IDEA #1 | STARTUP

LinkedIn for Students 👩‍🎓

Less drinking, more LinkedIn

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

LinkedIn is a pretty amazing platform. Where else on the internet do you get people so brazenly pointing out how great they are?

But despite its many shortcomings LinkedIn is a pretty useful tool for building your network, finding new job opportunities and forwarding your career.

Unless you’re early on in your career that is. If you’re a college student or recent graduate, it’s sh*t.

Having experienced professionals using the same platform as a student who spent their summers working in Chipotle makes no sense, particularly when so-called “entry level” jobs on LinkedIn aren’t even suitable for recent grads.

College students and recent graduates don’t really belong on LinkedIn, so let’s build them a platform where they do belong.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea: create a platform for college students which helps them to build their network, gain work experience during college and ultimately land their first job.

Here’s how it works: Students sign up for the platform and create profiles like they do on LinkedIn. They share what degree they’re doing, what they’re interested in, what clubs or societies they’re a part of, what side projects they’re working on and so on.

They can then connect with other students on the platform to network, learn from each other or even work together on a business or side hustle. Leveraging network effects here is huge to ensuring this business grows rapidly.

They can also use the platform for job hunting. Companies can post job listings for roles that are actually suitable for recent graduates or can even post jobs for project-based work that college students can complete to earn a few bucks on the side while they’re in college, giving them invaluable experience at the same time.

You could also add courses and certifications to the platform to help students to upskill in areas such as coding, design or data analytics for example.

There are tonnes of features that could be added to the platform, the key is to get the users there in the first place.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: start by focusing on a single college, then expand to wider territories

Monetisation: charge companies a subscription fee for using the platform and listing jobs

Startup Costs: You’ll just need a dev to work on the site for you, if you can do that yourself you’re good to go

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit to a large platform in this space, like LinkedIn or a jobs platform like Indeed.

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IDEA #2 | CASH FLOW BUSINESS

Solopreneur Vacation Relief 🌴

Have a break, have a kit kat vacation

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

When people chart out a path to riches they usually imagine something like this: go and build a revolutionary app or product, raise lots of money, hire a bunch of people, build a massive business, sell it off, sip margaritas on the beach forever.

Not Justin Welsh.

Justin took the more traditional path and helped build two companies past a $1bn valuation and to raise over $300m in venture capital. But after burning out he rethought what he wanted his life to look like and took a very different path.

Justin is a new breed of founder known as a solopreneur. He runs a $5m business where he’s the only employee.

Just him. Crazy right?

But this causes a big problem. What happens to a 1 person business when that 1 person needs a break? From e-commerce stores to SaaS products today there are millions of people all over the world who run small1 or 2 person businesses, which means they can never get a break, as they’ll tell you.

So why not create a business which gives them the opportunity to get some much needed R&R.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…create an agency which works with solo founders or small businesses to allow the founder to step away for short periods of time when needed.

Here’s how the service works. A founder reaches out to the agency and they do some sessions over a few weeks to understand the intricacies of how their business works - what processes they have in place, activities that need to be completed and so on.

Then, the founder can select how long they wish to step away for, anything from a few days to a few weeks and during this time the business is run in their absence by the agency. Orders are fulfilled, accounts are updated, invoices are sent out and so on. The business runs as if the founder is there themselves.

The only exception would be in the case of an emergency where the founder could be contacted, but apart from that they get to relax for the first time in years.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: focus on a particular niche first, say e-commerce, and offer run their stores

Monetisation: Fee per day of caretaking

Startup Costs: minimal, charge upfront for the service to get some cash flow into the business

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

This could be an incredible cash flow business, unlikely to get to an exit though.

NO BRAINER IDEA

QR Code Watch

Smart watches are a dime a dozen these days. But what about a QR Code Watch?

Simply scan the QR code on your watch and shows you the time on your phone.

Stylish and efficient, what's not to love?

BIG DECK ENERGY

Mistral AI’s €105m Strategic Memo

Year: 2023

Stage: Seed

Amount: $105m

Mistral AI raised eyebrows in 2023 when they raised €105m with no product, a mere four weeks after launching.

More surprisingly, Mistral didn’t even use a pitch deck. They raised the money with a 7 page memo written in Google Docs.

This is that memo.

JUST THE TIP

How TikTok Succeeded Where Vine Failed

TikTok has been the breakout social media platform of the last few years. The platform has more than 1bn monthly active users and it’s more popular than google as a search engine among Gen Z.

But before TikTok reached stratospheric popularity another short form vertical video platform dominated the market. Vine.

Vine, which launched in 2012, allowed users to upload 6 second vertical videos to the platform. Vine had 200m active users by Dec 2015, before TikTok was even founded.

So where did it all go wrong for Vine?

Well simply put, they f*cked up in a few big ways. Firstly, there was no monetization program to reward the creators on the platform. This led to a mass exodus of creators, such as Logan and Jake Paul, from Vine to YouTube in search of monetization. A classic example of “show me the incentives, and I'll show you the outcome” in action.

Vine also didn't offer any in-app content creation features for its creators, an area where TikTok excels.

Finally, TikTok managed to take better advantage of technology than Vine ever did. Whatever wizardry they’ve managed with the their algorithm means viewers are hooked to the platform.

You can read a detailed account of how TikTok triumphed over Vine here, but ultimately there’s a clear lesson here.