- Half Baked
- Posts
- Startup Ideas #360: Shopping CoPilot, Takeout Stats...
Startup Ideas #360: Shopping CoPilot, Takeout Stats...
Plus Turning 10 Free Photos into $75m
Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as often as Google dropped big announcements today 🎤
Want to read any previous editions of Half Baked (which you totally should)? You can on our website.
Let’s goooo 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 A tool to supercharge your shopping experience
📈 A trend in the food space worth paying attention to
🛠️ How to build software without learning how to code
🤑 Turning 10 free photos into $75m
🍻 The ultimate product to help you park wherever you want
🛍️ AI Shopping CoPilot
Cartificial Intelligence
Available domain: Browseable.ai
The Problem: Online shopping is supposed to be convenient. But in reality, it’s a mess. You browse through endless stores, never quite finding the product you want. Shoppers aren’t struggling because there’s a lack of products…they’re struggling because there’s too much noise and not enough help. Which begs the question…what if, instead of hunting and scrolling, you could just chat with your own AI shopping expert? Imagine getting real answers, real-time suggestions, and actual comparisons, all without leaving the page. Here’s how.
The Solution:
In a line: A conversational interface that helps users browse an e-commerce like you’re chatting with a personal shopper.
Product:
📱 The user installs the browser extension/Shopify App on the laptop which overlays a chat window on any e-commerce website.
💬 Users can then ask questions, get personalized recommendations and compare products on any e-commerce store they visit
🔗 The user can checkout from within the chat window and the company gets a commission for any sale through the chat interface
Business Model: Earn commission when users buy through product links in the chat.
End Goal: Exit to Shopify or another large player in the e-commerce space.
Rate this idea: |
📈 Hosting Designed for Growth
The Pitch: Your business is scaling, your hosting should too. Liquid Web offers a range of solutions tailored for growth, ensuring your online presence remains robust and responsive.
The Details:
Lightning-fast VPS speeds for enhanced performance
Powerful dedicated hosting for maximum control
The best value in WordPress hosting
High-performance hosting minus the high price. And because you read Half Baked, you get up to 77% off.
🥡 The Takeout Trend
The Trend: Over the past few decades Americans are eating out more than ever before. But the chart doesn’t tell the full story here, since the 2025 Off-Premises Restaurant Trends Report (which is a real page turner let me tell you) found that 75% of all restaurant orders are actually to go, meaning people are mostly buying food from restaurants then eating at home. Gen Z and millennials are leading the way with this trend, with two-thirds saying that takeout is essential to their lifestyle and nearly 6 in 10 getting takeout at least weekly.
Opportunities:
Smart Pickup Lockers for Restaurants: Install temperature-controlled lockers outside restaurants for secure, contactless pickup.
AI Drive Thrus: Automated, voice-powered drive-thru systems that take orders with speed, accuracy, and 24/7 efficiency.
Poll: How often do you order takeout each week?
⚒️ How to Build Apps Without Learning to Code
The Tool: Imagine building full stack applications by just describing it in english - no coding, no setup. Well that’s exactly what Bolt.new does right in your web browser!
Step-by-step:
Head over to Bolt.new and sign up. You can also use your Google or GitHub account.
Describe what you would like developed in plain english. No technical lingo is needed, but try to be as clear as possible.
Tweak the app by asking for new features. There is an inspector tool which lets you select specific elements which you would like the AI to modify.
Click “Deploy” to instantly publish and share your app via a link.
Happy building!
👀 Thousands of Dollars of ad Credits Could be Yours…
Snapchat isn’t just another channel. It’s a new audience entirely.
40% of Snapchatters aren’t active on TikTok daily. And 85% of them discover new brands through ads. If you’re spending big and looking for something new that performs, this is it.
Want to see for yourself? We've teamed up with Snapchat to offer thousands of dollars of ad credits to eligible advertisers.
Click here to find out if you're eligible (it takes 30 seconds).
📸 Turning 10 Photos into $75m
The Idea: Back in 2013 Mikael Cho, a Psychology major from the University of Wisconsin, was building his startup. It was called Crew and what the company did doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that Mikael needed high quality photos for his company’s landing page. So he hired a photographer to take some pictures for him, leaving him with a few extra images that he decided to give away. This was the beginning of Unsplash.
The Execution:
The MVP: The MVP was simple. Mikael simply created a Tumblr blog with 10 of his high-resolution images, offered completely free under the Creative Commons Zero license. He would then release new images every 10 days. The tagline? “10 free photos every 10 days.”
The Launch: He launched the site on Hacker News in 2013 and it was an instant success. Unsplash received 50,000+ visits on day one, instantly crashing the site but showing the insane demand for the idea.
Growth & Traction: Submissions poured in from photographers worldwide and Unsplash evolved into a full-fledged platform with search, categories, and curated collections. In fact in 2017 Mikael sold Crew to Dribbble to fully focus on building Unsplash.
Investment: Unsplash took on venture funding over the years, most notably in February 2018 when the company secured a $7.25 million Series A funding round led by OST.
The Result: By 2021, Unsplash hosted millions of free, high-quality images. That year it was acquired by Getty Images for a reported $75m.
The Lesson: Success doesn’t have to be complicated, because sometimes simple ideas are the best.
🛞 Fake Boot
Struggling to park your car in a crowded city? Tired of circling the block, dodging traffic wardens, and living in fear of parking tickets?
Meet Fake Boot™ , the decoy clamp that lets your car blend in by standing out. Snap it on, walk away, and relax. It looks just like an official wheel clamp, so passersby (and enforcers) will think you’ve already been caught. Because no one bothers a clamped car, right?
No fines. No drama. No regrets.
Vote
💰️ Raise Radar
🏦 Catena Labs, an AI-native bank founded by Circle cofounder Sean Neville, raises $18m in seed funding (Read more)
🏪 Affiniti, expense management software for main street small businesses, raises $17m in a Series A round (Read more)
📱 Mode Mobile, a platform for consumers to monetize their time and attention, raised a $3M strategic investment (Read more)
👗 Doji, a New York City-based AI-powered online shopping and virtual try-on platform, raised $14 million in seed funding (Read more)
🕹️ Layer, a San Francisco-based AI application gateway built specifically for game developers, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. (Read More
🔍️ Founder Finds
🚨 Update: Microsoft’s four-day Build conference kicked off yesterday. Here are the major announcements so far.
🎧️ Must-Listen: Google co-founder Sergey Brin doesn’t do many interviews. But when he does (like this one), they go hard.
📚 Must-Read: Y Combinator launched their Summer 2025 Request for Startups recently, interesting to see what they want founders to build
📊 Big Deck Energy: Coinbase were in the news last week. Want to see what their 2011 Seed Round Pitch Deck looks like?
👋 That’s All Folks!
Before you go we have a few public service announcements:
If you want to talk to us about sponsoring Half Baked, you can reach us here. Or if you refer a brand to us that sponsors the newsletter we’ll pay you a cool $500.
If you want to speak to one of Half Baked’s founders about the newsletter or even your own startup idea we’re opening up Half Baked Office Hours. Book here.
We’d love to know what you thought of today's newsletter to help us improve:
What did you think of today's edition? |
See you soon,
Reply