Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as Sam Altman throws out astronomical AI build-out numbers 💸
Let’s get into it 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 Solving a painful workplace experience we’ve all had
📈 How VCs are killing startups
🛠 Using AI to automate your YouTube strategy
🤑 How a college dropout raised $3M to make memes
🍻 Bringing laundry into the 21st century
🗣️ AI-Powered Employee Satisfaction Insights
Byte-Sized Feedback
Available Domain: Heresay.ai
The Problem: We’ve all suffered through those dreaded employee satisfaction surveys. The endless checkboxes. The consistent lying. It’s no surprise then that response rates stall around 30–40% for these surveys in most companies. And even when people do answer, managers are left with a mess of responses that miss the “why” behind the data. It’s time for something better. Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
An AI-powered survey platform that chats with employees to capture deeper insights on employee satisfaction,
Employees receive a survey link and can chat or speak with an AI in real time (anonymously) which asks dynamic questions about their experiences at the company.
Managers get access to dashboards with real-time insights, summaries, and anonymized quotes highlighting recurring themes.
Check out our (super rough) demo
Rate this idea:
🚀 Building Compliance Into Early-Stage Growth
Compliance doesn’t have to kill innovation.
On Sept 30th (11am BST), join Vanta’s free webinar Secure from the Start with experts Tevin and Tom from Robin AI & Pavlov.
Learn how to kickstart SOC 2, ISO 27001 & GDPR readiness without friction, turn compliance into a growth weapon for sales + fundraising, and build a rock-solid security foundation that earns trust in competitive markets.
Founder-tested strategies, practical tools, and zero fluff.
⚰️ How “Kamikaze” Rounds are Killing Startups
The Trend: Everybody and their mother is raising venture money right now. But recently, more and more startups have been doing what Trae Stephens (Founders Fund) calls "Kamikaze rounds”. These are massive early funding rounds at huge valuations that startups struggle to grow into. The cycle goes like this: early promise → oversized round → huge valuation and growth targets → reality hits → down rounds → layoffs → death of the business. So whatever you do, don’t fly these kamikaze missions. Raise the amount you need at a valuation you can reach.
Opportunities:
Fundraising Advice Platform: A platform where founders can get independent advice on how much they should raise and at what valuation from third parties.
Financial Scenario Simulator: A SaaS tool that lets founders model different fundraising outcomes and see realistic downstream consequences (likelihood of down round, cash runway etc.).
📹 Using AI to Automate Your YouTube Strategy
The Tool: Every business should be doing YouTube content. Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table (including us, since we don’t do YouTube content…just yet at least). Here’s how you can use AI as your content strategist.
Step-by-step:
Go to Claude or ChatGPT
Paste this mega prompt into your LLM of choice
Refine the video concepts as needed
📦 The Easiest Way to Start your E-commerce Business in 2025
In our recent webinar with Ryan Bartlett, founder & CEO of True Classic (+$850M brand), we asked what he’d do if he were starting an e-commerce business today.
His answer? Dropshipping.
It’s the fastest way to test products, gain traction, and scale without big upfront costs. And the easiest way to start is with AutoDS. One-click imports, automated fulfillment, and trend-spotting tools are just some of the reasons why it's trusted by 8,000+ founders.
🤡 How a College Dropout Raised $3M to Make Memes
The Idea: Back in 2021, Jason Levin was studying English at Rutgers University in New Jersey. But Jason knew back then that he wanted to be a writer. So he decided to start a newsletter called Cyber Patterns and did some freelance writing for startups on the side too. A few months later and Jason was making around $5K per month, more than most of his professors. So he dropped out of college and eventually his love of writing and memes led him to create a meme creation SaaS tool that’s worth millions of dollars today. This is his story.
The Execution:
2022 - 2023: Jason kept growing his newsletter and Twitter following through sharing marketing insights, with a strong helping of memes on the side.
Early 2024: Jason went on to publish a book called "Memes Make Millions" which featured interviews with internet-famous meme aficionados. This made Jason a thought leader in the meme space (genuinely).
Sep 2024: Jason launched Memelord Technologies, an AI-powered meme creation tool. He went all in on memes.
2025: Jason and the team just raised $3M in funding to bring Memelord to the masses. God speed Jason.
The Lesson? You can literally write your own playbook and chart your own course when it comes to entrepreneurship. You just have to go for it.
🔍 Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: OpenAI just launched ChatGPT Pulse to proactively write you morning briefs.
🚨 Raise Alert: Doorstep raises $8M seed to help find missing food deliveries.
📰 Headline: YC just launched their “Early Decision” initiative. BNPL for founders?
📚 Must-Read: AI is now better than VCs at predicting startup success. Sorry guys.
💬 Founder Quote: “Don’t underestimate the power of persistence. You have to knock on 100 doors to get 1 open.” Kathryn Minshew (The Muse)
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Smart Laundry Basket
Tired of having to do the “smell test” on your clothes every Sunday night? Ever wish your hamper did more than just hoard your dirty socks?
Meet the Washket™, the world’s first laundry basket that actually cleans your clothes. Just toss in your dirties and watch as your hamper makes your laundry fresher than a summer breeze.
Washket™ - hampered no more.
Vote
🔦 Reader Spotlight: Meet Anuhya & Juan
What are you building? We’re building CareOasis, a platform that helps family caregivers actually get paid, from eligibility to payroll and compliance.
How did you come up with the idea? It started with my cofounder’s mom, who’s been a caregiver for 10 years, and realizing how outdated and overlooked this space really is.
Biggest challenge right now? The hardest part is that so many caregivers don’t even know they qualify. We’re on a mission to change that.
How can Half Baked readers help? Odds are you know a family caregiver. Tell them about CareOasis so they can finally access the support they deserve!
Connect with Anuhya & Juan: Anuhya on LinkedIn | Juan on LinkedIn
P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here!
👋 That’s All Folks!
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