IDEA #1 | VENTURE STARTUP

Paywall Bypassing Platform 📰

“Mr Gorbachev…tear down this paywall“ Ronald Reagan (probably)

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Our boy Nirmal (@NahakNirmal on Twitter) the business idea machine is back with another banger idea.

We’ve all been there. It’s late at night. You’re researching something for your job or school. Then you find it…the perfect article, the one you’ve been waiting for. The one with all the answers you want. You click on it and then…boom. Paywall.

Paywalled articles and papers are more rife than ever as media companies scramble to make a few bucks, even in the most ironic circumstances.

Customers don’t want to pay for subscriptions just to read an article or two every month. Sure, there are all kinds of incognito tricks you can play to sometimes get around these paywalls, but ultimately we need a way to solve this problem.

Here’s the solution.

2. Solution ✅

The idea: create a platform which allows users to buy single articles from partner sites which sit behind paywalls.

Here’s how it works. When you encounter a paywalled article, the platform checks to see if that article is available through its network of partner publications. If so, then an option comes up to unlock the article for a small micro-payment (think $0.25-$0.50). These articles are then saved on your profile for future reading.

No more monthly subscriptions or limited "free articles." With this platform, you pay for only the journalism you actually read. It's like iTunes for information (shoutout to anyone who still uses iTunes btw). Why buy the whole album when you only want to buy a single song?

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start with a single niche, like paywalled news. Reach out to journalism schools and reporter associations. They're always looking for new ways to monetize quality reporting.

Monetisation: Take a cut of each micro-payment

Startup Costs: You'll need to negotiate content licensing deals with a critical mass of publications. Find yourself a crack copyright lawyer and a CTO with experience in payments processing and you’ll be good to go.

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

You could go the acquisition route. A major media player may see this platform as a way to solve their digital subscription woes.

Also the micropayment data would be incredibly valuable to publishers looking to understand reader behaviour and preferences. Licensing this data could help publishers to optimize their content strategies.

IDEA #2 | STARTUP

AI Gym Software 👔

A business idea that will work out

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Depending on who you are the gym is either your idea of heaven…or hell.

But anyone who’s been to a gym experiences the exact same problems: overcrowding, dirty changing rooms and unwanted advice from strangers who know very little about training. But the worst problem is having to stand around and wait for a machine to free up.

There are 113,326 Gym, Health & Fitness Clubs businesses in the US as of 2023 and they all have these exact same problems.

But with a little AI magic we can solve some of these.

2. Solution ✅

The idea: create software which helps gyms to optimize their space usage and capital expenditure by analysing equipment usage.

Here’s how it works. The gym signs up to the platform and using cameras already installed in their gym (or by installing new ones) the software uses computer vision to monitor machine usage and the time spent waiting for equipment by gym goers. Based on this data the system then makes intelligent recommendations on what equipment the gym should install based on wait times and what equipment can be removed which is barely being used. Similarly the software would monitor if certain machines are causing members more injuries.

This ensures that gym owners are buying the right equipment and spending their capital wisely.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start by working with a single gym then move up to gym chains once you’ve proven the efficacy of the technology

Monetisation: charge a subscription fee for using the platform

Startup Costs: This is a pretty technical build so you’d need a highly technical team to make this work, hence a raise may be necessary

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

There are tonnes of large gym software providers who would kill to own this business, such as Mindbody or Glofox

UNHINGED BUSINESS IDEA

Dog Rental App

For guys, approaching and talking to girls can be hard. But one thing that we all know is that girls love cute dogs.

So why not rent a dog for a few hours to help you pick up girls? With Noah by your side you’ll be able to meet and talk to any girl easily.

BIG DECK ENERGY

Airbnb’s $600k Seed Deck

Year: 2008

Stage: Seed

Amount: $600k

Airbnb requires no introduction. From humble beginnings back on the late 2010s the online marketplace for short- and long-term homestays has become a +$100bn tech giant, surviving regulatory scrutiny, covid and all manner of other problems while scaling.

But back in 2008 the fledgling startup was looking to raise just $500k (they raised $600k in the end) to get the business off the ground. This is the deck they used to do it.

THE MONEYSHOT

Making $8k from a Useless App

When the iPhone first launched in 2007 it didn’t have an app store. In fact, Steve Jobs famously opposed the idea of a third party app store, believing that outside apps could have ruined the integrity of the phone. And for a 24 hour period in 2008 he appeared to be right.

On August 5th 2008 Armin Heinrich, a German developer, released an app called the “I Am Rich” app. The app cost $999.99 to download and did absolutely nothing.

When opened, it displayed a red jewel on the user’s iPhone screen.

When you pressed the jewel, the following mantra appeared in large letters, complete with the typo:

“I am rich
I deserv it
I am good,
healthy & successful”

That’s it. That’s all it did. The creator regarded the app as art. Apple regarded the app as exploitative and pulled it from the app store less than 24 hours after its launch.

Heinrich did manage to sell 8 copies of the app in the 24 hours, netting him $5.6k and Apple $2.4k.

Not bad for a day’s work.