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Startup Ideas #430: Dream Journaling, AI Security...
Plus From $0 to $40M Exit in 5 Years
Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting engaged (in case you hadn’t heard) 💍
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:
💡 Capturing those sparks of creativity we all forget
📈 The area in AI we need more innovation in
🛠️ How to Use AI for Detailed Competitor Research
🤑 From $0 to $40M exit in 5 years
🍻 Sorting the posture problem once and for all
🌙 AI Dream Journal
REMember
Available domain: Lucidlog.ai
The Problem: The Theory of Relativity. Dalí’s paintings. DNA’s double helix structure. These aren’t just things I pretend to understand to seem smarter. In fact, all of these works and breakthroughs were inspired by dreams. Because dreams aren’t just random nonsense (sometimes at least). They’re packed with insights into our creativity, emotions, and subconscious patterns. Yet most people forget up to 90% of their dreams within minutes of waking, leaving behind potential story ideas, personal insights, or even sparks of innovation. It’s time to start logging them and get AI to decode them. Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
In a line : An AI-powered dream journal that records, transcribes, and interprets your dreams before they slip away.
Product:
📱 Download the app, set your bedtime reminder, and keep your phone nearby
🎤 Upon waking, record what you recall of your dream via a voice note (half-asleep mumbling welcome)
🤖 AI transcribes, cleans up, and organizes dream entries with themes, characters, and symbols
📊 Insights dashboard shows trends over time, recurring themes, even “dream personality” reports
Business Model: Freemium - free basic journaling, with paid subscription ($4.99–$9.99/month) for insights, trends, and AI dream interpretation.
End Goal: Sell to a meditation/mindfulness app like Calm, Headspace, or Insight Timer, or even to health/wellness data companies. Potential 7–10x revenue multiple.
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13 Million People Are Losing Weight With This App’s Scientific Method
Losing weight is hard, we all know it. But what if we told you there was a new approach that doesn't involve medication or strict diets?
Simple is a clinically proven weight loss tool that empowers users to achieve significant results through their app.
Their science-based method uses features like habit trackers, fasting schedules, and a personal coach to achieve lasting results. So far, they’ve helped 13 million users lose millions of pounds.
🔐 AI Security
The Trend: The internet is mutating fast. Every hour, there’s a new AI agent, a fresh browser, or a well-funded startup promising to “redefine” how we interact online. But with this wave of experimentation comes cracks in the system. Security vulnerabilities are popping up left and right. Take Brave dunking on Perplexity’s Comet browser for exposing user data, or the researcher who just uncovered a novel jailbreak in ChatGPT . The pace of innovation is outstripping the pace of security, which makes this an area full of opportunities.
Opportunities:
Red-Teaming as a Service: Platforms that let companies continuously stress-test their AI tools with simulated jailbreaks and adversarial prompts.
LLM Insurance Products: With AI-driven apps handling sensitive data, cyber liability policies tailored to LLM risks could become a must-have.
🕵️ How to Use AI for Detailed Competitor Research
The Tool: SWOT. Porter's Five Forces. Sentiment analysis. There are countless ways you can analyze your competition. And with these prompts you can analyze your competitors in 10 different ways in minutes. Here’s how.
Step-by-step:
Go to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any LLM you like
Copy and paste the relevant prompt (or all of the prompts , go nuts if you want) into a Google doc or a Word Doc
Replace any text in square brackets you need to and paste into your LLM to complete your analysis
💰️ Pipeline to Payday: Fundraising Secrets for Startups
Tired of vague advice and recycled startup clichés? So are we.
This 3-hour virtual event is where founders get real answers from top investors, operators, and those who’ve actually built, raised, and scaled.
In just 3 hours, you’ll:
See what today’s investors actually want (and what gets ignored)
Watch founders pitch live and get expert feedback in real time
Build your investor pipeline using AI, automation, and scalable tools
💰 And enter to win $75,000+ in cash prizes and startup resources.
Secure your spot now and learn what the top 1% of founders are doing in 2025 to raise capital, build investor momentum, and close your next funding round in the next 90 days.
🪒 From $0 to $40M Exit in 5 Years
The Idea: Tristan Walker grew up in Queens, New York, but found himself as an early employee at Foursquare after college. But while at Foursquare, Tristan had a problem no-one seemed to be solving. At the time no razor or shaving product on the market was designed for Black men and for their needs. So Tristan decided to take action on this idea and joined Andreessen Horowitz as an entrepreneur-in-residence. While there, he pitched the idea for his shaving system designed for men with coarse, curly hair. This was the beginning of Walker & Company and the Bevel brand.
The Execution:
2013: Tristan founded Walker & Company Brands with Bevel as the flagship product. Launched a direct-to-consumer safety razor system with oils, cream, and balm. Early marketing leaned heavily on storytelling and culture.
2014: After countless rejections from VCs who called the idea “too small”, Tristan raised $2.4M in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz (one of the first checks was from Ben Horowitz himself).
2015: Bevel raised a $24M Series led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), with participation from Upfront Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, and angels like John Legend and Magic Johnson.
2016: Bevel expanded into retail with Target distribution, proving that a direct-to-consumer startup could break into big-box stores while staying authentic.
2017: Grew the product line to include skincare and haircare, pushing toward Walker’s larger vision “to make health and beauty simple for people of color.”
2018: Walker & Company (which owned Bevel) was acquired by Procter & Gamble for $20M - $40M (details weren’t disclosed). Tristan became CEO of a P&G subsidiary, making him one of the few Black CEOs inside a Fortune 500 giant.
In the end Bevel proves that what looks like a “niche” problem can actually be a massive, overlooked market. When you design with empathy for the people ignored by incumbents, you can carve out your own success story in any market.
🔍️ Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Genspark just dropped their AI designer tool. Sweet.
📚 Must-Read: Packy McCormick’s essay on the "Electric Stack" and China and the USA’s differing approaches to it is really great.
✖️ Trending Tweet: This chart comparing gross margins across AI companies is fascinating (even if there’s one glaring omission called out in the footnotes…).
📊 Big Deck Energy: Check out Artisan’s $25M Series A deck which they just released.
💬 Founder Quote: “For a long time, it was just 50 people who didn’t think Pinterest was a bad idea.” Ben Silbermann (Pinterest)
🔦 Reader Spotlight
🎙️ Muse : Isaac Redford is building an AI-powered podcast search engine
💅 Polishly.art : Zach Goodbody is building an AI-powered content curation platform dedicated to the beauty space
🏤 Planbase: Oluwatobi Olarewaju is currently building an all-in-one platform where architects and designers upload, discover, and share their work.
🛠️ Quicktools: Zeeshan Ali is building a free toolkit with simple online utilities like URL shorteners, file converters, and more
🗺️ WNDR: Dunni is building a memorable way to explore your moments with loved ones and discover the stories behind each location.
P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here !
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Posture Chair
Slouching your way into chronic back pain? Starting to look like a human question mark because of your posture?
Meet the Posture Pro™ , the only chair that literally won’t let your neck escape. Its revolutionary headrest gently (aggressively actually) clamps around your throat to keep you upright, alert, and ready to pretend you’re paying attention at work.
Posture Pro™ – sit straight, or else.
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👋 That’s All Folks!
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