Startup Improv: Recent Episodes
Seth Kramer and Matt Blank
Two good friends jamming on questionable business ideas. Hosted by Matt Blank and Seth Kramer.
Matt's the founder of likeiamfive.com and currently studying at Harvard Business School. Seth's the founder of https://nocode.mba , co-founder of https://elevatemealplan.com , and was an early employee at UrbanStems, a venture-backed startup.
Follow Matt: https://twitter.com/mattybuilds Follow Seth: https://twitter.com/sethjkramer
In this episode, we chat about:
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Social sports commenting
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OpenAI / Apple Collab?
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A single-purpose music device
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Microplastics
Follow us:
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
In this episode we talk about:
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the YCW24 batch
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the future of building companies that integrate with AI
Follow us:
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
In this episode we talk Apple Vision Pro app ideas!
- Ideas that use spatial video
- Fitness scans
- Video chat with presence
- Interior design
- Professional Vision Pro Videographers
- Presentation coach
- A marketplace for virtual environments
Follow us:
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
In this episode we talk about:
The Rabbit AI Action model
Running AI models locally
Apple Vision Pro
Follow us:
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
We chat about: non-alcoholic wine, Mike's Hot Honey, fancy sparkling water, drop store for speciality goods, platform for drop stores, apartment real estate websites, dog food, cohort classes, helping restaurants commercialize their products, and more!
Follow us:
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
In this episode, we talk about non-alcohol date spots, drop stores for specialty food, apartment building gourmet grocery stores, unique food experiences, selling food products from great restaurants,
In this episode we chat about: OpenAI's drama, can you be a kind leader and build a world-changing company, ideation around personal finance business ideas, Seth's AI landing page feedback generator, productive ways to spend time other than social media,
We chat about Halloween business ideas, dog toy business ideas, Black Friday business ideas, bundling/unbundling and more!
Follow us:
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/MattyBuilds
We talk about Spotify and Apple Music, The Kindle and The Universal Theory of content, single-use devices, fitness devices, Vision Pro, and more!
Connect with us on X!
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
In this episode, we talk about delegation inside a company (inspired by Levels), plus the tradeoffs of intense work and a successful life. And a business idea around a recipe social network.
Connect with us on X!
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
We chat about the future of the iPhone, will X compete with LinkedIn, indie bookstore affiliates and bookstores loyalty programs, and AI user interviews.
Connect with us on X!
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
We talk about our favorite companies from the latest YC batch and themes we see among the startups YC funded.
Connect with us on X!
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
We talk about summer travel, taking the indirect path to figure out what to work on, Bill Simmons’ path to writing, personal horoscopes, crypto, and personal websites.
Connect with us on X!
Seth: x.com/sethjkramer
Matt: x.com/mattybuilds
Seth and Matt get together for another random show to discuss:
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Framer's new AI functionality
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Ben Thompson's Aggregation Theory in a world of AI
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Powering services business like fiftydollarwebsites and signatures as a service with AI
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Ideating vs building
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Ideas for our podcast, including growth strategies and topics to ideate on
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Rick Rubin idea about showing work to someone else to improve it
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Reddit Revolt
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Zuckerberg: Lex Friedman
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Apple VR
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Management and AI
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Carve Outs
We're back with another episode! In this podcast, we cover:
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Our thoughts on the Apple Vision Pro
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Business opportunities in VR w/ the Vision Pro
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Will people be wearing the Vision Pro in coffee shops?
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Carve Outs
Follow us!
Matt: twitter.com/mattybuilds
Seth: twitter.com/sethjkramer
We're back with another episode! In this episode, we cover:
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Auto-generated investor updates
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The “Murph” challenge business idea
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Text to voice business ideas
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Rolling up bookkeeping and gyms
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Succession
Follow us!
Matt: twitter.com/mattybuilds
Seth: twitter.com/sethjkramer
In this episode, we cover:
- Apple’s possible offline AI
- Sneaky AI winners in the AI race
- Business idea: finding a job with AI
- Simple goal-setting business idea
- Building products for fun, not business
- A bar for people who don’t drink
- Business idea: Generative AI Pinterest
Connect with us on Twitter!
Seth: twitter.com/sethjkramer
Matt: twitter.com/mattybuilds
We’re back with another episode! In this podcast, Matt and Seth talk about:
- Steve Jobs lessons from the Walter Isaacson biography and the new book “Make Something Wonderful”.
- The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting
- Systems & business ideas around keeping track of book / kindle notes
The boys are live in-person to discuss:
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Airbnb's product announcements
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Stock picks
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Venture studios
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Ideas for Matt's fitness technology venture studio
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Matt Ishbia + the Phoenix Suns making their games free to watch
...and more!
Charging customers for beta access, Teacher Paying Teachers, template marketplaces, and more!
Seth and Matt chat about the future of AI and entrepreneurship and where the opportunities might be! Plus, learn about the newest AI tools like AutoGPT.
Seth and Matt discuss business ideas related to seed oils, continuous glucose monitoring, and more!
In this episode, Seth and Matt riff on business ideas from the latest YCombinator batch. The companies include:
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Forfeit (https://www.forfeit.app/)
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Finni (https://www.finnihealth.com/)
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Quazel (https://quazel.com/)
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Pierre (https://heypierre.app/)
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Planar (https://www.useplanar.com/)
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Metal (https://getmetal.io/)
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Milestones (https://www.getmilestones.com/)
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Wild Moose (https://www.wildmoose.ai/)
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Tailfin (https://tailfin.cloud/)
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Resend (https://resend.com/)
...and more!
Seth and Matt discuss:
(00:00) - Practical thoughts on starting a business
(7:02) - Create creatine gummies, and building brands around supplements
(9:46) - Reflections from past podcast episodes
(22:47) - Finding influencers within companies to sell B2B products
(32:05) - A marketplace for premium fan-designed jerseys
(38:33) - Joining vs. disrupting @mindbody
(49:51) - Carve outs!
...and more!
Welcome to another episode of Startup Improv!
0:13 Running a No Code MBA event on ConferenceTap
6:34 The importance of product design
9:08 Business ideas around tech layoffs
34:56 Carveouts
Seth and Matt discuss what they would each do if they were laid off, fine-tuning and embedding AI models, and more!
The boys are joined by Andrew Just, Founder + CEO of Train Fitness, to chat about business ideas related to AI
Some of the topics include:
(1:35) Introducing Andrew + Train Fitness
(15:00) Andrew’s idea for AI personal assistant
(22:26) Andrew’s idea for improving ecommerce purchasing
(25:21) Matt’s idea: personalized, AI-generated clothing brands
(30:56) Seth’s idea: no code tools for developing algorithms
(34:45) Generative data + Gretel
(39:42) Brainstorming ideas for Train’s product roadmap
(50:54) Carve outs
Seth and Matt discuss:
(00:38) Seth’s newest project: Ask No Code
(20:55) Matt’s theory on why companies fail when they launch new products
(30:22) Choosing the right fundraising strategy for your business
(38:47) Is it smart to start an AI business right now?
(52:44) Twitter drama
(1:01:03) How AI intersects with Meta’s VR bet
(1:07:56) Thoughts about hiring
(1:09:51) Carve outs
This week, Seth and Matt discuss:
(2:07) Takeaways from Invent and Wonder
(13:43) Why content companies with strong IP will win with AI
(18:08) Replacing advertisement patches on sports jerseys with AI
(25:51) Carve outs
Episode 26: In this episode of Startup Improv, Matt and Seth chat about:
4:13: AI for furniture, clothes, and style
20:47: Stripe is a behemoth - what happened to Braintree?
33:27: Github Co-pilot
37:00: Getting value of Youtube
42:24: Making friends as adults
46:36: How we think about the future of our careers
50:42: Frank Slootman
52:23: Computer Scientists vs Engineers
We've been thinking more about investing and wanted to share some stock picks we've been thinking about, including:
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(3:02) Peloton
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(7:44) Helium
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(21:06) Shopify
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(26:28) Meta
Insert the standard warning that you hear on every podcast: this is NOT investment advice!
AI has exploded since we chatted about it in episode 21, so we HAD to get back together to discuss the recent developments. We explore Stable Diffusion, which companies are likely to win AI, and more!
This week, Seth and Matt discuss:
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(2:24) Browsers and Apple Watches as the next big platforms
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(2:23) Why Replit will kill GitHub
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(30:10) An idea for VC funds to offer founders shares in the portfolio
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...and more!
We're back with episode 2 of our emerging technologies season with a brainstorm on VR! If you can think of anyone who would enjoy this too, please share one of the episode segments with a friend!
Our take on the current state and future of VR (2:51)
VR Psychedelics (without drugs) (7:15)
VR Sleepmasks (8:29)
VR Golf (11:55)
VR Coaching (14:44)
Teaching devs how to build in VR (20:24)
VR Shopping (20:58)
FTC Blocked Supernatural Acquisition by Meta - good or bad idea? (29:42)
Adam Neumann’s new company (36:17)
Carve Outs (42:36)
We’re sharing a bonus episode on our plan for growing the Startup Improv podcast, including our personal goals, outsourcing all the work beyond just recording the pod, and our strategies for growing the pod.
We’re kicking off a new season on emerging technologies to chat about artificial intelligence! Ideas include:
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How we’d grow a pushup tracking app to $1M in annual revenue (1:54)
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AI assistants that help humans with work tasks (18:55)
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Productizing AI services, like selling icons, illustrations, YouTube thumbnails, and video titles (24:44)
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Making yourself look hot in dating app pics (27:44)
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Scraping content from any website (29:19)
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Automatically generating stock music (29:55)
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Making a member management systems that gym owners would actually love (30:14)
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Automatically creating tweets, YouTube clips, and other content from any video (32:00)
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Carve Outs! (34:08)
The boys are BACK! Seth and Matt got together to discuss business opportunities related to Twitter, including:
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Aggregating the best things people read each week (00:53)
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Making Twitter more social (1:51)
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Unbundling Twitter communities (14:24)
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What would it look like if Twitter and Reddit had a baby? (16:10)
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Building Twitter Creator tools (27:20)
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GPT-3 for creating new Twitter content (28:32)
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Using Twitter data to create a new Google Trends (29:27)
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How to bootstrap a Twitter ghostwriting agency (32:10)
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Carve outs! (36:56)
We're back with another unbundling episode! Today we’re unbundling one of the most successful devices ever created - the iPhone.
A few ideas we cover in this episode:
- A physical device to use in the evening/morning instead of your phone
- Business opportunities around Apple Shortcuts
- A single-purpose writing device
Follow us on Twitter:Seth: https://twitter.com/sethjkramer
Matt: https://twitter.com/mattybuilds
I interviewed my uncle Julian to learn about my grandpa (David Goldstein), whose entrepreneurial journey led him from success, to bankruptcy, and back to success in the field of optical engineering.
My grandpa died when I was 3, and I never heard the full story about how he grew up and ran his businesses. Julian, who is the Co-CEO of Navitar (alongside his brother Jeremy), sat down with me to chat about his father's entrepreneurial journey, how David rebounded from the bankruptcy of his first business (Elgeet) to build Navitar (the company my uncles now run), and how Julian and Jeremy have run the company outside of their dad's shadow.
I published this recording so I could share it with my family, but the stories are so incredible that I think you'll enjoy them too!
Today, Seth and Matt share ideas about how they would unbundle Airbnb!
Ideas include:
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@wander for gyms and kitchens
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Giving away tiny homes
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PE roll up of Airbnb properties
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A service helping small businesses identify the best real estate to move in to
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Scott's Cheap Flights for incredible Airbnbs around the world
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trymystery.com for long distance couples
Today we're joined by Ryan Caradonna, co-founder of eq keys, to chat about:
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The origin of eq keys
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The state of music NFTs
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Raising money in a volatile crypto industry
..and more!
As if it weren't covered enough already, Seth + Matt discuss Ryan Breslow's tweet storm about Stripe + YC
Then, the boys discuss business opportunities for Smart Cities, including:
(4:33) Sidewalk Labs: Google's failed smart city project
(11:00) Telosa: a new city founded by Marc Lore
(19:42) EPCOT: the OG smart city
(29:13) Helium...but selling excess energy to neighbors
(47:09) Carve Outs
This week's episode combines a brainstorm (and questions we have) about DAOs, and also a brainstorm about how Seth and Matt are growing their twitter accounts!
(1:32) Some questions about DAOs
(5:12) Idea: Shopify for DAOs
(7:14) Idea: The opportunity for lawyers
(13:37) DAOs / No-Code
(21:14) Governance
(24:13) Philanthropy through DAOs
(35:51) Strategy session: how we're growing our twitter accounts
This week's episode is jam packed with ideas about how Seth and Matt would unbundle LinkedIn! 🧑💻
(0:53) Thoughts on LinkedIn: what they do well and don’t do well
(6:50) Idea: Twitter -> Linkedin integration
(10:38) Idea: Should LinkedIn open their API for free?
(14:06) Idea: Lego-block portfolio
(17:00) Idea: Reference check marketplace
(22:54) Idea: Vertical job marketplaces
(29:45) Idea: Negotiating Salaries as a service
(37:47) Idea: Contract to hire
(44:15) Idea: Connecting with likeminded people
(48:37) Idea: Bitclout for LinkedIn
Longevity is pushing lifespans above 100
...so what new businesses need to be built as a result?
This week, Seth and Matt explore:
(2:34) Personal finance implications of longevity
(4:43) Workforce implications of longevity
(9:30) Loneliness and ideas around businesses to help solve it
(14:05) Retirement communities for young people
(19:16) Centenarian olympics (strength training specific to aging)
(30:44) NewLimit’s mission statement
(34:16) Implications of the internet on academic research
(36:11) Carve Outs
Seth and Matt are kicking off 2022 by bringing back WDYT!
This week's episode is a bit of the random show, covering:
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Reviewing 2021 (1:22)
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Previewing 2022 (12:33)
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Jamming on new business ideas in the worlds of no-code (44:57) and wellness technology (55:34)
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Carve Outs (1:30:38)
In this episode we chat through business ideas and trends related to Health and Wellness!
We chat about:
- Intermittent fasting
- Digital avatars
- Why Peloton will keep winning
- Hotel workouts
- And more!
Seth and Matt discuss business ideas related to personal finance, including:
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pipe.com for individuals
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a Chrome extension to maximize credit card rewards
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automating student loan and mortgage payments based on your psychology
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lunchmoney.app as a Personal Capital alternative
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Zapier for financial apps
For carve outs, Seth brings up NBA Top Shot and Matt talks about Daniel Naroditsky.
In this episode we cover business ideas and trends related to sleep! We chat about:
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How we'd turn around Casper
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Smart beds
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Men's pajama brand
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Modern sleepy time tea
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Companies incentivizing employees to sleep
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Sleep apps
And more!
Follow us on twitter!
twitter.com/sethjkramer
twitter.com/tweetsXmb
In this episode we cover collectables! Here's some of what we cover:
- Public companies that could increase in value b/c of collectable trends
- Invest in an NFT fund
- Companies that should offer collectables
- Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot)
- Solving the deep fake issue
- Community for digital collectables
- API for data on digital collectables
- Banksey idea
- Are we in an NFT bubble?
In this episode we talk about ideas and trends related to the Community!
Here’s some of what we cover:
- Renting out campsites for digital nomads
- Mental health community
- Community for business school internships
This was a great episode, especially because we had our friend Sam on the podcast! You can follow Sam on twitter and check out his businesses: bitcoin.guide and marketcap.guide to better understand bitcoin and the crypto landscape as a whole.
In this episode we brainstorm around business ideas related to travel! Here's some of what we cover:
- Viral tweet threads
- What will travel look like after COVID? Opportunities as a result
- COVID-safe activities
- Business idea: Vanlife rentals
- Business idea: unique experiences in your city
- How can Airbnb Experiences be improved?
- Co-living spaces
In this episode we talk about ideas and trends related to the Internet of Things!
Here’s some of the ideas we cover:
- Bottomless scales for consumables
- Home automation set up business
- Charging pockets
- Tracking shoe insoles
- Improving design of IOT devices
- Helium data connectivity
In this episode we talk about ideas and trends related to Food!
Here’s some of the ideas we cover:
- Decentralizing DoorDash
- How we’d turn around Blue Apron
- Mushroom Tea Idea
- Decaf coffee
- Mobile coffee trucks
In this episode we talk about bootstrapping!
Here’s some of the ideas we cover:
- Unbundling cooking vides from TikTok
- Bootstrapping vs VC
- Bootstrapping funds
- Marketplace for hobbies
- Netflix and no chill
- Micro influencer consulting
In this episode, we brainstorm about online education.
A few ideas we covered:
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Cohort based courses
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Tik Tok education
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YC for online courses
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Future of education
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ISAs
In this episode, we chat about business ideas and trends related to audio.
Some of the ideas we cover:
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Fiction podcasts
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Audio recipes
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Open source sports announcers
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Audio sports communities
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Audio workouts
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Podcast advertising
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Speed reading
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The early days of Clubhouse