BUSINESS IDEA #1 | STARTUP

Recommended Reading App 📚

On the same page

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

There’s nothing quite like getting lost in a good book.

Like so lost that you forget what real life even is.

But in a world where 2.2m new titles are published every year, how do you filter through to find out what’s worth reading and what isn’t?

Well a shortcut we all use to decide what to read is simple. Recommendations from people we admire. They could be entrepreneurs, athletes, podcasters and so on, but a recommendation from someone who we trust often informs most of our reading decisions.

But here’s the problem…I don’t have a list of all of the various book recommendations from people I admire.

So let’s create it.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea. Create an app which gives a comprehensive list of book recommendations from influencers and experts in their fields.

Here’s how it works. You begin by creating a tool which surfs the web for different book recommendations by specific people. They could have recommended a book on their blog, on a podcast or in any number of places. Regardless the tooling will be able to pick this up. Then each celebrity has a profile created and these recommended books are added to it (with affiliate links to go and buy the books of course).

Users can then browse the site and look at all of the book recommendations from people they admire. The celebrities also have the option to claim and manage their profiles. Why? So we can collect their email addresses. Who wouldn’t want to have direct contact with some of the most influential people of our time.

There are some business who have tried to do this, but no-one’s really nailed it.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start by focussing on a single market where recommendations hold the most weight, like health podcasters, and go from there

Monetisation: Affiliate links

Startup Costs: Next to nothing. Just gotta spin up a website and you’re good to go!

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

You could get a tidy exit here from a company like Goodreads who could integrate the data into their core product

BUSINESS IDEA #2 | VENTURE STARTUP

HRT for Pets 🐕

Solving menopaws

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

People love their pets. They obsess over them, spoil them and try to give them the best lives possible.

But one area which almost all pet owners overlook is the fallout from neutering or spaying their pets, which prevents them from getting pregnant or from impregnating other animals.

But here’s the problem…neutering causes a whole host of negative, unintended health consequences for pets.

A study of 40,000 dogs found that neutering leads to a higher prevalence of joint disorders, cancers and urinary incontinence all because hormone issues on account of getting neutered. And with an estimated 85m dogs in the USA, a large % of which get neutered, this is a huge market.

Let’s create a business to solve this.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…create a hormone replacement therapy business to provide HRT for pets.

Here’s how it works. Pet owners go to the website and order a home blood test kit which is sent to their home. They then draw the blood sample from their pet and send it back to the company’s lab for testing, similar to other at home testing kit businesses. The business could also partner with vet practices who could perform the tests for those who want to keep a vet

Software at the lab is then used to interpret the pet’s blood work for correct dosages and the correct HRT treatment is prescribed to the pet. Depending on the correct dosage this could be in the form of tablets, patches or topical gels/sprays.

The pet would then get regular blood tests to ensure the treatment is working and that it is in good health.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Focus on a particular market like dogs first and you can expand from there

Monetisation: Pet owners pay for a course of treatment

Startup Costs: You’ll need to raise money for this idea. This would require a lot of R&D spend and testing and refining to ensure the treatment is safe and effective

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

The goal here would be to exit to a large home healthcare solutions provider, such as LetsGetChecked

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Pay per Second Voice Notes

We all have at least 1 friend who sends us crazy long voice notes.

Well introducing the brand new voice messaging app where users have to pay 1 cent per second for each voice note they send.

See how concise your friends can be when they have to pay for each note.

Coming soon to a an app store near you.

BIG DECK ENERGY

Honey’s $500k Bridge Deck

Year: 2015

Stage: Bridge to Series A

Amount: $500k

Honey is a browser extension that offers users exclusive access to savings, deals, rewards, and exciting discoveries.

Back in 2012, founders Ryan Hudson and George Ruan tried to raise outside capital for the business and were mostly rejected. It took them around 2 years to convince investors to back them. And it paid off.

In 2020 Paypal acquired Honey for $4bn.

Back in 2015, before their Series A, they raised $500k from investors. This is the deck they used to do it.

THE MONEYSHOT

Making 6 Figures from Flatulence

Back in 2008 Joel Comm, New York Times best-selling author and apparent flatulence fan noticed a gap in the app market. So he decided to launch an app.

The app was a highly sophisticated, auditory flatulence replication system, the likes of which the world had never seen. Or to put it another way…the app played a fart noise when you pressed a button.

He launched iFart Mobile on December 12th 2008. The app cost $0.99 and just 14 days after launching the app had been purchased over 100,000 times. It used to be in the 20 most downloaded iPhone apps ever and at the height of its popularity it was bringing in $10k each and every day.

Not a bad way to pay for a few Christmas presents.