Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as surprising as Mark Zuckerberg purchasing a 19th-century Gothic castle in Ireland (hey neighbour) 🇮🇪
In today's edition:
💡 A fix for the loneliest job in business
⛽️ Reddit sales agents, free SAFEs, açaí empire + more
🔍 $100M raise, 20+ first-cheque funds, 1M views for $200 + more
🍻 The desk accessory your colleagues will thank you for
Let's goooo 🚀
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🎟️ Activity Club for Founders
Company Outing
Name.com Domain: Foundhouse.co
👤 Source: Yours truly. I’ve been thinking about this one for a while, would love if someone built it.
❌ Problem:
Building a company is the loneliest well-paid job going. Entrepreneurs rate their loneliness at 7.6 out of 10, and half of CEOs say it makes them worse at the job.
Timeleft proved strangers will pay to eat with strangers, seating 3 million of them across 200+ cities and rocketing to $10M+ ARR. Why couldn’t you do something similar for founders, but with a twist? Here's the idea.
✅ Solution:
A club that drops a group of founders who've never met into one activity a week in their city. Padel, a coastal hike, go-karting, a pottery class nobody is any good at - it could be anything.
Match with different people each week or stick with the same group for a few months, always with a deliberate spread of stages so there's someone a step ahead of you. Sponsors who currently buy conference booths can pay for the court or dinner instead.
🧑💻 Prototyping: Google AI Studio Demo | Remix this Build
💡 The Half Baked Take: Speaking as a potential customer, I think this is sorely needed.
Rate this idea
🛰️ The Business Plan That Doesn’t Drop Out in the Middle of Nowhere
Once your business crosses a few hundred people, a dead zone isn't an inconvenience; it's a missed SLA.
SuperMobile from T-Mobile for Business is built for exactly that scale: unlimited premium data, a nationwide network slice that prioritises your traffic during congestion, seamless satellite coverage where towers run out, and built-in threat protection, all on a 5-year price guarantee with no annual contract.
Add 20 or more lines now and save $1,000 per line, up to $20,000 back total.
*With 36 monthly bill credits for new accounts that add at least 20 lines on SuperMobile. 5-Year Price Guarantee applies to monthly price on-network talk, text and 5G data; exclusions like taxes & fees apply. Slice features available on 5G standalone network only, not while roaming, via satellite, or tethering; coverage not available in some areas. Threat Protect requires capable device, app download and subscription. Texting & select satellite optimized apps available with compatible device in most outdoor areas where you can see the sky. Satellite service, including 911, may be delayed, limited, or unavailable.
💡 Ideas to Inspire You
💻️ SaaS: Here’s a simple way to build a $1M software business - take a $1B SaaS and rebuild it in your own language.
📱 Mobile App: A guy built Wordle for his wife during COVID and sold it to the NYT for seven figures. What if you shipped an entirely new puzzle format every single day?
🛍️ E-commerce: Shopify stores all use the same spin-to-win wheel and nothing else. Here's the no-code platform for building the rest.
🤖 Hardware: Whoop charges $30 a month to be another wearable on your wrist. Here's an idea for a version that clips onto the watch you already own.
💵 Side Hustle: Entrepreneur rounded up 12 side hustles you can start this weekend. One of them is apparently the fastest-growing one in the US.
⛽️ Fuel for Taking Action
🎓 Founder Tutorial: Claude Academy is Anthropic's free course library for getting properly good at Claude. Certificates included.
🛠️ AI Tool: YC just launched Send a SAFE, which generates, signs and sends a SAFE in about two minutes. Free.
📘 Playbook: Chris built two AI agents that run Reddit sales for him. One finds the problems, the other drafts the replies.
💸 Founder Deal: Upwork gives you vetted freelancers with public work history and ratings. Make your first hire and get a $50 gift card.
🤑 Money Shot: Georgios Frangulis rang up to cancel his life insurance. That call ended up funding 900+ açaí stores in 48 countries. Here's how.
🧠 Test Your Startup Idea Before You Bet Your Career On It
If you go build today's idea, a year from now you'll finally have your answer: if it can be a real company, or not. Skip that year and get the answer in five weeks instead.
The Foundry is Forum Ventures' studio sprint designed to help founders find out if they should take the leap and build that idea they've not been able to shake. You work directly with their Venture Studio team to run real customer conversations and test market demand. No cost to participate, and if it's real, a shot at $250K to build it with them.
Half Baked readers: applications for the next cohort close September 2nd.
🔍️ Everything Else from Today
💰 Funding Secured: Rillet just raised $100M at a $1B valuation to rebuild the general ledger with AI. As a recovering accountant, I'm watching this one closely.
📈 Trends-with-Benefits: An entirely synthetic creator got 1M views in seven days for under $200. The cost of manufacturing an influencer is approaching the cost of a nice dinner…
📚 Must-Read: Justin Skycak reckons career advice for young people comes down to just three things. They’re hard to argue with.
✖️ Trending Tweet: 1752 Ventures listed 20+ funds that write first cheques, with the cheque size and stage for each. Bookmark it before you need it.
⭐️ Reader's Pick: A $100K MRR app idea that nobody has built yet. Plenty of you clearly fancy your chances. (Yesterday's top link)
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Mint-Dispensing Mouse
Ever been four hours into back-to-back calls and realised your breath could strip paint? Wish you had mints on hand at all times?
Introducing Mintmouse™, a fully working mouse with a crystal-clear chamber loaded with 100 mints. Clicks, scrolls and tracks like any other mouse, except this one comes with minty freshness at your fingertips.
Mintmouse™ - Pick ‘n' click.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks
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