Startup Ideas #424: Aura for X, AI Plush Toys...

Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as Hank Green’s new focus app 🧑‍💻 

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:

• 💡 Taking a leaf out of the Aura playbook

• 📈 How AI is coming for childhoods

• 🛠️ Using AI to record workflow videos

• 🤑 Making $100M in 10 hours

• 🍻 Making gym creators even more annoying

📈 Aura for MRR

ARR You Impressed?

The Problem: As we covered in the last edition of Half Baked, the Aura running app is blowing up right now. It allows users to share cinematic, vibey screenshots of their runs, and everyone is trying to get an invite code to use it. Which got us thinking…what else do people like sharing screenshots of online? And if you spend more than 5 minutes on founder Twitter, you quickly get your answer…ARR/MRR screenshots. Founders love sharing these screenshots, and they get a ton of engagement. So why not build Aura but for MRR? Here’s what we have in mind.

The Solution:

• In a line: An app for founders to create and share high quality, cinematic ARR/MRR screenshots.

• Product:

  • 📲 Founders sign up and connect to their Stripe, Lemon Squeezy or Paddle accounts, or can manually input for their revenue metrics if they like

  • 📸 The app generates sleek, Aura-style auto-screenshots of their MRR updates

  • 🎖 Users can then share these screenshots in different dimensions to the relevant social channel

• Business Model: Freemium model

• End Goal: Sell to a company like AngelList for a 5–8x revenue multiple

🤝 How Frame AI Got Acquired by HubSpot

Last year HubSpot acquired Frame AI in one of their biggest acquisitions ever.

And on Aug 28, George Davis, the founder of Frame AI, is giving an exclusive fireside talk on scaling an AI startup from idea to acquisition.

Discover how to build an AI-native company buyers can’t ignore, navigate M&A with confidence, and thrive through AI hype cycles from a founder that's been there and done it.

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RSVP now.

🧸 AI-Powered Stuffed Animals

The Trend: Stuffed animals are no longer just soft and cuddly. They’re getting brains, through the magic of AI of course. That’s why AI-powered plush toys like Poe the A.I. Story Bear and Curio’s Grok, Grem and Gabbo toys (in the image), are hitting the market, letting kids (and sometimes adults) talk to their toys. They can chat, get personalized bedtime stories, or even learn new skills through interactive play from these toys. It’s the nostalgia of toys meeting the intelligence of ChatGPT. Maybe this means we’ll get a real life Funzo this Christmas (minus the destruction hopefully).

Opportunities:

• AI Sleep Monitor Plushie: A plush toy that tracks sleep patterns, helps soothe with calming voices, and gives parents insights.

• Language-Learning Plushie: A toy that teaches kids new languages through conversation and games.

📹 How to Use AI to Record Workflow Videos

The Tool: AI automation workflow videos are blowing up online right now, where people are sharing their n8n, Zapier or Lindy workflows for automating business processes. And you can make big bucks by creating and sharing these videos online. So here’s how you can use AI to record and edit these videos in minutes.

Step-by-step:

1. Find a title for your workflow video by seeing what’s performing on X/YouTube

2. Document every step as you build your workflow (in n8n, etc)

3. Record your workflow using Tella (a screen recording tool that edits videos for you) where you can apply layouts, trims, and find mistakes automatically

4. Share your video on X, YouTube or anywhere else you fancy

Check it out (you can try Tella for free for 7 days by the way, no credit card needed)

🗄️ Compliance Made Simple for Startups

Achieving SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, or even ISO 42001 compliance can feel overwhelming. But Vanta makes it painless.

Trusted by 12,000+ companies, Vanta automates up to 90% of the compliance process, offers real-time monitoring, and streamlines audits so you can get certified in weeks, not months.

And we've teamed up with Vanta to offer a collection of resources for startups, including step-by-step compliance checklists and case studies from fast-growing startups. It's an incredible resource.

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📕 Making $100M in 10 Hours

The Idea: Alex Hormozi is basically the Michael Jordan of business, and is at the height of his powers right now. Why do we say this? Because this weekend he made around $100M in a single day through a live webinar where he sold his new book “100M Money Models” (apt title Alex). But Alex didn’t start by cashing 9-figure book checks. He started by sweeping the floors of his own failing gym that he started after leaving the consulting world. This is his story.

The Execution:

• 2013: Alex leaves his corporate job and opens his first gym. Scrappy beginnings - living in the back, sleeping on the floor, learning sales the hard way.

• 2014–2015: Alex expands to six gyms, experimenting with marketing playbooks, offers, and client acquisition strategies that consistently beat the competition.

• 2016: He pivots and launches Gym Launch with his wife Leila. Instead of opening more gyms, they teach gym owners how to get customers. The “done-for-you” playbook takes off.

• 2017–2018: Through bold direct-response ads and aggressive customer acquisition tactics, Gym Launch hits $24M revenue in two years without outside funding.

• 2019: Alex publishes his first frameworks and starts building a reputation as the “systems guy” in the fitness space.

• 2021: Alex sells a majority stake in Gym Launch to private equity firm American Pacific Group, personally netting $46M. With Leila, he starts Acquisition.com, a holding company for scaling founder-led businesses.

• 2021–2023: Alex self-publishes $100M Offers and $100M Leads. His content flywheel (YouTube, podcast, Twitter) makes him a household name in entrepreneurship.

• 2025: He launches $100M Money Models with a record-breaking live webinar, reportedly generating ~$100M in a single day. Acquisition.com portfolio companies surpass $200M in annual revenue. Baller.

Hormozi’s story shows that the real wealth isn’t in the first business you build, it’s in turning your hard-won skills into systems that scale beyond you. He’s clearly a future hall of famer, we could all learn a lot from him.

🔍️ Founder Finds

• 🛠️ AI Tool: This tool for creating AI video ads is pretty interesting, we’ll try it out and report back.

• 📱 Cool App: This app that lets you create a digital signature based on how you type your name is super cool.

• 📚 Must-Read: Why some people are too smart to succeed.

• ✖️ Trending Tweet: Interesting tweet from Brad Gerstner comparing OpenAI, Meta and Google’s climb to a $500B valuation.

• 💬 Founder Quote: “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” Henry Ford

🔦 Reader Spotlight

• 🌐 Rysa AI: Justin Kong is building a tool to transform Git commits into release notes, SEO-optimized blog posts, and social media content in seconds.

• 📱 Cadabra: Daniel N is working on a platform that enables users to effortlessly create and publish free apps using only prompts for both Google Play and the App Store.

• 🌌 Mission Cosmos: Aditya Goel is working on this platform offers an engaging way to explore astronomy through interactive features like mini-games, quizzes, and a 3D solar system map.

• 🧠 Aegis Notes: Jeremy is working on a privacy-first system that helps you build your second brain and manage your life with ease, even while offline.

• 💬 ContentLook: Florin Muresan is working on an innovative tool that transforms any website into a smart experience.

P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here!

🍺 Drunk Business Idea: The Gym Drone

• Love filming yourself training at the gym to share with your 50 followers? Sick of inconsiderate gym goers walking in your shots?

• Introducing FlexiFly™, the gym drone that never skips leg day (even if you do). It hovers, it tracks, it films, and it posts your workout videos completely automatically. And don’t worry, the buzzing is only mildly annoying to everyone else in the gym.

• FlexiFly™ – do you even lift…off?

Vote

• ✅ Shut up and take my money

• ❌ It’s a no from me dawg

👋 That’s All Folks!

Before you go just a few public service announcements:

• Have an idea you want feedback on? DM me to discuss it or book in for Office Hours here.

• Looking to sponsor Half Baked? Just fill out this form and we’ll get back to you asap.

See you soon,

John and Darragh | The Half Baked Team