Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as hotly anticipated as OpenAI's mystery town hall today 👀
In today’s edition:
💡 A marketplace connecting AI labs with critical expertise
🛠 Getting started with Claude Code (5-day mini course)
🔋 From toy robots to a $7.6B drone empire + more
🔍 A $4B raise, Claude lands in Excel + more
🍻 The future of hands-free parenting
Let's goooo 🚀
❗ We’re looking for some contributors to work directly with us on the newsletter. More details here if you’re interested!
P.S: Shoutout to last week’s giveaway winner Ehab - keep an eye on your inbox!
💡 Expert Training Network
Hire education
Available Domain: Finetrained.com
The Problem: Last week I had a few interesting firsts. I got my first outbound from an angel investment firm (I'm way too poor to invest in anything right now). And I got hit up by an expert network offering to pay me for my "expertise" - which was flattering until I realized I don't really have any to give. But it got me thinking: what about people who actually are experts? The bottleneck for frontier AI isn't compute anymore - it's access to genuinely rare human expertise. OpenAI reportedly paid $100K+ per expert for red team evaluations. Scale AI is building contractor armies. But there's no marketplace connecting AI labs with the world's most specialized minds. Here's what we're thinking.
The Solution:
💡 The Idea: A bounty-based network that pays verified domain experts to participate in AI training, evaluation, and fine-tuning for their specific field.
🛠️ Product:
Experts create profiles verifying their credentials (PhDs, publications, industry experience), specify their niche, and set their hourly rate for AI training work.
AI labs post bounties for specific expertise needs - from reviewing model outputs in computational chemistry to creating gold-standard datasets in rare disease diagnostics.
The platform handles scheduling, payment, IP agreements, and quality assurance so a Nobel laureate can spend 2 hours training a model without hiring a lawyer.
🧑💻 Prototyping: Try the demo | Get the demo prompt
💼 Business Model: 20% platform fee on all bounties. Enterprise tiers for AI labs wanting priority access. Target rates: $500-$2,000/hour for ultra-niche expertise.
⭐ End Goal: Acquisition by a major AI lab (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind) or enterprise AI company (Palantir, Scale AI) seeking proprietary access to rare human knowledge. 8-15x revenue multiple given strategic value of network effects.
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🕵️ Your Data Is Already For Sale
Data brokers are collecting and selling your personal info right now - your phone number, home address, even your SSN.
The result?
Spam calls that know your name
Phishing emails that look legit
Identity theft waiting to happen
Incogni fights back. They contact brokers on your behalf, demand removal, and keep monitoring for new leaks.
Get 55% off with code HALFBAKED.
💻 Getting Started with Claude Code (5-Day Mini Course)
The Context: Everyone's been talking about Claude Code lately. Some are calling it the closest thing to AGI we've seen, others say it's turning complete beginners into 10x programmers overnight. Either way, it's the most powerful coding tool available right now and most founders have no idea how to use it. So this week, we're running a free 5-day mini course to teach you everything you need to know. Here's how to get started.
Step-by-step:
Open your terminal and run
curl -fsSL <https://claude.ai/install.sh> | bashon Mac/Linux orirm <https://claude.ai/install.ps1> | iexin PowerShell on Windows to install Claude Code in under 30 seconds.Type
claudein your terminal, then authenticate by signing in with your Claude Pro or Max subscription when the browser window opens.Navigate to any project folder with
cd your-projectand typeclaudeagain to start a session where you can ask Claude to explain your code, fix bugs, or build new features using natural language.Type your first prompt like "create a simple Python script that prints hello world" and watch Claude write and save the code for you - if that works, you're all set for tomorrow.
P.S. Read tomorrow's newsletter to learn how to build a complete landing page from scratch using Claude Code!
💰 Your 9-5 Shouldn't be your only Income Stream
You've got skills, ambition, and maybe 10 hours a week to spare. HubSpot’s database of 100 proven side hustles shows you exactly what to start - with startup costs, time investment, and earning potential for each.
Find the side hustle that fits your life.
🔋 Founder Fuel
🤑 The Money Shot: This Harvard grad built a $7.6B drone empire that started by delivering blood in Rwanda. Here's how.
📈 Trends with Benefits: This open-source AI project Clawdbot blew up the internet over the weekend. Here's why.
💬 Prompt Drop: Use this prompt to spot tech shifts early and find startup ideas.
🆓 Free Resource: Here’s the full set up guide to setting up Clawdbot if you’re interested
💵 Founder Deal: Get an extended 45 day free trial of Wispr Flow.
🔍 Founder Finds
🎬 Synthesia just hit a $4B valuation and crossed $100M ARR making AI-generated training videos. Corporate L&D just got a lot more interesting.
🤖 Claude is now available in Excel for Pro users. Spreadsheet whizzers everywhere just got a massive upgrade.
💰 Brex just got acquired by Capital One for $5.15B. The cap table math is fascinating - here's the full breakdown.
💼 Marc Andreessen's timeless career advice is making the rounds again - "Do not plan your career" remains the most counterintuitive wisdom for ambitious people.
🎯 Ethan Choi breaks down who's actually winning the AI race - and it's not who you think.
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Self-Driving Stroller
Tired of pushing your baby around like some kind of medieval peasant? Does your toddler deserve better than YOUR walking pace?
Introducing StrollPilot™, the world's first autonomous stroller with LiDAR navigation, autopilot to the playground, and built-in cry detection that automatically reroutes to the nearest ice cream shop. Features include "naptime mode" which circles the block indefinitely until baby falls asleep.
StrollPilot™ - Rock and stroll.
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👋 That’s All Folks!
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