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- Startup Ideas #442: Hair Loss, Healthcare Admins...
Startup Ideas #442: Hair Loss, Healthcare Admins...
Plus From College Dropout to $50M EdTech Empire
Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as often as perplexity raises money (they got $200M this time) 💰️
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:
💡 A hair-brained idea? We think so
📈 The real problem with the US healthcare system
🛠️ Using Google’s Opal to generate product videos
🤑 From college dropout to $50M edtech empire
🍻 How to get by on a rainy day
👨🦲 Hair Loss Prevention App
Hair today, gone tomorrow
Available domain: Manetain.co
The Problem: As a man, getting older comes with plenty of worries. But the biggest one? Hair loss. It’s slow. It’s sneaky. Andby the time most people notice they're going bald, they've already lost 25-50% of their hair. That’s why the global hair loss treatment market is worth $8.2 billion. Early intervention is key, but how do you track something that changes so slowly you can't see it happening? Your bathroom mirror isn't exactly giving you objective data. It’s time to build an app to do exactly that. Here’s what we have in mind.
The Solution:
In a line: An AI-powered app that tracks hair loss progression through photos and provides personalized prevention recommendations before it's too late.
Product:
📸 Users take standardized photos of their scalp weekly. The AI analyzes hair density, hairline recession, and crown thinning with clinical precision.
📊 The app detects hair loss patterns months before they're visible to the naked eye and sends alerts when intervention is recommended.
💊 Based on your hair loss pattern, genetics (optional DNA upload), and lifestyle factors, the app recommends treatments from topical solutions to lifestyle changes.
👨⚕️ When significant changes are detected, users can instantly book consultations with hair loss specialists through the platform.
Business Model: Freemium model with revenue share with partner clinics (if a user is referred) and affiliate commissions on recommended products.
End Goal: Get acquired by a business like Hims which use the app as a way to bring in new customers
Rate this idea: |
📚 The $0–$10K E-commerce Playbook
As you might have heard (since we keep mentioning it) we’ve teamed up with Shopify to run our Founder Lab accelerator.
Registering for the accelerator gets you loaded with bonuses: D2C playbooks, the $100M Idea Vault and $50 True Classic coupons. Today we’re giving you one of those.
In the playbook you’ll learn:
👉 A framework to score and rank your ideas (with bonus ideas you can steal)
👉 The key metrics every e-commerce founder needs to know
👉 Learn the 5 validation techniques you can use to choose your idea
So if you’re serious about starting an e-commerce business, claim your free e-book and sign up for the accelerator today.📚 The $0–$10K E-commerce Playbook
📋 Healthcare's Real Problem in One Chart
The Trend: To paraphrase Ben Franklin, there are three certainties in life…death, taxes and the fact that the US healthcare system is a mess. Now a lot of people blame rising healthcare costs on greedy doctors and expensive procedures. But Bureau of Labor Statistics data tells a different story. Since 1970, healthcare administrators have grown by over 3,000% while physicians have barely doubled, meaning for every doctor treating patients, there's now an army of administrators shuffling paperwork. We've built a healthcare system where more people manage care than actually provide it. This is a huge area where innovation is needed.
Opportunities:
Admin Automation for Hospitals: AI-powered platforms that eliminate redundant administrative roles and streamline healthcare bureaucracy.
Direct-Pay Medical Networks: Subscription-based healthcare that cuts out insurance middlemen and their administrative overhead entirely.
📺 How to Use Opal to Generate Product Videos
The Tool: Google has been on fire lately. Nano Banana was a huge hit. They seem to be launching new products almost everyday, like Firebase Studio and Stitch. And one of their recent launches is a tool called Opal, Google’s tool for building mini-AI apps and agents. It’s pretty slick, and here’s how you can use it to generate product videos.
Step-by-step:
Go to Opal and login with Google (shocking I know)
Pick the “Video Marketer” app or create your own if you like
Press start, input your product name and describe the target audience in the prompting window
Wait for your video to generate
🩺 Your Health is Your Wealth
As a founder, you obsess over company's metrics. Revenue, run rate, churn. But what about your most valuable asset? Your health.
That's where Function Health comes in.
Function Health is a tech unicorn that offers a groundbreaking health membership that gives you access to 160+ lab tests and advanced, FDA-cleared MRI scans, all designed to detect diseases before symptoms appear for a few hundred dollars per year. Oh and scans take just 22 minutes.
Because no amount of wealth matters without your health.
🧠 From College Dropout to $50M EdTech Empire
The Idea: Back in 2012, Sue Khim was a University of Chicago dropout with a failed startup behind her. Her first venture, Alltuition, had tried to fix the broken student loan process but never gained traction. Instead, she had a revelation while thinking about her transformative college experience: what if she could recreate the intellectual community that had shaped her, but online and accessible to millions? That question led her to start Brilliant.org.
The Execution:
2012: Launched Brilliant as a math problem-solving community from her apartment. Started with super-hard problems that attracted 100,000 hyper-enthusiasts.
2013: Won the LAUNCH Festival competition despite VCs making horrible comments, like she was "indistinguishable from 50 other Chinese people".
2014: Secured Series A funding from Social Capital after meeting Chamath Palihapitiya.
2015: Pivoted to community-generated content when newcomers were getting intimidated and leaving the platform.
2016: Grew to over 3 million users by letting the community create problems, solutions, and educational content.
2017: Expanded to 40 STEM courses serving diverse learners from college students to job seekers.
2018: Reached 7 million users with freemium model ($120/year premium subscriptions).
2019: Hit $50M valuation with $27M raised, expecting $10M+ annual recurring revenue.
2021: Closed $40M Series B led by Next47 and Celesta Capital, proving global STEM education could scale profitably.
The lesson? Your biggest obstacles can become your greatest strengths. Sue faced discrimination, but her determination to prove the doubters wrong saw her through.
🔍️ Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Replit just launched Agent 3, which they’re calling the “Full Self-Driving” moment of software.
🚨 Raise Alert: Replit also just raised a cool $250M funding round. I’m not jealous, you’re jealous…
🎁 Free Resource: HubSpot’s “200 AI-Powered Income Ideas” report is worth checking out!
🎙️ Must-Listen: Great episode of the founder’s podcast on “how Elon works”.
💬 Founder Quote: "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise." Ted Turner, Entrepreneur.
🔦 Reader Spotlight: Meet Brian
What are you building? I’m building Scam IQ, a smart tool that spots red flags in suspicious messages, helps people report scams, and teaches safer online habits.
How did you come up with the idea? It started with frustration. My elderly friends were getting scam texts daily, and sometimes even falling for them. I knew I had to build something.
Biggest challenge right now? The hardest part? Keeping it free and accessible, while still figuring out how to monetize without hurting usability.
How can Half Baked readers help? Try it out and share your honest feedback. Good, bad, or brutally helpful.
Connect with Brian: Brian on LinkedIn
P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here!
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Water Gun Umbrella
Ever get stuck behind slow walkers during a downpour? Tired of politely saying "excuse me" while getting soaked because Karen won't move her massive golf umbrella?
Introducing the Gunbrella™, the umbrella with a built-in water gun handle that lets you clear your path with precision hydro-blasts. Why wait for people to move when you can motivate them with a targeted stream of street puddle water?
Gunbrella™ - because sometimes being polite just gets you wetter.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
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