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Startup Ideas #375: Haircuts, Townsizing...
Plus Turning $1k into a $200m exit
Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as impressive as OpenAI hitting $10B in annual revenue 📈
If you want to read any previous editions of Half Baked then you can on our website.
Let’s goooo 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 The ultimate app for perfecting your look
📈 Explaining the “townsizing“ trend
🛠️ How to work at the speed you think
🤑 Turning $1k into a $200m exit
🍻 The best footwear for keeping you grounded
💇 AI Haircut App
Crop it like it’s hot
Available domain:
The Problem: Going for a haircut is always a gamble. Most of us can’t articulate what we want, and barbers aren't mind readers either. Plus, your ideal cut depends on your face shape, hair type, and even trend awareness. And most of us don’t know what suits us best. In fact, nearly 70% of men say they’ve left a barbershop disappointed, and over 50% of Gen Z say they rely on screenshots to explain what they want. So why not build an app for this? Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
In a line: An AI-powered haircut assistant that analyzes your face, suggests styles, previews the look, and finds the right barber for you
Product:
📱A user downloads the mobile app and takes multiple pictures of themselves
📷 AI generates a render of the person’s head, detects their face shape and hair texture from the photo, and suggests styles that complement them.
🖼 Users can overlay recommended or popular hairstyles on their render using AR filters or static render, with explanations of what to say to a barber to get that particular cut
📌 Users can also save a great hair day with timestamped photos to use as future haircut references.
📍 Users can also discover top-rated barbers nearby, see reviews and portfolios, and book directly through the app.
Business Model: Freemium model with monetization through local barber subscriptions, affiliate bookings, and AI-generated style packs.
End Goal: Get acquired by a platform like Booksy or StyleSeat for a 4–8x revenue multiple
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🗺️ The “Townsizing” Trend Explained
The Trend: With summer in full swing many of us are patiently waiting to go on our holidays. But a recent trend is changing where people are choosing to go. It’s called “townsizing” and it’s where people intentionally seek out small, lesser-known towns instead of major tourist hubs. These travelers crave authenticity, slower travel, and deeper connections with local people, traditions, and culture.
Opportunities:
“Go Small” Booking App: A travel platform for booking stays, guides, and experiences specifically in towns with fewer than 25,000 people.
Town Story Tours: Self-guided audio walking tours narrated by locals, available via app download in small towns around the world.
🗣️ Work at the Speed you Think
The Tool: I don’t know about you but years of typing at a computer means I’m probably gonna get hit with a carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis any day now. Which is why it’s time to stop typing and start speaking. Wispr Flow is a cool app that allows you to dictate notes in almost any application on your computer. Here’s how.
Step-by-step:
👀 Replace your entire tech stack. With one login
Funnels, CRM, email, SMS, automations, bookings - all in one place.
If you’re juggling 5+ tools and duct-taping them together with zaps and copy-paste… HighLevel will feel like a superpower.
This is how smart founders scale without growing headcount. No more tab overload. No more leads slipping through the cracks. Just one dashboard that runs your sales and marketing.
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🪙 Turning $1k into a $200m Exit
The Idea: Back in 2011, Nejc Kodrič (left) was running a computer hardware shop in Slovenia when Damijan Merlak walked in looking for a machine that could help him mine Bitcoin. The two quickly bonded over their shared obsession with Bitcoin and spotted a glaring issue: the only major exchange, Mt. Gox, was unreliable and U.S.-centric. So they set out to build a European alternative, with just €1,000, two laptops, and a single rented server in a garage. This was the beginning of Bitstamp.
The Execution:
The MVP: The first version of Bitstamp was barebones: a web interface that let users buy and sell Bitcoin with a few basic security features. The duo handled customer support themselves and even manually processed some transactions to build trust.
The Launch: They launched quietly among crypto forums and Reddit threads, gaining early traction from European users wary of sending money to Japan (where Mt. Gox was based). Trust and reliability became their calling card.
Growth & Traction: Word spread that Bitstamp was more stable than Mt. Gox. As Mt. Gox fumbled through scandals and outages, Bitstamp became the go-to alternative. They moved operations to the UK in 2013, and then to Luxembourg in 2016 to become the first exchange licensed across the EU.
Investment: Bitstamp stayed bootstrapped until 2014, when they raised a modest round. In 2018, they were acquired by NXMH, a Belgium-based investment firm. Financial details weren’t disclosed, but the deal was estimated in the $400M–$500M range.
The Result: In June 2024, Bitstamp was acquired by Robinhood for around $200 million, marking a major U.S. push into global and institutional crypto markets. One of the oldest surviving crypto exchanges, Bitstamp became a rarity: a crypto startup that stayed (mostly) sane and compliant. Amazing.
The Lesson: Get in early on a trend, and you can ride that wave to a multi-million dollar outcome.
🩴 Grass Flip Flops
Spending too much time indoors? Miss the feeling of grass between your toes?
Introducing Grass Flip Flops™ - the only sandals with a built-in patch of (fake-ish) grass, so you can enjoy the thrill of backyard bliss wherever you go. Morning commute? Feels like a picnic. TSA line? Welcome to nature.
Grass Flip Flops™ - they’re soles for the soul.
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🔍️ Founder Finds
🚨 Raise Alert: So it turns out pickle beer is a real thing, and this pickle beer company is raising $1.6m ($450k already raised)
📚 Must-Read: In case the economy goes south, you need to read PG’s essay “Why You Should Start a Startup in a Bad Economy”.
📈 Growth Hack: A simple idea that makes Gillette $60M/yr (1 min read)
💬 Founder Quote: “Entrepreneurship is a personal growth engine disguised as a business pursuit.” James Clear
👋 That’s All Folks!
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