BUSINESS IDEA | STARTUP

Microplastics Certification 🔬 

Plas-tick the box exercise

Available Domain: Zeromicro.org

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: We’re all becoming increasingly aware of the public health crisis around microplastics which are in our food, products and even in our bodies. But to be fair, it’s something every generation goes through…

Over time we believe that having verified, microplastic free products will be a competitive advantage for consumer goods. The best comparison is companies which are B Corps. These are businesses that have been certified by B Lab as being environmentally friendly, a tool that they then use in their marketing. And B Lab makes around $30m per year giving out these certificates. So why not build something similar for micro-plastics?

Market Size: The global microplastics testing market is estimated at $2.8bn (2023) with projected CAGR of 6.8% through 2030

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: An organization which certifies that a businesses’ products and supply chain don’t contain or produce harmful microplastics

How it Works:

• A business signs up to the platform and completes their microplastics assessment. This process takes a few weeks and involves testing their products for microplastics concentrations as well as getting detailed information on their production processes and supply chain

• If a company passes the assessment they are eligible for certification and if not they are given a list of what they need to change to receive the certificate

• Once a company is certified they are tested periodically (every 2 - 3 years) to ensure they remain compliant and they can keep their certification (and we keep the revenue coming in)

Go-to-market: You could structure this as a public benefit corp and start working with companies already making efforts to remove plastics from their products and packaging

Business Model: Customers pay a certification fee (based on annual revenue, $1k - $20k) and then a renewal fee to keep their certification

Startup Costs: You’ll need some expertise in this area and access to microplastics testing labs to make this work, which could be expensive. You may need to do a small raise here to get this off the ground.

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Hold: While you could angle for an exit here this could be an amazing, cash flowing business with sticky revenue and not a huge amount of overhead. So why not hold and take distributions?

TOGETHER WITH NAME.COM

We know something about you…

Since you’re a Half Baked subscriber, we know something about you. You’re charming, handsome swimming in ideas.

But where do they go? Nowhere without action.

.io domains are where ideas get built. So stop being so handsome and starting shipping.

Here are some great domains to get started:

💰 prizing.io

🧠 aiagentz.io

🤑 tradzing.io

💻 techpulse.io

☢️ betafusion.io

🤺 cyberwave.io

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Shut Up Juice

The Rock has had many many famous phrases over his long career. “If you smell what the Rock is cooking?” “Know your role and shut your mouth.”

But arguably his best catchphrase, which he stole from Conan O’Brien (fun fact), was “why don't you fix yourself a nice tall glass of shut up juice”.

Well now, you can. Serve this to a friend, loved one or even your sworn enemy when they just need to stop talking.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Testosterone Maxxing

As guys we tend not to think too much, we just kinda go with the flow. But one thing all men have thought about is their testosterone levels. Whether right or wrong testosterone levels are used as shorthand for how manly and healthy someone is. It’s no surprise then that many young men are taking up testosterone maxxing (similar to looksmaxxing and sleepmaxxing) where they are taking steps to maximize their testosterone. Some are doing this naturally, others aren’t, using TRT or questionable supplements to boost their T-levels. But regardless this is a space full of opportunity, particularly as testosterone maxxing starts to gain more and more traction.

Business Ideas

• Testosterone Maxxing Meal Delivery Service: Create a meal kit brand which delivers pre-prepared meals with the aim of maximizing testosterone production

• Testosterone Retreats: Create retreats designed for men which focus on creating a testosterone maximizing lifestyle

TOGETHER WITH MORNING BREW

Here’s Why Over 4 Million Professionals Read Morning Brew

• Business news explained in plain English

• Straight facts, zero fluff, & plenty of puns

• 100% free

See for yourself

THE MONEYSHOT

How a Single Conversation Led to a $2bn Business

Business idea inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime.

Take these founders who were inspired to start a $2bn business after talking to two women in a bar.

This is their story.

Michael Kirban always knew he was going to start his own business.

He attended the University of Alabama and studied economics for a year before realising college wasn’t for him and dropping out. After dropping out Michael started several businesses, including a small real estate software business which he still runs as a side hustle to this day. But Michael’s entrepreneurship journey really began when he met Ira Liran.

The pair were introduced and became fast friends, bonding over their love of business. In fact the pair set up an events company together. But their aha moment came in a place where business was far from their minds…a bar.

In 2003 Michael and Ira were drinking in a New York city bar when they met two Brazilian women. They talked for hours and asked them what they missed most about Brazil. They answered "agua de coco" (fresh coconut water).

Liran ended up falling in love with one of these women (who wouldn’t?) and sold everything he had to move to Brazil to be with her. But Michael fell in love with the idea of starting a coconut water business.

A few months later Michael went to Brazil to visit his friend and they sat on a beach in Rio drinking coconut water. Replace the coconut water with Corona and you’ve got a scene out of a Fast & Furious movie right there.

The drink was delicious. It was healthy, full of electrolytes and they understood why the girls missed it so much. They knew there could be a huge market in the US for this product. So they struck a deal with a supplier in Brazil to produce their first shipment for $75,000 using Michael’s money he had earned from his software business.

It was 2004 and they had just founded Vita Coco.

Almost immediately though the budding founders ran into difficulties. Their first shipment got held up at the border by U.S. officials. It turns out you have to register with the FDA if you want to ship a lot of food into the US, something the founders didn’t know. So they diverted the shipment to the Bahamas and sold their products in bars, grocery stores and even went door-to-door to people’s houses. Crisis averted, although the next crisis for the business was just on the horizon…

Once Vita Coco hit U.S. shelves, they discovered a nearly identical coconut water brand called Zico which had launched at the same time. While most founders view competitors as a major problem, Vita Coco didn’t. In fact they were fuelled by the competition and put everything they had into beating Zico. But first, they needed money.

Michael needed funds to run the business so he turned to credit cards to finance the business. He would go and get a new credit card with no interest for 90 days or six months, and just transfer everything to the new credit card. He did this multiple times.

Eventually though, Vita Coco did take on outside investment starting in 2007, when Belgian investment company Verlinvest invested an undisclosed amount in the business. But the transformative moment for the business came in 2010 when Vita Coco raised from a group of celebrity investors, including Madonna and Matthew McConaughey, who gave the product huge publicity. They also struck up a deal with Rihanna around this time just as she started to blow up. That year they also signed a distribution deal with Keurig Dr. Pepper that still allowed the co-founders to keep a majority stake.

From 2011 onwards the company was growing, profitable and cash generative. By 2021 Vita Coco went public and today the product is sold in 30 countries around the world. Last year Vita Coco cracked 1 billion coconuts to make their bottles and generated $380m in revenue. The business valued at around $2bn today, all from a single conversation in a bar. I need to go to bars more often clearly…

I think there are two big takeaways from the Vita Coco story. Firstly, that competition is not something to fear. It’s something to lean into to make you move faster and make your products better. The other lesson is that experiences breed great ideas. If Michael and Ira didn’t go to that bar one cold New York night their lives could be completely different today.

So get out there into the world and have an many great experiences as you can. If you do, the ideas will follow.

1 - 1 FOUNDER FEEDBACK

We Need Your Help

We're on a mission to become the world's #1 entrepreneurship newsletter, but to do that we need your help. Got feedback, ideas, or thoughts on what you’d love to see next? This is your chance to help shape Half Baked. Darragh (our Head Baker) is opening up his calendar just for you. Click here to book a 15 minute call.