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- Startup Ideas #410: 99Designs, Japanese Walking...
Startup Ideas #410: 99Designs, Japanese Walking...
Plus Making +$150M from 2 Exits
Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as often as the tea app is getting hacked 😱
If you want to read any previous editions of Half Baked, you can check them out on our website.
Let’s goooo 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 Bringing a classic tech company into the AI age
📈 The latest fitness trend that’s come from the Far East
🛠️ Using AI to create studio-level commercials
🤑 Making +$150M from 2 exits
🍻 Going out in style
🧑🎨 99Designs for AI
I got 99Designs and…AI did them all
Available domain: Pixsmith.co
The Problem: Here at Half Baked we do a lot of designing. Designing logos, prototypes, or designing the perfect excuse to justify our caffeine addiction. And when it comes to doing this design work, AI is incredible. But there’s a problem. Different models can produce very different designs, and more importantly most models only produce one design at a time. Now 99designs has solved this by getting humans to compete in design competitions with the winner winning a cash prize, and got acquired by Vistaprint's parent company for millions of dollars along the way. So why not do the same for AI? Here’s what we have in mind.
The Solution:
In a line: A 99designs-style platform where AI generates dozens of design options which compete to become the winning design from your prompt.
Product:
🚀 Sign up and describe your design needs (logo, ad creative, landing page section, merch mockup, etc.)
🤖 Different AI models generate 20 - 50 unique, high-quality variations instantly, in multiple styles and formats
🎨 Users can vote, tweak, and iterate with instant AI refinements instead of waiting for new drafts
📥 Final designs are delivered in export-ready files (PNG, SVG, PSD) with optional brand kits
Business Model: Monthly subscription
End Goal: Get acquired by Canva, Adobe, or Envato for a 5–8x ARR multiple
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🤖 Get The Ultimate A.l. & Bot Checklist
A.I. has leveled the playing field like never before, empowering small businesses to achieve what once could only be done by major corporations.
But how do you know what tools you should focus on? That's where BotBuilders comes in.
BotBuilders is here to support you, providing the ultimate checklist to help you level up and harness A.I. to monetize your business:
Expand your business and allow you to do more
Improve the quality and quantity of your outputs
Save your precious time for higher value (and more enjoyable) activities
㊙️ Japanese Walking
The Trend: Whether it's Ozempic, pilates, or animal yoga (yes that’s a thing) the world is never not looking for new and exciting ways to stay in shape. That’s where Japanese walking comes in, the latest trend in the fitness space. This interval training-based approach to walking sees you speed up and slow down in three minute increments for 30 minutes. It’s simple, accessible and has captured the public’s attention just like the 12-3-30 Method did a few months ago. Another day, another fitness trend.
Opportunities:
Interval Walking App: A mobile app that guides users through 30-minute interval walks with audio cues, adaptive pacing, and post-walk analytics.
Walking Meditation App: Combines the Japanese Walking style with guided meditations for stress relief.
📺 Using AI to Create Studio-Level Commercials
The Tool: As we discussed last week, JSON prompting is great for getting AI to be more consistent with its output. And one area where that’s hugely helpful is in AI video generation. Which is how you can combine JSON prompting with VEO3 to create studio-level commercials. Here’s how.
Step-by-step:
Go to VEO3
Try out these example prompts to get you started from this thread and copy them into VEO3
Use these examples as starting points to generate and share your own ads
🎟️ Win a free ticket to INBOUND 2025 ($1,399 Value)
Tech conferences can be transformative for startups. But as a founder, you have to be strategic with your time, energy and capital.
That’s why we've teamed up with HubSpot for Startups to give away two free tickets to INBOUND 2025, HubSpot's globally renowned sales and marketing conference, to our readers.
With speakers like Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic), Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot co-founder), Colin Jost (Comedian and writer) and many more, this is not to be missed.
💬 Making +$150M from 2 Exits
The Idea: Jared Hecht was a fresh Columbia grad back in 2010 when he and his buddy Steve Martocci were prepping for a friend’s wedding. The problem? Their giant friend group was on different phones, BlackBerrys, iPhones, Androids, and coordinating anything over SMS was a nightmare. So they hacked together a cross-platform group text service over a single weekend. This was Jared’s first foray into business.
The Execution:
Summer 2010: They called it GroupMe and the MVP launched at TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. Users got a phone number for each group that forwarded texts to everyone. No app, just magic SMS.
Late 2010: Every new group chat instantly invited 5–10 friends to the platform. This viral growth hack meant the number of users skyrocketed.
January 2011: They raised $850k seed from SV Angel, First Round, and Chris Sacca.
August 2011: Just 370 days after launching, and with 2 million+ users, GroupMe was acquired by Skype for $80 million.
2014: Jared’s wife's cousin, the owner of successful sushi chain Fusian, repeatedly failed to secure a loan. So he launched Fundera, an MVP to help small businesses compare multiple loan offers side by side.
2015–2017: Fundera scaled via SEO and partnerships with accountants, creating a high-intent acquisition funnel.
2019: Raised $18M Series B led by QED and Khosla Ventures.
2020: Fundera was acquired by NerdWallet, folding into its SMB lending arm, for $29.2M plus up to a $66M Earn-Out.
The lesson? Most great founders don’t just have a single success, they have a second, third or even fourth act. Because being a great founder isn’t about luck, it’s a skill. A skill you can learn.
🔍️ Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: This tool is basically Lovable for marketers, which is super cool
📰 Headline: Anthropic reportedly nears a $170B valuation with potential $5B round
📚 Must-Read: Why levered beta is all you need
🎙️Must-Listen: The Acquired podcast’s episode on Google is incredible
💬 Founder Quote: “In a startup, absolutely nothing happens unless you make it happen.” Marc Andreessen (a16z founder)
🔦 Reader Spotlight
📊 TrendFynd: Adarsh is tracking Twitter signals before they trend. If you market or build, you’ll want in.
🔍 Doppio Labs: Pierre Gabaix is using AI agents to connect you with the right people, fast.
🐧 Dopamine Timer: Prathamesh Panse built a timer with a twist. Procrastinators, meet your penguin accountability buddy.
🏠 Pool: Akash Vijay is pulling back the curtain on fractional real estate.
😂 Caricature Maker: Atharv Tathe wants to turn your face into something... unforgettable. In a good way.
P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here!
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Smart Casket
Ever worry your funeral might be… boring? Wish you could keep your loved ones entertained long after you’ve kicked the bucket?
Introducing the Smart Casket™, the world’s first Wi-Fi-enabled, Bluetooth-compatible final resting place. It streams your Spotify playlists, live-tweets your own funeral, and even reminds your heirs to “smash that like button” before lowering you down.
Smart Casket™, because dying is permanent, but your online presence doesn’t have to be.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
Before you go just a few public service announcements:
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See you soon,
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