🛠️ OPEN BUSINESS IDEAS 🛠️
Below a list of business/product ideas I had or read about.
They are worthless if they remain ideas and if you don't overcome the challenges in building them, so feel free to copy / tweak / implement them!
👇
A clock that displays the time it is @ProductHunt
Also displays what you should do and where you should post, at each specific time during your launch
A lot of awesome books are not available as audio.
Crowdfund the money to buy the audio rights + a voice actor
Based on the method by @taylorpearson https://t.co/a2fQodzeAs
Daily, weekly, quarterly questions to help you reevaluate what to do next
So you don't have to rely on a phone number for anything anymore
1 rule: Always Be Constructive
Monetize with private feeback or reviews from experts
Just insert an html tag in your template and your stripe keys, and your customers can buy all your ad space without your intervention
A list of different plants and their properties.
Heavily regulated, but will probably be legal in more and more places in the following decades. Start today to build tomorrow's leader (if it's legal where you operate)
A 5 lined summary of any article
Monetize with subscription, with the top shared articles
Probably already exists!
But you could start with a simple Typeform to book. Then on the backend just a spreadsheet of the top 50 photographers in your city, make and confirm all bookings manually by phone for starters.
Then automate your bottlenecks
A list of services where you pay in crypto and crypto only.
Add all competitors to Airbnb, Uber and other big tech companies
Automatically identify VIPs and big companies in your customer list so you can use them as social proof on your sales page.
Auto extract a nice profile picture for them or the logo of the company
Book a day pass in a gym near you (when travelling), with upfront pricing and no commitment
Make sure all links on your website are always valid
This exists for Wordpress as a plugin, make is for any CMS or website
A list of the most common food in a country.
Name in English, in local language, with photos and usual price
Import your YouTube and Spotify likes
Get a 1h+ DJ set recommandation, so you can have a good tune to focus without interruption
A chatbot that tells you if you need a visa to go to country X
Monetize with an affiliate link to book a plane ticket
Send anonymously a sweet note to someone via email / sms
The notes are manually reviewed to ensure they are lovely 😊, so charge for that
A telegram bot that sends you the % of the year that is already behind you
A checklist of all things you need to do and buy for your wedding.
Monetize by recommending trusted contractors.
There is CRAZY money spent in that space!
Send GPS coordinates and know if you can park your car or if you will get towed.
Because in the US it takes a PhD to understand, nothing is written on the ground!
A SaaS which automatically unsubscribes people that were sent X emails and never opened / never clicked
Commit to wake up before 5 am or you will be billed $20
(inspired by @levelsio's Go Fucking Do It)
Detect if a text contains spam, is offensive, or about US Politics
Create a remote company in 1 click.
Upfront pricing.
No surprise personal tax status for founders.
Zero tax avoidance, only peace of mind for bootstrappers
The best places worldwide to get your surgery done.
Maybe regulated, but crazy money in that space.
👇
https://t.co/ofIvL6SkAE
More from Makers
1/ I wanted to show you some sneak peek this week, but instead we DEPLOYED TO PRODUCTION 🔥😄
If you’re a creator, get an invite here 👉 https://t.co/D8H6g8TL9o
Week 2 highlights: our first ever podcast 🎙, meeting @Jason 🦄, shipping @BREWdotcom alpha 🚢 & laptop stickers!
2/ First off, thanks for the mind-blowing response last week (120k+ views 😲 omgwtfasdasd!)… absolutely pushed us to get the product out there.
also, there’s something magical about watching people try a buggy product and fixing it on the go 🤓
3/ Thanks @JasonDemant for inviting us to grab some behind the scenes at @LAUNCH.
As a huge fan and avid listener of the @TWistartups show🎙, it was great watching @Jason do his thing live!
4/ 🎙@domainnamewire invited us to chat about acquiring https://t.co/GOQJ7L2faV domain and that was officially our first podcast ever. Check it out here: https://t.co/eusVCOlUSb.
You nailed it your first time, Maddy! 🍻 Thanks for having us on the show, Andrew.
5/ Great news: Brew partnered with @Tipalti to enable payouts for creators everywhere (unlike @kickstarter which only support 26 countries).
Platforms like Twitch use Tipalti to payout instantly and via multiple methods like Check, PayPal, local bank transfer, etc.
If you’re a creator, get an invite here 👉 https://t.co/D8H6g8TL9o
Week 2 highlights: our first ever podcast 🎙, meeting @Jason 🦄, shipping @BREWdotcom alpha 🚢 & laptop stickers!
2/ First off, thanks for the mind-blowing response last week (120k+ views 😲 omgwtfasdasd!)… absolutely pushed us to get the product out there.
also, there’s something magical about watching people try a buggy product and fixing it on the go 🤓
1/ \U0001f44b Excited to share what we\u2019ve been building at https://t.co/GOQJ7LjQ2t + we are going to tweetstorm our progress every week!
— Jijo Sunny (@JijoSunny) November 6, 2018
Week 1 highlights: getting shortlisted for YC W2019\U0001f91e, acquiring a premium domain\U0001f4b0, meeting Substack's @hamishmckenzie and Stripe CEO @patrickc \U0001f929
3/ Thanks @JasonDemant for inviting us to grab some behind the scenes at @LAUNCH.
As a huge fan and avid listener of the @TWistartups show🎙, it was great watching @Jason do his thing live!
4/ 🎙@domainnamewire invited us to chat about acquiring https://t.co/GOQJ7L2faV domain and that was officially our first podcast ever. Check it out here: https://t.co/eusVCOlUSb.
You nailed it your first time, Maddy! 🍻 Thanks for having us on the show, Andrew.
5/ Great news: Brew partnered with @Tipalti to enable payouts for creators everywhere (unlike @kickstarter which only support 26 countries).
Platforms like Twitch use Tipalti to payout instantly and via multiple methods like Check, PayPal, local bank transfer, etc.
What are some things you should *NOT* do as an indie hacker?
I was recently on @ProductHunt Radio (https://t.co/IuSMrZTaYG) where @Abadesi asked me this question about all sorts of challenges that founders face.
Here are a few of my thoughts…
@Abadesi Don't blindly follow advice without considering the context in which the advice was given (from who, to who, when, for what) and adapting it to fit your personal situation.
E.g. advice that works for a high-growth VC-funded startup might be disastrous to your indie business.
@Abadesi (This applies to any and all advice in life, btw, not just advice for how to start and run a company. It's almost never a good time to turn off your brain and blindly follow what others are saying.)
@Abadesi Don't equate being a founder with being an inventor. It's an analogy that can easily go too far.
You'll end up overvaluing and over-protecting your pet ideas. Or worse, you'll never come up with an idea at all, because you'll assume that it needs to be something completely new.
I was recently on @ProductHunt Radio (https://t.co/IuSMrZTaYG) where @Abadesi asked me this question about all sorts of challenges that founders face.
Here are a few of my thoughts…
@Abadesi Don't blindly follow advice without considering the context in which the advice was given (from who, to who, when, for what) and adapting it to fit your personal situation.
E.g. advice that works for a high-growth VC-funded startup might be disastrous to your indie business.
@Abadesi (This applies to any and all advice in life, btw, not just advice for how to start and run a company. It's almost never a good time to turn off your brain and blindly follow what others are saying.)
@Abadesi Don't equate being a founder with being an inventor. It's an analogy that can easily go too far.
You'll end up overvaluing and over-protecting your pet ideas. Or worse, you'll never come up with an idea at all, because you'll assume that it needs to be something completely new.
First update to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL since the challenge ended – Medium links!! Go add your Medium profile now 👀📝 (thanks @diannamallen for the suggestion 😁)
Just added Telegram links to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL too! Now you can provide a nice easy way for people to message you :)
Less than 1 hour since I started adding stuff to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL again, and profile pages are now responsive!!! 🥳 Check it out -> https://t.co/fVkEL4fu0L
Accounts page is now also responsive!! 📱✨
💪 I managed to make the whole site responsive in about an hour. On my roadmap I had it down as 4-5 hours!!! 🤘🤠🤘
Just added Telegram links to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL too! Now you can provide a nice easy way for people to message you :)
Less than 1 hour since I started adding stuff to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL again, and profile pages are now responsive!!! 🥳 Check it out -> https://t.co/fVkEL4fu0L
Accounts page is now also responsive!! 📱✨
💪 I managed to make the whole site responsive in about an hour. On my roadmap I had it down as 4-5 hours!!! 🤘🤠🤘
And here they are...
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners 👇
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners 👇
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
To people who are under the impression that you can get rich quickly by working on an app, here are the stats for https://t.co/az8F12pf02
📈 ~12000 vistis
☑️ 109 transactions
💰 353€ profit (285 after tax)
I have spent 1.5 months on this app. You can make more $ in 2 days.
🤷♂️
I'm still happy that I launched a paid app bcs it involved extra work:
- backend for processing payments (+ permissions, webhooks, etc)
- integration with payment processor
- UI for license activation in Electron
- machine activation limit
- autoupdates
- mailgun emails
etc.
These things seemed super scary at first. I always thought it was way too much work and something would break. But I'm glad I persisted. So far the only problem I have is that mailgun is not delivering the license keys to certain domains like https://t.co/6Bqn0FUYXo etc. 👌
omg I just realized that me . com is an Apple domain, of course something wouldn't work with these dicks
📈 ~12000 vistis
☑️ 109 transactions
💰 353€ profit (285 after tax)
I have spent 1.5 months on this app. You can make more $ in 2 days.
🤷♂️
I'm still happy that I launched a paid app bcs it involved extra work:
- backend for processing payments (+ permissions, webhooks, etc)
- integration with payment processor
- UI for license activation in Electron
- machine activation limit
- autoupdates
- mailgun emails
etc.
These things seemed super scary at first. I always thought it was way too much work and something would break. But I'm glad I persisted. So far the only problem I have is that mailgun is not delivering the license keys to certain domains like https://t.co/6Bqn0FUYXo etc. 👌
omg I just realized that me . com is an Apple domain, of course something wouldn't work with these dicks
You May Also Like
So the cryptocurrency industry has basically two products, one which is relatively benign and doesn't have product market fit, and one which is malignant and does. The industry has a weird superposition of understanding this fact and (strategically?) not understanding it.
The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
If everyone was holding bitcoin on the old x86 in their parents basement, we would be finding a price bottom. The problem is the risk is all pooled at a few brokerages and a network of rotten exchanges with counter party risk that makes AIG circa 2008 look like a good credit.
— Greg Wester (@gwestr) November 25, 2018
The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
