Startup Ideas #370: Return Reselling, Waymo...

Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as impressive as Deel hitting $1bn in ARR 😱 

BTW if you want to read any previous editions of Half Baked, you can on our website.

Let’s goooo 🚀 

In today’s edition:

• 💡 Solving an $800B e-commerce problem

• 📈 Why “waymo” people are using Waymo of late

• 🛠️ How to turn your LinkedIn profile into a CV

• 🤑 How the anti-Instagram became a $600m business

• 🍻 Protecting yourself from any intrusive drones

🛍️ Local Resale Marketplace for Returns

From cart to couch

The Problem: Returns suck. In 2023, U.S. consumers returned over $800 billion in goods, with nearly 20% of online purchases sent back. The interesting part? It should have been even higher. That’s because nearly 30% of shoppers who wanted to return an item ended up keeping it because the return process was too much of a hassle. And between label printing, packing, shipping, paying restocking fees, and missing return deadlines it’s no wonder why. Sure some of these items end up on Vinted or Facebook marketplace, but why not create a dedicated space to offload these items to people near you? Here’s how.

The Solution:

• In a line: A local-first resale platform for people offloading items they planned to return.

• Product:

  • 📦 A user takes pictures of the item they were going to return, sets a price (around 90% of sale price) and lists it on the platform

  • 📍 A local buyer can then buy the product which they then collect in person. There’s also a swap option which allows users to trade an item for the product if that’s desirable for both parties

  • 🏬 Through this process e-commerce or retail businesses don’t have to deal with the returns, saving them both shipping and processing costs. Win-win.

• Business Model: Take a 10–15% cut of each successful transaction, with premium features (boosting, delivery, buyer protection) as add-ons.

• End Goal: Sell to a platform like OfferUp or Vinted as a hyperlocal commerce layer, aiming for a 6–10x revenue multiple on an exit.

⏱️ It’s Never Too Early to Start

Dorm rooms. Middle school classrooms. Garage workbenches.

That’s where these businesses began:

• Healthy Roots Dolls - now in Target, backed by Procter & Gamble

• Royalty Soaps - a soap empire with nearly 1M YouTube subs

• Bearbottom - an ethical menswear brand that’s donated 700K+ meals

• Mo’s Bows - a handmade bowtie brand started at age 9, now seen on Shark Tank

Some of these founders stayed in school. Others dropped out. Some raised capital. Others bootstrapped. But they all used Shopify to build something real.

Start your store with a 3-day free trial, then it’s just $1/month for your first 3 months.

Get started

🚘️ Waymo is Killing it Right Now

The Trend: Waymo is taking over San Francisco as we speak…kinda. Over the last 20 months Google’s driverless car company has seen its market share increase substantially, overtaking Lyft. Why? Well users say it’s a better experience. It’s affordable, private and super safe. What’s not to love? Just wait for Tesla to turn on FSD (eventually) which is when things will get wild.

Opportunities:

• Last-Mile AV Handoff Platform: A logistics layer that connects autonomous delivery (like Waymo or Nuro) with human couriers for the last 50 meters

• Waymo Companion App: A third-party app that enhances the AV ride experience: audio guides about local landmarks, quiet mode, Spotify/Apple Music integration, etc.

👔 Turn Your LinkedIn Profile into a CV in Seconds

The Tool: If you’ve ever been on the job hunt you know how irritating it is to have to update your CV. Well worry no longer, because AI is here to help. Here’s how you can turn your LinkedIn profile into a CV in seconds.

Step-by-step:

1. Go to LinkedIn and copy everything from your profile into your preferred AI model (ChatGPT 4o, Opus etc.)

2. Turn on extended thinking/deep research and put in the following prompt: “Turn this data into a two column, one page, latex resume”

3. Copy the code generated into Overleaf and hit “compile”. That’s it.

Try it out

👀 What kind of founder are you, really?

You’ve read every business book and taken advice from 10 mentors.

But have you ever seen a behavioral x-ray of you? The reality from HBR is that only 15% of entrepreneurs are actually self-aware – it can be an expensive problem.

Take a 6-minute, scientifically valid behavioral assessment used by Fortune 500 companies, the fastest growing companies in Silicon Valley, and NHL / NFL / NBA franchises. Use it to discover your unique leadership style and harness people data to hire smarter, move faster, and lead better.

If you’re an entrepreneur, building a team, or just curious to learn more… try the survey here (it’s freakishly accurate). Half Baked readers will receive a free 15-minute debrief from Predictive Success.

Take the test

📸 How the Anti-Instagram Became a $600m Business

The Idea: Back in 2011, Instagram was popping off, and so too was mobile photography because of it. But Joel Flory (left), a commercial photographer, and Greg Lutze, a designer with a strong creative eye, had a problem with this. The filters used on the platform felt cheap and gimmicky. They believed that creatives needed something more refined, like a mobile darkroom that respected the art. So they created a place for serious creators to make beautiful images without the pressure of likes or followers, calling it Visual Supply Company. It was later called VSCO.

The Execution:

• The MVP: The first product they launched was actually a set of Lightroom presets sold to photographers, but soon after, they launched the VSCO Cam app in 2012. It offered stunning, film-like filters and manual controls that outclassed every other photo app at the time.

• The Launch: VSCO Cam launched with zero hype but quickly gained traction among creatives and influencers who wanted something more aesthetic and less social than Instagram. The filters were minimalist, elegant, and felt “professional.” Artists felt seen.

• Growth & Traction: VSCO grew into a cultural movement. It became the anti-Instagram: no public likes, no comments, no follower counts. At its peak, the app hit 200M+ downloads and millions of paying subscribers for premium filters and editing tools.

• Investment: VSCO raised over $90M, with notable rounds from Accel, Obvious Ventures, and Glynn Capital. Its last known valuation (2019) was reportedly around $550M–$600M.

• The Result: VSCO remains private and independent, with a strong subscription model and a clear brand. While not as dominant as in its heyday, it still serves millions of loyal creatives every day.

The Lesson: Going against the grain can be incredibly lucrative. Sure VSCO is nowhere near as big as Instagram, but $600m ain’t too shabby. So don’t be afraid to go against the grain.

🔫 Gnomes x Drones

• Worried about drones spying on your sunbathing sessions this summer? Looking for a way to protect your house from potential aerial invaders?

• Introducing Gnomeland Security™, the world’s first tactical garden gnome trained in airspace defense. Armed with his patented “ballzooka” as well as military grade EMP devices, this pint-sized patriot is always watching the skies and protecting you.

• Gnomeland Security™ – creating a no-fly gnome.

Vote

• ✅ Yes this actually exists

• ❌ Nope you totally made this up

🔍️ Founder Finds

• 🛠️ AI Tool: Sick of spam texts and calls? Us too. Here’s a guide to stop them (on iPhone at least)

• 🚨 Raise Alert: Console, a platform which helps IT teams to reduce mundane, repetitive tasks, raises $6.2M from Thrive

• 💰 Exit Alert: Salesforce buys Moonhub, a startup building AI tools for hiring

• 🎟️ Event Alert: Bolt is hosting a month long hackathon with up to $1m in prizes. Very cool.

• 🧠 Mental Model: Bond, a global technology investment firm, just released a massive report on AI (340 pages). Today’s trend came from this report, definitely worth a skim!

• 💬 Founder Quote: “Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice”. Dostoyevsky (Author of Crime and Punishment)

👋 That’s All Folks!

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See you soon,

John and Darragh | The Half Baked Team