Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as hotly anticipated as Tesla’s Roadster launch event (about a decade late, but still) 🚘
In today’s edition:
💡 Taking a magical software experience to the real world
⛽️ ChatGPT images, Astra agents, a $3M junk business + more
🔍 OpenAI acquisition, 234 YC startups, Altman advice + more
🍻 A charger that gets you your money back
Let’s goooo 🚀
🛠️ Lovable for Hardware
A bit screwed
Name.com Domain: Bitforge.co
👤 Source: KP (Head of Community at Netlify) suggested taking the Lovable model into the physical world. We like how you’re thinking KP.
❌ Problem:
If you haven’t tried Lovable…you’re missing out. It’s one of a slew of vibe coding tools that lets you turn any idea into a piece of software in minutes.
But what if you’ve got an idea for a desk lamp, a phone mount or a little gadget you wish existed? Unfortunately, the next step involves learning product design, sourcing components and messaging factories. Someone needs to create the Lovable experience for hardware. Here’s the idea.
✅ Solution:
Build a platform where you describe a physical product and AI turns it into an editable design, a parts list and manufacturing specs. “Make me a phone mount that clips onto my bed frame.” Adjust the dimensions, materials and budget through chat.
Partner with factories in China so designs use parts and processes they already support. Get a quote and delivery estimate, have the design checked for production, then order directly. Choose a kit or pay extra to have it arrive assembled.
Start with simple accessories and custom decor, then expand into lamps and electronic gadgets. Take a margin on each order, with paid design tools for repeat builders.
🧑💻 Prototyping: Product Demo
💡 The Half Baked Take: The factory relationships make this super interesting (and give you a moat). Build up those supplier relationships and you could become the place people go when Amazon doesn’t have quite what they want.
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🥗 Stop making lunch a team-wide negotiation
One team. Plenty of opinions about lunch. ezCater lets everyone on the team choose their own dish, with options for vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher and gluten-free preferences depending on the restaurant.
It's food for US workplaces that gives people a say without making you everyone's menu consultant. Start with your next team lunch.
💡 Ideas to Inspire You
💻 SaaS: This founder is auctioning ad space on her dress for a conference. Who’s building the platform that lets anyone sell any other ad inventory they can think of?
📱 Mobile: Getting kids to ask for another story is one thing. Getting them to ask for it in another language is a much more interesting app idea. Love this.
🛍️ E-commerce: Shopify made launching an online shop easy. What would the equivalent for a pressure-washing business look like?
💵 Side Hustle: Anyone can start a side hustle building an AI services firm that helps "boring" businesses grow on Main Street. Here’s how.
⛽️ Fuel for Taking Action
🎓 Founder Tutorial: Here’s a full course on how to master ChatGPT images 2.5. Incredible amount of value in here.
💬 AI Prompts: These are the top 15 ChatGPT Astra agents that everyone needs to build (prompts included).
📘 Playbook: Here’s the playbook to build a one-person $1M company with Grok Bot.
🤑 Money Shot: These brothers turned a $4,000 truck into a $3M business. Here’s how.
🤖 Type Your Category into ChatGPT. See Whose Name Comes Back.
Plenty of buyers now build a shortlist inside an AI answer before they ever open a search page. Semrush AI Visibility tracks which brands get named for the prompts your buyers use and how often you make the list.
Half Baked readers get 14 days free to check.
🔍 Everything Else from Today
📰 Breaking News: OpenAI has acquired smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300 million, according to reports. What are they up to…
📚 Must-Read: Cathryn Lavery sifted through 234 YC startups and seven made her shortlist. A few will make you rethink what counts as a startup idea.
📺 Must-Watch: Sam Altman just questioned the career advice an entire generation followed. His replacement advice is worth a minute.
🎧️ Must-Listen: Bending Spoons buys companies we all use. Its co-founder told David Senra how they operate behind closed doors. The hiring section is a good place to start.
⭐️ Reader's Pick: This guy asked AI to create a viral website and what it created is gold. Finally, a use for my terrible doodles…
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Petty Phone Charger
Tired of friends asking “can I borrow your charger?” like you’re running a charity? Wish you could recover that 5c of electricity they stole from you?
Introducing Chargeback™, the AI-powered wall charger that recognises your friends’ phones and automatically bills them for the electricity they use in your house. Includes itemised receipts, late-payment reminders and surge pricing (get it?) for anyone who says “I’m only on 1%.”
Chargeback™ - Socket to me.
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👋 That’s All Folks
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