fill through coaching and other work. But he couldn’t get one simple idea out of his head.

He wanted to create a better running shoe.

Then one day an engineer friend came forward looking for feedback from Olivier on a new running shoe design he had made. The engineer wanted to create a shoe that could offer cushioning only when needed and be firm during push-off. So like any good engineer he hacked together a prototype by gluing some lengths of rubber hose to the bottom of a running shoe and wanted Olivier to try his prototype.

Olivier was hesitant, but eventually gave in and tried the shoe out…and he couldn’t believe how good it felt.

So Olivier brought on 2 of his friends, David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, to turn this into a business.

So in 2010 they launched their new shoe company out of an office in Zurich.

They launched On.

Just like in racing, speed is everything in business. So the team moved fast.

Within 6 months they had a proper prototype and placed their first order for 10,000 sneakers. The brand managed to do $100k of revenue in their first year, but this was just the start.

The brand continued trading and in 2013 they had their first big break. The team attended ISPO Munich, the biggest trade show in sports business and managed to win the prestigious “BrandNew Award” for innovation in sport, leading to an influx of orders.

On the back of this interest the team started looking at getting their shoes into retail stores, but they were having trouble getting their foot in the door.

Retailers didn’t understand the product, so Olivier decided to take a different approach, ditching the standard powerpoint presentation. Instead he invited buyers to actually run in the shoes with him and experience the product, which made all the difference.

But the biggest turning point for the brand came when they spotted tennis legend Roger Federer wearing a pair in 2019. The brand teamed up with Roger, who invested in the company in exchange for 3% ownership, and this propelled the brand onto the global stage with sales of the brand surging over the next 2 years.

This set the stage for On to go public, which they did in 2021, raising $746m in the IPO at a $7bn valuation.

And since then the brand has continued to grow. On did $2.1bn in revenue in 2023 with $94m of net income and the brand is valued at $15bn today.

This has worked out incredibly well for the founders…and Roger too, since his 3% stake in the company is worth around $500m today and propelled him to billionaire status.

The brand has been incredibly successful, managing to compete in an incredibly competitive market against the best brands in the world. And while most of us would be incredibly happy to achieve what these founders have, as far as they’re concerned, they’re just at the starting line.

INFLUENCER IDEAS

#HalfBakedBizIdea

Mike Higgins coming in with his billion dollar idea 💸

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