IDEA #1 | STARTUP

Employee House Swaps 🔄 

House swap, droptop, skrrt skrrt

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Working from home has fundamentally changed the way we work.

Its made companies 10x more productive, employees 10x happier and has been a total success, right?

Not quite.

The merits of working from home are up for debate, but regardless, remote work is here to stay.

Unfortunately, not all roles lend themselves to working from home. Construction comes to mind.

But where possible more and more employees want and expect to have the option to work remotely, something which has proved key in attracting top talent to businesses.

Companies looking to attract the best employees need to lean into remote working.

How?

By making it easier for employees not only to work from home, but to work from abroad too.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…create a platform which allows employees who work for the same company but in different countries to engage in short term house swaps.

Here’s how it would work - employees in a company would sign up and list their property, similar to Airbnb. Users could then browse requests and arrange swaps with other employees over dates that suit both parties.

This would form a key component of a company’s global mobility strategy. Most businesses have a global mobility programs which allows workers to work abroad for a number of weeks in a given year, but most often this isn’t fully utilised due to the cost and effort of finding a place.

There are some companies, such as roamr, entering this space, but this market is still very much up for grabs.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start by identifying and outbounding fully remote companies to use the platform on a trial basis, then expand

Monetisation: charge enterprises per successful swap on the platform

Startup Costs: startup costs here will be pretty minimal, you’ll just need a relatively basic website and you can get going

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

This could be a great exit for the right business in this space. Global mobility software platforms, such as workia, could be interested in an acquisition here.

IDEA #2 | STARTUP

Distributed Community Events Platform 👥

Come together…right now…IRL

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Whatever you’re into, you can be sure there’s people all over the world who share that same interest, no matter what it is.

Maybe you’re fascinated by what birds with arms look like? You can join 1.1m other people who are equally fascinated here.

Turns out they look pretty badass.

Or maybe you’d rather critique airport carpets with 1,000 others.

The point is the internet has created these distributed communities of fans all over the world, but fans who never get to meet in person.

For example, fans of a particular podcast are likely to have a lot in common and if they were to meet in person could strike up incredible, lifelong friendships.

So let’s build a platform which does this.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…create a platform which makes it easy for distributed communities to do in person events. These would be live, in person events held simultaneously in different cities across the world for fans of a particular show to meet and socialise with each other.

For example fans of Chris Williamson and the Modern Wisdom podcast could do distributed, simultaneous meetups. Details of each meetup would be on the platform and would be hosted by a vetted fan who knows how to organise the event.

Once the events are locked in creators would then share the details of the events to their audience to drive footfall and could be as involved in the events as they want to be.

There would be a subscription cost based on the number of events orchestrated which would be paid for by creators or by the fans who are organising the events. These events could also be sponsored by brands, particularly brands who the influencer already works with.

River is a company that is doing distributed events for fans of the All in Podcast, but this is a nascent market with huge opportunities to build a great business here.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” Start by

Monetisation: Subscription cost based on the number of events held each month and sponsorship of these events

Startup Costs: extremely low, very basic website needed and that’s it

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

This would likely be a great cash flow business or could end with a modest exit to an online events platform looking to diversify their offerings, such as Hopin.

JUST THE TIP

$700m from Selling Water 💧

Water.

The elixir of life. Nature’s nectar. That thing we never drink enough of.

But let’s face it, water is kinda boring.

Most big water brands taste very similar and their branding all centre around nature, wells, springs and so on

Enter Liquid Death.

Launched in 2019 Liquid Death, which sells canned water, took a very different approach to their marketing.

From its viral social media posts to its Super Bowl commercial, Liquid Death has generated more social buzz than any other water brand on the planet, generating over +$100m in revenue per year and a garnering a $700m valuation.

Here’s the thing though. Liquid Death isn’t actually a water brand.

No, Liquid Death is a media brand masquerading as a water company.

They could leverage their brand to sell almost anything in the future, which they may do.

Only time will tell.

But what’s the lesson here?