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Business Ideas #357: Pre-nups, Mold Removal...

Plus From $0 to a $250m Valuation in 2 Years

Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up business ideas as popular as a talking baby podcast right now šŸ‘¶ 

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

  1. Business IdeašŸ’”: Solving the #1 reason that startups fail

  2. Drunk Business Idea šŸ»: Putting a new twist on the sauna trend

  3. Just The Tip šŸ“ˆ: A trend that we called a few months ago

  4. The Moneyshot šŸ¤‘: From $0 to a $250m valuation in 2 years

P.S: If you want to read any previous editions of Half Baked you can on our website and if you were forwarded this email you can subscribe here.

P.P.S: Half Baked is free. Half Baked will always be free. That’s thanks to the support of our sponsors. We’d love if you could take a moment to check them out.

Let’s get into it.

BUSINESS IDEA | STARTUP

Founder Pre-nup Platform šŸ“ƒ  

Split happens

Available Domain: Nupstart.com

šŸ’” TLDR: A guided tool that helps startup co-founders create and agree on a ā€œfounder pren-upā€ when they start their business

1. Problem/Opportunityā“

The Problem/Opportunity: Startups fail for all sorts of reasons. No market need. Running out of cash. Not really getting started in the first place…

But according to Noam Wasserman (author of The Founder’s Dilemma), over 60% of startups fail due to co-founder conflict. That’s why choosing your co-founder is so incredibly important, second only to choosing your spouse. So if choosing a co-founder is like choosing a partner, then why don’t more founders have ā€œpre-nupsā€œ? It’s time to solve that.

Market Size: There are an estimated 250,000–300,000 co-founder teams formed in English speaking markets (US, UK, Canada) every year

2. Solution āœ…

The Idea: A guided tool that helps startup co-founders create and agree on a ā€œfounder pren-upā€ when they start their business

How it Works:

  • Co-founders walk through a guided flow covering equity splits, roles, vesting, IP ownership, and exit scenarios.

  • The tool shows how different decisions (like one founder leaving early) would impact equity and responsibilities

  • It instantly creates a legally sound, lawyer-approved Founder Agreement, ready to sign or edit.

  • If there are issues in the future between the founders they can access arbitrators or lawyers through the platform if needed

Go-to-market: Partner with startup accelerators to get early customers

Business Model: Free for a basic template, paid plan in the event of a dispute

Startup Costs: You could get this started super cheaply by spinning up agreements using an off-the-shelf AI model

3. How You’ll Get Rich šŸ’°

Exit Strategy: Get acquired by a strategic buyer like AngelList who wants access to founders

Exit Multiple: You could get a 8x–10x ARR multiple if a strategic buyer comes in and acquired you

4. Rate the idea

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

The Booze Booth

  • Looking to get in on the sauna trend? Struggling to fit it in around your busy social life?

  • Introducing the Booze Boothā„¢, the personal infrared sauna that vaporizes alcohol directly into the air so you can get lit while you sit.

  • Make sure you don’t drive or operate any heavy machinery for a few hours after you use the sauna.

  • The Booze Boothā„¢ - where a spa day meets court date.

Vote

JUST THE TIP

Trend šŸ“ˆ: Mold Removal

  • Search traffic for ā€œmold removal servicesā€ has exploded in recent weeks, just after we shared a mold removal startup idea back in edition #279. Coincidence? We think…yeah probably.

  • But mold is a huge problem. Approximately 70% of homes in the United States have some form of mold.

  • Mold exposure is linked to respiratory problems, including asthma and allergic reactions. Notably, 93% of chronic sinus infections have been attributed to mold exposure.

  • Keeping your house mold free is critically important, and it turns out lots of people are waking up to this realisation too

Business Ideas

  • AI Mold Detection App: A platform which combines AI imaging and testing to identify dangerous mold in houses (from edition #279)

  • Mold Marketplace (B2C & B2B): An online platform to compare, book, and review local mold inspection/remediation professionals.

Poll: Would you use an app to help you identify and remove mold from your house?

TOGETHER WITH SNAPCHAT

The Channel Most Brands are Sleeping on

Snapchat reaches 75% of Gen Z and Millennials across 25+ countries. And 40% of those users? They don’t check TikTok daily.

That’s untapped reach for your brand, from an audience that loves to shop and loves discovering new products through ads.

Most businesses haven’t caught on yet. That’s your advantage.

THE MONEYSHOT

From $0 to a $250m Valuation in 2 Years

In the age of AI multi-million dollar businesses are being built in record time.

Take these guys who build a $250m business in just two years.

This is their story.

Chris Pedregal (left) is no slouch.

He holds two degrees from Stanford and is currently running his second successful startup. His first? Well that was acquired by Google.

Back in 2013 he co-founded Socratic, an EdTech startup, which Google acquired in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. But Chris’ most recent venture began with a meeting about…eh…meeting tools.

At a meeting tools meeting in London Chris met Sam Stephenson, a seasoned product designer who had previous experience as both a founder and design lead at different startups. They bonded over a shared vision for more ā€œhuman-centeredā€ AI productivity tools which is when they decided to build a tool together.

Throughout 2023, the duo assembled a small team of like-minded engineers and designers and iterated on numerous different ideas for software to help with productivity. And one concept they explored made users’ eyes ā€œlight upā€ like no other. The idea was for as AI-powered notepad app that let a user combine their own notes with those created by AI based on a transcript of the meeting.

This was the beginning of Granola.

By late 2023, Granola had a working closed beta product that a small group of testers were using regularly.

But even in beta, the product began spreading by word-of-mouth in tech circles – especially among VCs and startup founders who spend much of their day in meetings. This organic interest would prove valuable and by the end of 2023, Granola had secured a $4.25 million in seed funding.

After a year of iterating in beta, Granola officially launched in May 2024 and quickly gained traction among professionals. It was soon named one of Time Magazine’s ā€œbest AI note-taking toolsā€ of 2024 due to its unique human-in-the-loop design. Who knew that Time had a ā€œbest AI note-taking toolsā€ list…

By October 2024 (roughly 5 months post-launch), Granola’s user base hit 5,000 weekly active users, and this popularity was enough for the business to land a $20 million Series A led by Spark Capital.

By spring 2025, just a few months later, Granola’s weekly active users were estimated at around 50,000. And just this week the company announced a $43 million Series B round led by NFDG at a valuation of $250 million post-money. All of this just two years after the company was founded. Talk about speed-running entrepreneurship.

And each day there are more and more stories like this of founders launching and scaling businesses in record time. Clearly something very special is happening in tech right now, something that may never be repeated again.

So don’t miss out. Shoot your shot. Start that business.

1 - 1 FOUNDER FEEDBACK

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