BUSINESS IDEA | STARTUP

Omegle for Debates 🗣️ 

Arg-you ready?

Available Domain: Arguearena.io

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: Human beings love to debate. Sometimes we debate important issues, other times we argue over the most trivial matters. Although let’s be honest it’s always much more fun to watch arguments instead of being involved in them.

Today we’re more divided than ever before, so why not create a platform which facilitates healthy (hopefully) debates? If omegle or chatroulette matches up strangers to talk (in principle at least) then why not build an omegle or chatroulette for debating? This is what we have in mind.

Market Size: There are thousands of debate clubs around the US with hundreds of thousands of people ready to debate. So while getting an accurate TAM is hard, market size isn’t an issue here.

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A platform which matches together users who can debate a topic with AI analytics to determine who won

How it Works:

• Users join the platform and choose what topic they want to debate on

• They are then placed into a random video call for 30 minutes where they can both debate the chosen topic

• AI analysis is conducted to discern who had the better arguments and a winner is declared, with participants receiving feedback on how they performed

• There’s also a debate club mode which includes the ability to spectate debates and allows for different formats, such as multiple people debating at once

Go-to-market: Start by creating a product which targets university debate clubs, sell to them then create wider reaching product

Business Model: Subscription revenue for B2B sales and ads on the main platform

Startup Costs: You’ll need a few thousand dollars to start this given the intricacies of building the software and hosting costs for video

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: You could exit to a large EdTech company looking at add debating to their platform

Exit Multiple: Based on EdTech and social platform valuations you could look to exit at a 6x - 10x revenue multiple

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Divorce Polls

Divorce is an ugly business. Feelings are hurt. Scores are settled. Lawyers get richer. So why not tap into the wisdom of the crowd to make the divorce process much smoother?

Well with with Divorce Polls, you can do exactly that. You simply open up divorce proceedings to the public who then vote on what should happen. Who gets the house, how much support payments should be, the list goes on.

It’s a win-win (except for the person who loses of course).

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Bamboo Pajamas

Bamboo is incredibly versatile. Giant pandas eat it. We build bridges from it. But the latest use case for bamboo seems to be bamboo pajamas. Bamboo pajamas, which are derived from bamboo viscose or bamboo rayon, are extremely soft, hypoallergenic, moisture-wicking (doesn’t hold on to sweat) and environmentally sustainable. They tick all the boxes. So let’s brainstorm a few ideas around this trend.

Business Ideas

• Bamboo Scrubs Business: Create a line of bamboo scrubs for healthcare workers

• Bamboo Athletic Recovery Wear: Develop bamboo sleep/recovery wear for athletes

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THE MONEYSHOT

How a Reckless Purchase Led to a $1.3bn Exit

To make it big in business you have to go all-in.

Like this founder, who shuttered his $1m/year business to create a startup which he sold for $1.3bn.

This is his story.

Emery Wells has always been a creative at heart.

After graduating from high school Emery moved to New York City with just $500, planning on going to college. But he didn’t go to college. Instead he pursued his dream of becoming a filmmaker.

He worked as a bartender for years to make ends meet while pursuing his dream on the side, but at at 25 years-old Emery decided to quit bartending and go all-in on making his dream come true.

He started a small production company called Katabatic Digital, making videos for brands and was making ok money. But one reckless purchase changed the course of his life.

He attended an industry trade show in 2006 where he watched a startup called Red Digital Cinema announce it was building a consumer digital camera which would be so high quality you could shoot movies on it. Despite having only a few hundred dollars in his account Emery knew he wanted one. So he paid the $1,000 deposit (which nearly maxed out his credit card) and when his Red One camera shipped a couple years later, he just about had enough money to pay for it. While Emery’s purchase was reckless at the time, but it paid off big time.

Being among the few people in New York to own this camera meant that suddenly, Emery was in high demand. By 2014, his post-production company was bringing in more than $1 million in annual revenue and was working with clients like Coca-Cola and Pfizer.

As demand increased for his services Emery hired John Traver to help with post-production work. John also had a minor in computer science, which would prove helpful in the future.

And as the pair worked together they realised that editing videos collaboratively was really hard. They wanted to create a tool that made it easy to comment on and edit videos collaboratively, so John knocked one together for them to use internally. But after a while they realised they were onto something big.

It was 2014 and they had just founded Frame.io.

Before launching the pair tried to raise funding for their tool. But investors weren’t biting. One investor told them “I would never give you $1, and nor would any other investor, until you’re all in. Not 99%. 100%.” The investor was referring to Emery’s production company. Emery had spent almost a decade building his production company and didn’t know if he could let go. But he realised he might have to in order to make Frame.io work.

In March 2015 the platform went live, and it was a hit straight away. They launched with over 15,000 customers and achieved $30,000 in monthly recurring revenue within the first 90 days post-launch. Emery knew it was time. He took the plunge and shut down Katabatic Digital to focus fully on Frame.io. Once again he decided to go all-in.

The pair raised $2 million from Accel to supercharge their growth and over the next few years they raised a further $32.2m in funding. Then, in 2019 the company raised a $50m Series C. They were going for a home-run.

The company was a juggernaut, blowing past $1m, $5m and $20m revenue per year with ease. The team had clearly built an incredible tool with loyal customers. And eventually one of the biggest companies in their space came knocking. Adobe.

In 2021 Adobe swooped in and acquired Frame.io for $1.275 billion. Emery went all-in and it paid off big time, so much sp that Emery can afford to buy as many Red cameras as he wants these days.

All of which goes to show that sometimes you have to risk it all and go all-in if you want to have outlier success. Sure side hustles are great, but if you want to win big…and I mean really big…you have to go for it.

It’s the only way.

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