BUSINESS IDEA #1 | STARTUP

Shazam for Furniture 🛋️

An app idea that’s sofacking good

Available Domain: Furnifindr

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

You can learn a lot about someone from the decor in their home.

In fact sometimes you can learn a lot about multiple people through a single piece of furniture in a home.

But what happens when you’re at someone’s house or you’re out and about and you spot a piece of furniture that would go great in your house, but have no idea where it came from?

Well it’s time to solve this problem.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea. Create an app which allows users to identify and purchase pieces of furniture by taking a photo of it.

Here’s how it works. When the user takes a photo of a piece of furniture the app uses AI to make a best guess on what the item of furniture is. It also gives alternatives which are similar in style but may be more affordable or available locally. Users can then click through and buy the item.

This would just be the beginning. Over time the app could be enhanced to include a 3D render of different rooms in your house with different items of furniture in it. Then, when you take a picture of a new piece, you can insert it into the 3D render of your room to see how it would look.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start by selling to interior designers who would be power users of the app, then go mass market

Monetisation: Affiliate revenue from furniture sellers

Startup Costs: The build here would be quite complex, so you’ll need a technical cofounder or some engineers to get this done

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

The underlying technology here could be licensed to large furniture manufacturers, such as Ikea, or the entire business could be sold to a large eCommerce platform.

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BUSINESS IDEA #2 | STARTUP

Multilingual Keyboard App ⌨️

For multilingual types

Available Domain: Babelboard.app

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, there are 67.3 million people in the US who are bilingual or multilingual. And I can confidently say that I…am not one of them.

But for those switching between different languages, all of the usual features we get when texting, like autocomplete or access to frequently used letters, all completely breaks.

So let’s fix it.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…create a keyboard app which replaces your phone’s default keyboard and is better optimized for those who are multi-lingual.

Here’s how it works. The user downloads the app and selects what languages they speak. When the user then opens a messaging app or begins to type the app recognises what language the conversation is in and the keyboard configuration changes to suit speaking in that language. Also all word suggestions are based on that particular language, meaning the user can communicate much faster.

This app could also be expanded to include features which help to correct grammar for people trying to learn a second language.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start by optimizing the app for just two languages, like english and Spanish, and add more from there.

Monetisation: Freemium model - app is free but make money selling themes

Startup Costs: This would be a relatively technical build so you’ll need to do a small raise here to get the technical talent to build this

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

The move here is to exit to a big player in the keyboard or smartphone markets. Microsoft purchased Swiftkey in 2016 for $250m, so the appetite is there for this type of acquisition.

DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Nap Discovery App

We all love a good nap. But sometimes, when we’re out and about, it’s hard to find a good spot to get some shut eye.

Well not anymore. With NapSpot users share the best places to nap around your location, helping you get some much needed shut eye.

Coming soon to an app store near you…

BIG DECK ENERGY

Square’s $200m Late Stage Deck

Year: 2012

Stage: Late Stage

Amount: $200m

Square is a financial services platform for small and medium-sized businesses. It enables accepting credit card payments using smartphones as POS registers, and facilitates various business operations.

It was founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in San Francisco, CA, in 2009.

Similar to Google with Alphabet and Facebook with Meta Square changed its name to Block, Inc to reflect its interest in exploring blockchain technologies. Let’s see how that goes for them.

But back in 2012 the company went out to raise $200m. Here’s the deck they used to do it.

THE MONEYSHOT

Making $10m from One Word

As technology has improved over time apps and software has become more and more complex. Every new phone or tablet is bursting with new features, 90% of which we don’t use.

But back in 2014 Or Arbel, an Israeli developer, was tasked by Moshe Hogeg, CEO of Mobli, to design a single-button app to send a notification to his assistant or wife.

Just 8 hours later Arbel had built Yo.

With Yo users could do one single thing. Send a Yo to each other that’s it. But the beautiful simplicity of the app took the internet by storm, and after it was released on Product Hunt the app went super viral.

Following a wide range of interest from investors, the app received $1m in investment, including from Hogeg himself. Just 3 months later the app received a further $1.5 million in funding, valuing the company at $10m.

Unfortunately for Yo though, it was a flash in the pan moment. They tried to expand the feature set and launched new versions, but in 2016 the Yo company was shut down with the app still running today on autopilot.