BUSINESS IDEA | VENTURE STARTUP

Runners’ Subscription Service 🏃  

Sole searching

Available Domain: Runew.co

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: Everyone seems to be a runner these days. Running has gone from a niche sport to the mainstream, and it’s easy to see why since it’s clearly so enjoyable…

While these runners get to experience “runner’s high” while they train, they tend to get as much of a high from buying stuff related to running. New running shoes. Running socks. Energy gels. The list goes on. But keeping on top of all of these purchases, particularly when training plans can change, is almost impossible. But we think we have the solution to this problem.

Market Size: The global running gear market is expected to reach $70bn by 2030

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A subscription service that periodically sends runners new products tailored to their activity levels, including running shoes, apparel, and accessories.

How it Works:

• A user signs up to the service, connects up their fitness data to the app and selects their running kit and brand preferences.

• The app monitors their activity and monthly training plans and based on this data users receive customized boxes containing new running shoes, apparel, socks, and accessories based on their preferences.

• Plans range from monthly to quarterly shipments, allowing users to choose how frequently they receive new gear.

Go-to-market: Start by working with run clubs, refine the product and build from there

Business Model: Runner pays a variable monthly subscription based on what they get

Startup Costs: You’ll need a bit of capital to get this off the ground, given the initial outlay needed to buy inventory

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: Position the company for acquisition by larger running brands seeking to expand their subscription-based offerings.

Exit Multiple: In the subscription industry exit multiples typically range from 8x to 12x EBITDA

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Motorized Rolling Pin

• Do you like to bake? Are you tired of using your own feeble human strength to flatten dough while you’re making delicious bread or pastries?

• Introducing The Motorised Rolling Pin™, the rolling pin for the automation age. It has a built in motor which spins the pin to flatten any dough in record time.

• Why waste your precious energy on repetitive back-and-forth motions like some kind of medieval peasant? The Motorised Rolling Pin™ does all the heavy lifting…eh…flattening for you.

Vote

• ✅ Yes this actually exists

• ❌ Nope you totally made this up

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: Methylene Blue

• Methylene blue has been around for a long time. It was invented back in 1876 in Germany, the same year the phone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. But this textile dye has started to be used for other purposes…

• Many biohackers are promoting the use of synthetic methylene blue for its purported benefits which include cognitive enhancement, mitochondrial support, mental health benefits and its anti-aging properties

• And where a new supplement is gaining traction, business opportunities present themselves

Business Ideas

• Supplement Stack Site: A site which tracks and shares the supplement stacks of influencers, athletes and other celebrities (from edition #123)

• Methylene Blue Chewables: Formulate chewing gums or lozenges infused with methylene blue for quick cognitive enhancement and mood elevation.

THE MONEYSHOT

Building a $400m Brand in 5 Years

People always talk about how tough it is to be a founder, but sometimes being a founder is about alleviating your own pain.

Take this founder who solved his own problems and built a $400m brand in the process.

This is his story.

Shane Heath has been a hustler since day one.

At age 12, he started a car detailing company. At 15, he started a t-shirt line with custom air brush art. And after college, he started an action sports video site. But unfortunately for Shane none of these ventures took off, so he found himself working as a UI/UX designer at different tech startups after a few years.

During this time Shane maintained a healthy lifestyle, practicing yoga, meditating, and adhering to an Ayurvedic diet. Despite these efforts though, he experienced rising anxiety, erratic sleep patterns, and mood fluctuations. He was always conscious of his mental health, having lost a friend to suicide in college, and he couldn’t figure out why he was feeling this way. Until a trip made him see the light.

In 2015 Shane was invited to participate in an art residency in Goa, India. During his six-month stay in India, Shane immersed himself in the local culture and traditions. He developed an appreciation for chai and turmeric and over time he found his mental health was improving. He figured out what the cause was. Caffeine. 6 months with limited caffeine intake showed him how badly it was affecting him.

After returning to the US Shane didn’t want to start drinking coffee again, but missed the energy boost he used to get from it. So he started experimenting with different ingredients like chai, cacao, chaga and turmeric to create a concoction which gave him the desired energy boost of coffee without the negative side effects.

Initially, Shane made the blend for himself and his friends, jokingly calling it "mud" due to its murky appearance. He started bringing it to his office, where colleagues became curious about the drink. Encouraged by the interest, in 2018 Shane decided to turn his creation into a business.

He founded MUD\WTR.

Shane initially launched MUD\WTR as a side project, working full-time at his day job while mixing and packaging the product in his Venice, California apartment. He advertised on social media and relied on word-of-mouth marketing, shipping orders during his lunch breaks. It was far from glamorous, but it was working.

7 months after launch he was shipping out thousands of orders per month and doing well over $100k in revenue. By the fall of 2018, Shane secured his first investment of $1.1 million, allowing him to quit his job and focus on MUD\WTR full-time.

In December 2019 the business receive $4m in funding to scale the business and since then Shane hasn’t looked back.

MUD\WTR has raised a total of $25 million in funding and in 5 years, they’ve sold over 3 million units, generating hundreds of millions in revenue.

The product is a darling of the “coffee alternative” community with many people replacing their morning coffee with MUD\WTR.

All of which goes to show that great business ideas can come from the darkest of times. Shane experienced anxiety, erratic sleep patterns, and incredibly tough times which propelled him to go and solve his own problem.

It’s like Jensen Huang famously said: “I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering”, because he knows that great businesses are built from suffering.

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