Startup Ideas #362: Mole Mapping, UGG...

Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as often as Strava is buying up training apps 🏃 

Want to check out any previous editions of Half Baked? You can on our website.

Let’s goooo 🚀 

In today’s edition:

• 💡 An idea to protect 20% of Americans

• 📈 WTF is UGG?

• 🛠️ Using AI to drastically improve your website

• 🤑 How a golf caddie built a $500m business

• 🍻 The ultimate accessory to up your (already amazing) shoe game

🗺️ Mole Mapping App

Holy moley!

The Problem: Cancer touches all of our lives. But no cancer is more common on this earth than skin cancer. In fact, 1 in 5 Americans will develop it by the age of 70. The good news? Unlike most cancers, skin cancer is visible. It’s detectable and when caught early, melanoma has a 99% survival rate. Yet despite this, only 36% of adults perform regular skin checks. That’s why it’s time to make early detection effortless. Here’s how.

The Solution:

• In a line: An AI-powered app that lets you scan, track, and assess moles over time using your smartphone.

• Product:

  • 📸 A user downloads the app and takes photos of any moles they wish to track over time.

  • 🤖 The app uses trained AI models (on dermatological datasets) to classify lesions (benign, atypical, potentially malignant) and advises a user on what they should do, including speaking to a telehealth consultant about any problematic moles.

  • ⏲️ Users are prompted each month to take updated pictures of lesions to track them over time, data which can then be shared with dermatologists.

  • 👀 Check out the Molescan.ai demo for yourself

• Business Model: Basic scanning and mapping free, dermatologist teleconsultations are a paid feature

• End Goal: Get acquired by a large player in the telehealth space, likely for 8–12x ARR

🆓 You Could Unlock Thousands in Snapchat Ad Credits

Snapchat gives you access to a totally different audience, one that 40% of TikTok users miss. Even better? 85% of Snapchatters discover new brands through ads, which is why they're so powerful.

We’ve partnered with Snapchat to give eligible advertisers thousands in free ad credits to see for themselves.

It takes 30 seconds to check.

Check Your Eligibility Now

🎮️ Why UGG is the Future of Gaming

The Trend: “Power to the players” is famously Gamestop’s slogan. But User-Generated Games (UGGs) promise to give more power to the players than Gamestop ever did. These are games that are created or extended by players themselves rather than professional game developers. Games like Roblox and Minecraft exemplify the UGG model, but generative AI means that it will be easier than ever for gamers to build their own worlds using natural language. Awesome.

Opportunities:

• LinkedIn for UGG Creators: A portfolio-building and networking platform where UGG creators showcase games they’ve built

• UGG Creator Academy: Online courses and bootcamps teaching kids and teens how to build and monetize games on UGG platforms.

Poll: Would you like to build and create your own games?

• ✅ Yes, I’ve done it in the past

• ❌ No, but I’d like to build my own games

• ❌ No, I prefer that someone else makes my games for me

🖥️ Improve your Website’s SEO with Gemini

The Tool: Rumors of the “death of SEO“ continue to be blown out of proportion. It’s still a great avenue for driving traffic to your website. Here’s how you can use AI to make sure your website is SEO optimized.

Step-by-step:

1. Record 5-10 minutes of video showing your website’s navigation, page load times, content structure, and key features. For best results record both your desktop and mobile site.

2. Upload this footage to Google AI Studio as a file or as an unlisted YouTube video

3. Use a prompt like this: "Analyze these website videos and provide SEO recommendations for content, speed, UX, and keywords."

4. Implement the feedback given by Gemini

Try it for yourself!

👀 Claim your Online Identity with Domain.com

Ready to bring your big idea to life? Whether you're launching a startup, personal brand, or side hustle, it all starts with the right domain name. It all starts with Domain.com.

Domain.com is one of the largest and most trusted domain registrars, helping customers across all industries build their presence online. Choose from popular extensions like .com, .org, .info, .biz, or .us.

Oh and as a special treat for our wonderful audience, you’ll get 25% off your next domain purchase with code HALFBAKED.

Learn More

T&Cs Apply.

💧 How a Golf Caddie Built a $500m Business

The Idea: Brandin Cohen has always been entrepreneurial. He ran a clothing business, explored multiple side hustles but interestingly after college, Brandin found himself working as a caddie for professional golfer Patrick Cantlay. And while working as a golf caddie on the PGA Tour and later in sports marketing, Brandin saw that athletes were constantly struggling with dehydration. So, inspired by the World Health Organization’s Oral Rehydration Therapy formula, he began researching how to adapt that science into a consumer-friendly product. This was the beginning of Liquid I.V.

The Execution:

• The MVP: Brandin started with a homemade formula made in his kitchen. It contained a specific ratio of sodium, glucose, and potassium to hydrate the body more effectively than water alone. The early version was manually packed and labeled by hand, and sold directly to friends, family, and local athletes.

• The Launch: The first real launch came through grassroots marketing, focused on Southern California’s fitness and wellness community. Brandin hustled the product into local gyms, juice bars, yoga studios, and wellness influencers' hands.

• Growth & Traction: The big break came when social media influencers and celebrities began using and promoting the product. Athletes like Klay Thompson and entertainers like DJ Khaled and Kendall Jenner publicly endorsed it. Brandin also leaned into cause marketing, committing one stick donated for every purchase.

• Investment: The company was largely bootstrapped in the early years and remained lean and profitable through most of its journey, but raised $5m in 2018 to accelerate growth.

• The Result: By 2020, Liquid I.V. was doing nine figures in annual revenue, and had donated millions of sticks globally. In September 2020, Unilever acquired Liquid I.V. for an undisclosed amount (reportedly around $500 million).

The Lesson: Products that address universal needs (like hydration, sleep, energy) have massive upside potential.

Get the full story

👟 Fanny Packs for Crocs

• Are you a Crocs fan? Looking to take these incredible shoes to the next level?

• Introducing: Croc Fanny Packs™, the ultimate accessory for people who want to make their Crocs extra functional. Slip these bad boys onto your Crocs and instantly unlock a world of micro-storage possibilities. Tic Tacs? Check. Gum? Absolutely. The possibilities are endless.

• Get your Crocs out of sport mode and into storage mode with these Croc Fanny Packs™.

Vote

• ✅ Yes this actually exists

• ❌ Nope you totally made this up

💰️ Raise Radar

• Throne, an Austin-based company working on an AI-powered toilet device for consumers (you heard us right), has raised $4M in seed funding (Read more)

• LM Arena, an open platform for AI model evaluation, has raised $100M seed funding (Read more)

• Clair, a fintech company which lets employees access their wages before payday, has raised $23.2M in a Series B funding. (Read more)

• Kota, a employee benefits platform that automates the management of health insurance, pensions, and more, has raised $14.5M in Series A funding (Read more)

• Reperio Health, a provider of at-home and onsite comprehensive health screenings, has raised $14M (Read more)

🔍️ Founder Finds

• 📖 Playbook: Looking to launch on ProductHunt? Here’s your ultimate guide to doing so.

• 🛠️ AI Tool: Looking to get into UGC? MakeUGC lets you create fake user-generated videos with just a script. Very cool.

• 📚 Must-Read: Back in 2023, Paul Graham wrote a great essay called “How to Do Great Work”. Worth a read.

• 💬 Quote of the Day: “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Founder

👋 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:

See you soon,

John and Darragh | The Half Baked Team