16 startup ideas ready for your execution
I test business models and build products for a living. I have tried building and selling a number of side products. Some have done okay, others failed badly. I have a massive backlog of ideas but I just don’t have the energy to work on them all. If you would pay money for any of these know, drop a note in the comments so others know! I hope these more fleshed out ideas inspire you:
Sidenote: I’m always looking to partner up with domain experts who have deep knowledge of their space, and a network we could sell to.
Shoutout to Graham Walhberg who inspired the idea! I replied to his post before and now we’re friends! Here we go!
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Update: Some solid discussion over on Reddit.
Software
Data-based VC lead generation
Mattermark uses public data to build it’s profile for a company. What if companies exposed their internal KPIs (revenue, churn, engagement etc). How would this help VCs/Angel source new deals now that they are far more qualified. Social Capital is working on this.
AI band for a single guitar or piano
Often times at open mics or at church, there is a single guitar/piano playing the music. Sometimes they use prerecorded tracks to fill in the rest of the song. If the musician wants to be more creative, they are limited to the prerecorded track. AI is beginning to create music on it’s own. By playing the song once to an iPad beforehand, and indicating the verse/chorus/bridge and pre-select a type of style, the system could adapt to the artist as they play.
Bad Cop Virtual Bookkeeper
As a consultant, it sucks to sour your relationship with your client if they have an overdue payment. By having an “arms length” person who will call them up, then it’s not the consultant who is really chasing them down, but a routine call by a 3rd party.
Booking.com Payment Management
You can set up your house on Booking.com in a similar way to Airbnb. One major downside? There is no way digital way to collect payment from the guests! Getting some connected payment thing would likely help a lot.
Personal Career Progression Management
As a Junior Dev, where can you grow? Senior Dev? Engineering Manager? Technical Product Manager? By having options laid out with ways to explore and if there’s interest become an affiliate for a training site (or provide your own courses)
Babysitter referral network
A Facebook app where you can endorse your babysitter and that gets shared with your Facebook friends. It will generate a lot of work for the sitters and reviewer gets to look like a hero for enabling their friends to get out of the house.
Lost pet Facebook Ads app
People still put up posters in their neighbourhood for a lost pet. Instead, why not buy some adwords that targets your neighbourhood for really cheap. Charge $50 a bunch of impressions. Bam! People love their pets!
Cell Phone Plan Picker
Everyone needs a cell phone plan and the best deals change all the time. By having a site that has all the latest plans, and is customized for the individuals needs (minutes, data etc) it could be a great affiliate revenue generation opportunity.
Fix my fridge button
My fridge broke a bunch of times. While I should have bought a new one, I didn’t, I called a bunch of random people on Craigslist to come and fix it. I wish there was a fixmyfridgebutton.com where I could click on a gimmicky button, enter the standard 3 questions I always get asked and have someone show up in the next 2 hours.
Connecting companies with government grants
There is a whole consulting industry built around this. There are SO MANY of these grants but only a small percentage that your company qualifies for. Those that you qualify for could be absolutely perfect! By curating a list and a really good wizard could be very valuable.
Contains a Physical element
Mail order orthodontics
My parents paid $4000 for my braces. Shoutouts to this guy who made his own orthodontics using $60 of materials and a 3D printer. Surely this could be done remotely with a bit more sophistication as a service, and for cheaper.
Service based
Address changing service
It is super annoying to change the addresses on the 20 different insurance, mortgage, credit card, government etc accounts I have. While it might be tricky to provide authorization, having a virtual assistant (VA) do this for me would be valuable.
Static site generation service
I really dislike Wordpress. I’m a Themeforest -> Middleman/S3 type of guy. I want something flexible that is really easy to update (and supports git). There are probably a number of people just like me. Why not offer $1000 for any Themeforest theme converted into Middleman, S3 + Route53 setup and hosted in your github account. Done!
Data-Driven Loans
With so many companies transitioning to online bookkeeping like Xero and Quickbooks Online, there is a ton of key data on the health of the company. This could really accelerate the speed of due diligence for generating a loan. Credit Junction is working on this but lots of space in the market.
Lightweight Property Management
Residential real estate property management companies take 4–8% of the gross rent of a location. That’s a LOT. By having a remote person answering the phone, qualifying leads, and then having an individual who just needs show up to verify issues and open the doors for showings, it could be streamlined a lot.
Startup Psychotherapist in Slack or by text
There is so much drama that exists at work. How does one grow to figure out the right way to deal with it? Read books? Ask friends? Why not talk to a professional to coach you through it. A company could pay a monthly fee per month to allow access for their employees to have unlimited help by a psychotherapist.
Want to build something? Email me: jevin@quickjack.ca