BUSINESS IDEA | STARTUP

Monetized Meetup App 🤝 

Show up or pay up

Available Domain: Meet Commit

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: Making plans as an adult is tricky. We’re all busy with work, home life and have a roster of friends who we need to see more, but struggle to get around to it…

Now we’re hardly the first to come up with an idea for a “meetup app.” Everyone has thought of this idea at some stage, so much so that it’s referred to as a “tarpit idea” by Dalton and Michael at Y Combinator. But we think a meetup app with one particular feature is worth a shot. So let’s build it.

Market Size: In the US, about 24.9 million events and meetings are organized each year, with many being small, informal gatherings. But in truth getting a TAM here is tricky.

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: An app where friends can plan meetups and pay a deposit which they forfeit if they don’t show up

How it Works:

• Users create an account and link a payment method to the account.

• A user then initiates/organizes a meetup and invites friends to attend, with all participants agreeing on a deposit amount (e.g. $5-$20).

• The app then holds the deposits in escrow and if a user attends the meetup, their deposit is returned.

• Users who don't show up forfeit their deposit which is then distributed among attendees or donated to charity, whatever the group’s preference is

Go-to-market: The key here is virality. If you can make some funny, engaging video content for TikTok or Instagram you can kill it here

Business Model: Transaction fee on each meetup on the app

Startup Costs: Building the app here will be your biggest expense, so finding a great developer will be the most important piece of this puzzle

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: Sell to a platform like Meetup or a social platform

Exit Multiple: Social apps can be tricky to value, but if they go viral valuations can be completely detached from revenue numbers. So focus on growth above all else here.

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

YikYak for Workplaces

Back in 2013 (and again in 2021) YikYak was killing it. The anonymous app where people posted public messages blew up around college campuses, so why not bring it to workplaces?

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Flextirement

We all dream of the day we get to retire, but for many going from working full-time to retirement can be a shock to the system. This is why many companies are embracing “flextirement”, the new term being used by companies offering older employees the chance to ease flexibly into retirement.

Business Ideas

• Retiree Consulting Platform: from edition #26 of Half Baked

• Intergenerational Mentorship Program: Facilitate knowledge transfer between experienced retirees and younger professionals

• Life-long Learning Subscriptions: Develop a platform offering continuous education and skill development courses tailored to older adults.

THE MONEYSHOT

From $5m to $70m in Revenue in 1 Year

In yesterday’s edition of Half Baked we mentioned how Colin Guinn, after leaving DJI, went on to have an incredible career, but that his story was for another day.

Well today is that day.

This is his story.

Colin Guinn has always been the adventurous type. In his youth he loved being outdoors and once sailed from Corpus Christi (Texas) to the Caribbean with his dad.

In college he studied engineering initially but switched to business and communication at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his bachelor's degree but more importantly met his future wife Christine Woods.

Colin never wanted a "real boss and a real job” so he decided to set up a phone store after college so he could work for himself, which he ran for a few years. At this time, in 2004, Colin and his wife also turned themselves into TV stars. They took part in a reality show called “The Amazing Race”, where teams competed in a race around the world to win $1m. They came second in that season of the show, something they would rectify over a decade later.

Fast to 2011 and Colin attended a trade show where he met Frank Wang, the founder and CEO of DJI, then then fledgling drone startup. The pair decided to team up and launched DJI North America together so the brand could crack the US market, with Colin coming on as CEO. But as we discussed yesterday this didn’t work out and Colin ended up leaving the business in 2014 on not so good terms.

For the next few years he bounced around different jobs and startups, acting as Chief Revenue Officer at 3D Robotics and founding Hangar Technology, the world's first robotics-as-a-service data acquisition platform, which was later acquired by AirMap.

But for Colin 2019 was his most transformative year of his life, not because he and his wife entered the 31st season of the Amazing Race which they won, netting them a cool $1m. It was a turning point because that year Colin had an idea.

He was trying to figure out how to get his kids away from screens and playing outdoors again. So he and a small team designed a gun that shot biodegradable gel balls as ammunition. His kids tested out the products and pretty soon other kids in his neighbourhood wanted to play. In fact multiple parents asked where they could buy the toy after seeing the backyard tests.

Colin had launched Gel Blaster.

In 2020 he launched a Kickstarter campaign for Gel Blaster to finance production and prove demand for the product, where he successfully raised around $300,000. This funding allowed the company to hire a small team to support website orders and fulfil bulk purchases for independent retailers.

The business got off to a strong start, netting $5m in 2021 despite covid restrictions and other headwinds the business faced.

But everything changed when Gel Blaster caught the attention of Walmart buyers in late 2021. Walmart committed to launch Gel Blaster across all 3,800 of their US stores. This transformed the business over the next year and in 2022 the company did $75m in revenue.

Since then, despite some lawsuits from competitors like Hasbro, the business is still thriving, clearing $100m in revenue each year. All from selling guns to kids (which out of context sounds like a terrible business).

We told you Colin’s story was a good one.

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