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Startup Ideas #435: BYOBike, Fusion...
Plus Turning a WhatsApp Group into a Unicorn
Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as Anthropic’s $13B raise (yay more cheap tokens) 🤑
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:
💡 Making a premium fitness experience more accessible
📈 Is fusion about to have its moment in the sun?
🛠️ How to use AI to generate a PRD
🤑 Turning a WhatsApp group into a unicorn
🍻 Creating the most natural, unprocessed version of an everyday product
🚲️ Spin Bike Transformation Kit
Watt an idea
Available domain: Spinergy.co
The Problem: Peloton famously proved that people love immersive, guided spin workouts. But it also proved that not everyone can afford them. A Peloton Bike starts at around $1,500, before you even tack on the $44/month all-access fee. That pricing locks the average rider out of the experience. Meanwhile, millions of people already own a basic stationary bike, or can pick one up for under $200, but have no way to access the same kind of coaching, community, and accountability without breaking the bank. If Peloton is Apple in this market, someone needs to build the Android product. Here’s what that looks like.
The Solution:
In a line: A low-cost HR strap, cadence sensor kit and AI coaching app that turns any stationary bike into a Peloton-like, adaptive training experience.
Product:
📲 Download the app, make a profile, and pair Bluetooth/ANT+ HR + cadence in under a minute.
🧠 An AI coach calibrates to your baseline (from a 6-minute ramp) and auto-adjusts intervals live from your HR/cadence to hit the right zones. No smart bike required.
🎬 Stream on-demand classes and coach-led “adaptive rides” that speed up/slow down effort based on how your body is responding in real time.
👥 Group rides + leaderboards for accountability, with streaks, FTP-style progress tracking, and creator-led “programs” that unlock when you hit milestones.
Business Model: Hardware margin + subscription (freemium app, Pro version with coaching & classes $12–$20/mo)
End Goal: Sell to a strategic buyer like Peloton/iFIT.Garmin/Wahoo at a 6–10× ARR multiple
Rate this idea: |
💰️ Keep Your Deal Alive
Big deals die slow, painful deaths. First, it’s the “quick security questionnaire.” Then, “We’ll need to see your SOC 2 report.” Suddenly, weeks turn into quarters, momentum fades, and your champion stops replying.
Delve flips the script. Our AI-powered platform gets you audit-ready in just 15 hours. No late nights, no armies of consultants, no derailed roadmaps.
It’s working for founders like:
Lovable — zero to SOC 2 in days.
Bland — $500K ARR unlocked in 7 days.
11x — $1.2M ARR closed faster, 143 hours saved.
Don’t let compliance be the deal-breaker. With Delve, it’s done before your deal starts to flatline. Save Your Deal.
Book your demo now and get 1k off with code HALFBAKED1KOFF.
☢️ Is Fusion Having a Moment?
The Trend: For the last 50 years nuclear fusion has been the technological equivalent of your friend who’s “just 5 minutes away”….claims to be just around the corner, but in reality is a long way away. But recently the space has seen some renewed interest. Just last week Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) raised $863M, meanwhile companies like TAE, Helion, Pacific Fusion, General Fusion and others I’m too lazy to list have all raised over $100M to try and make fusion a reality. Why the renewed interest? Like everything in 2025, all roads lead back to AI, and since scaling compute for AI will require huge amounts of energy, fusion could be the energy source to power the future
Opportunities:
Fusion Simulation Software: SaaS tools for startups and researchers to run fusion plasma simulations faster and cheaper.
Specialized Fusion Investor Data Platform: Crunchbase-style tool showing who’s funding which fusion startups, patents filed, and tech readiness levels.
📄 How to Use AI to Generate a PRD
The Tool: Whether you're a product manager needing to communicate clearly with developers, or a startup founder preparing to build your MVP, you need to create a professional-grade Product Requirements Document (PRD) to make sure you build the product you want. Here’s how you can use AI to create one.
Step-by-step:
Go to ChatGPT
Copy in this prompt and wait for it to prompt you (the prompter becomes the prompted…)
Enter your product requirement requests and let the AI generate the doc for you
🗄️ The Ultimate Cloud Storage Solution for Ambitious Founders
All it takes to build the next big thing is a laptop and an idea. But what happens when your hard drive gives up on you?
That’s where Total Drive comes in, the ultimate cloud storage solution for founders. It comes with:
🔒 Automatic & Manual Backup: Keep every doc, deck, and design safe in the cloud
🔄 Seamless Sync: Access files across desktop and mobile instantly
🗂️ Smart Organization: Auto-sort galleries, albums, and playlists
🚀 Instant Sharing: Send links with password protection
No caps. No limits. Just peace of mind while you build the future.
Start today and get 80% off.
🎓 Turning a WhatsApp Group into a Unicorn
The Idea: Back in 2015, Felix Ohswald was a 21-year-old math prodigy studying quantitative finance in Vienna. His younger brother though was struggling with schoolwork, so Felix set up a WhatsApp group where his brother and classmates could ask and answer questions. What started as a quick fix for one kid’s homework problem suddenly attracted hundreds of students. Alongside his friend Gregor Müller, Felix realized there was huge demand for accessible online tutoring, and GoStudent was born.
The Execution:
2016: Launched GoStudent.org as a free homework-help app. Grew quickly in user numbers but struggled to monetize.
2018: Pivoted to a subscription-based tutoring model - think “Netflix for tutoring.” This was the real breakthrough.
2019: Expanded beyond Austria into Germany, France, Spain, and the UK. Growth hack: a huge outbound salesforce cold-calling parents directly.
2020: Raised a $13m Series A from Left Lane Capital. COVID-19 lockdowns turbocharged adoption as schools shut down.
2021: Raised a $70m Series B, followed just months later by a $244m Series C led by DST, SoftBank, and Tencent. Valuation hit $1.7B, making GoStudent Austria’s first edtech unicorn.
2022: Went global with 22 offices, operations in 20+ markets. Acquired Tus Media (Spain), Seneca Learning (UK), and Fox Education (Austria).
2023: After hypergrowth, trimmed staff and shifted focus from blitzscaling to sustainable unit economics.
GoStudent shows that sometimes the billion-dollar idea is hiding in plain sight. A simple WhatsApp group spiraled into a unicorn because the founders listened to where demand naturally pulled them.
🔍️ Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Freepik uses AI tools to generate and edit images, videos, and audio. Totally worth a look.
🎁 Free Resource: Here are 7 prompts Tom Bilyeu (Quest Nutrition Founder) uses to run his business.
📚 Must-Read: Tesla’s “Master Plan Part IV”, while a little vague, is still worth checking out.
✖️ Trending Tweet: The quickest way to get to $10K per month according to Twitter.
💬 Founder Quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going. The only way out is through.” Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post/Thrive Global)
🔦 Reader Spotlight
🎓 Spindle: Matthew is building a platform for AP Computer Science Principles students, teachers, parents, and self-learners.
💰 Trackkaro: Ayaan is building a cash tracking app that allows users to capture their expenditures by taking a picture, entering an amount, or using a voice note.
⚡️ Boro Dev Agency: Kurt runs a service that helps startups rapidly turn their ideas into functional software within just five days
📚 OpenCourse: Lucky is working on a platform that provides free courses and certificates using content from top universities
📄 Signdeer: Vincent is building a platform that helps teams streamline document management by unifying eSignatures, smart forms, and automated approvals
P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here!
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Unprocessed Water
Processed foods are enemy #1 in the health space right now. So riddle me this…why are you polluting your body with highly processed water?
Meet Primal Water™ - the only water untouched by the sinister hand of modern processing. Straight from nature’s faucet…unfiltered, unpasteurized, un-anything.
Primal Water™ - because cholera builds character.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
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