BUSINESS IDEA #1 | VENTURE STARTUP

Digital Encyclopedia for Kids 📕

Gotta learn it all

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Being a kid is amazing.

The world feels like this magic place which you get to explore, finding joy in the mundanities of life we’ve all become accustomed to.

Anyone whose bought a present for a kid only watch them have more fun playing with the box knows this all too well.

But here’s the thing…the world is very complex place and there’s a lot to take in. Parents meanwhile don’t always have the time to answer their endless “why” questions.

So why not build a device to help with this?

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea. Create an interactive hardware device which acts as a digital encyclopedia for kids.

Here’s how it works. The device has a screen with an e-ink display, similar to a kindle and a camera at the back.

The main UI component is an AI agent who answers questions the child may have, similar to ChatGPT. The child can also use the camera to take pictures or point the camera at an item or artefact to learn more about it. The device encourages kids to learn about the world around them. It has access to the internet but has no browser, social media apps or even a phone. It’s what’s known as a single use hardware device.

The device also has parental controls built in, so it won’t answer questions about sensitive topics. It also gamifies learning by encouraging kids to get outside, explore nature and find different plants and animals. Think of it like a real life pokedex.

What kid wouldn’t want that?

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: start by selling to schools at a heavy discount to initially test the device then make a play for the mass market

Monetisation: charge $99 - $149 for the device

Startup Costs: You’re going to need to do a raise here to for the R&D and to build the devices

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

This business would be a prime acquisition target for a large toy company, like Hasbro or Mattel who are always on the lookout for the next toy fad

BUSINESS IDEA #2 | CASH FLOW BUSINESS

Salary Negotiation as a Service 🤝

Minimum Wage ❌ Maximum Wage ✅

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Salary negotiations are pretty awkward.

You want to get as much as you can while your employer will do whatever it takes to avoid paying you.

It’s particularly difficult when you don’t have great data on how much you should be paid, which employers claim to have and no matter what they offer you it’s always in line with market rates.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier if someone could go in on your behalf and negotiate your salary for you?

Yes. Yes it would. So let’s create an agency to do just that.

2. Solution ✅

Create a service which negotiates on behalf of employees to help them to maximise their earnings.

Here’s how it works. Jobseekers or those up for promotions sign up to the platform and provide data on their role, how long they’ve been working there and details about their compensation. The agency then looks at comparable data for employees in similar roles and similar companies to give the employee data which they can reference and discuss with their employer.

The employee can then either go through a negotiation training session with the agency to help them to maximise their pay or the agency can send an expert to do the negotiation on their behalf. The employee pays a flat fee for the training option or a % of the increase in their salary if the company negotiates on their behalf.

Simple!

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start by working in areas where there are talent shortages and employees therefore have more leverage, such as AI

Monetisation: Flat fee or take a % of the salary gain an employee gets

Startup Costs: as an agency business costs will be minimal here

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

This is a hold forever, high margin, cash flow business. It’s hard to see an exit opportunity here but you never know…

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Gen Z Lingo Translator

Do you understand what Gen Z are saying most of the time?

We don’t.

Which is why we built the Gen Z lingo translator. Never feel old again by understanding their everything they say.

No cap.

BIG DECK ENERGY

Pitch’s $85m Series B Deck

Year: 2021

Stage: Series B

Amount: $85m

Pitch is a collaborative presentation software platform which allows users to create, share and collaborate on presentations.

It was founded in 2018 by a team of 8 friends in Berlin, Germany who wanted to take on the mighty Powerpoint and build a modern platform for creating presentations.

In order to support their efforts they raised $85m at a $600m valuation in May 2021.

Click the link to see the deck they used to do it (it’s very slick as you’d expect)

THE MONEYSHOT

Making 6 Figures from Selling Air

Back in 2014 two Canadian guys, Moses Lam and Troy Paquette, were sitting around one day and had an idea. Could they sell air online? You can sell bottles of water, so why not air?

So they decided to test out their idea. The listed a Ziploc bag of Canadian air on Ebay and it sold for 99 cents. They decided to sell a second bag and it sold to an American for $168.

They were in business.

With investment of $1m they set up Vitality Air and the business grew rapidly, going from sales of $30k in 2015 to $230k in 2016 and over $500k in 2017.

There was quite a buzz when they launched in the media, with an investor from Dubai putting $500k in the business.

There’s not much data around how the company is doing now, and based on the fact that everything’s out of stock on their website I doubt they’re still trading. But still, getting that far by selling air is some achievement.

Fucking legends!