Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as The Age of Disclosure trailer dropping 🛸
Let’s get into it 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 An idea inspired by recent headlines
📈 Where the next flock of unicorns will come from
🛠 Using Manus to create full stack applications
🤑 Turning a weight loss journey into a $500M business
🍻 The ultimate airport accessory
💊 Cal AI for Supplements
Powder to the people
The Problem: If you like to keep up with protein powder news (who doesn't, right?) then you may have read recent reports that certain popular protein powders contain a lot more lead than they should. Wonderful. Our phones are poisoning our minds and our supplements are poisoning our bodies…that’s just great. But really, this is the kind of information we should all have to hand, right? So why not take inspiration from an app in an adjacent market (Cal AI) and built it for supplements? Here’s what we have in mind.
The Solution:
In a line: An AI-powered app that allows users to take photos of supplements and surfaces publicly available data on their purity levels
Product:
📱 A user downloads the app and creates a free account.
📸 They snap a picture of their supplement bottle. The app uses advanced image analysis and cross-references a proprietary database of thousands of independent lab tests to identify the product and its batch.
🔬 Within seconds, the user receives a detailed, easy-to-understand report highlighting potential risks for heavy metals (like lead, arsenic, and cadmium), microbial contaminants, or dosage inaccuracies, complete with links to the source data.
Business Model: A freemium model with advanced features (like tracking multiple supplements or historical analysis) and affiliate revenue from recommending certified-clean alternative products.
End Goal: Sell to a large consumer health company (like Bayer) for a 7–11x revenue multiple.
Rate this idea:
🧠 Why Everyone Needs a Side Hustle in 2026
Here at Half Baked we believe that everyone needs a side hustle. And lucky for us North, a payment technology powerhouse, agrees with us. Which is why we came together to write a short, free guide on why we think everyone needs to spin up a side hustle.
In the guide you’ll learn about:
The state of the job market in 2025
The different side hustle paths you can take
How to get started with your side hustle
🧬 The Next Giants of Silicon Valley
The Trend: While everyone’s laser focused on AI right now, there’s a super exciting, new kind of biotech company coming out of Silicon Valley. Quintin Frerichs, co-founder of Nudge, calls them “human enhancement companies.” Broadly, they’re companies working on improving lifespans, working on everything from portable read-write brain interfaces to turning stem cells into human eggs. And Quintin believes that one of these companies will become a >$100B household name in the coming years. We tend to agree.
Opportunities:
Digital Twin Simulator: A platform that provides digital simulations of your body that updates every time you do a blood test, DEXA scan etc. to predict disease risk.
Age Reversal Retreats: Luxury clinics in remote locations offering medically supervised rejuvenation programs - stem cell therapy, gene modulation etc.
🤖 Using Manus to Create Full Stack Applications
The Tool: Aside from ChatGPT, Manus is the AI tool we use the most. It’s a pretty epic, general purpose agent that can do almost anything from research to writing to…anything else you can think of. And Manus just released version 1.5 of their agent and with that the ability to build full stack applications. Here’s how to use it. (This isn’t sponsored btw, we just really like Manus).
Step-by-step:
Go to Manus.im and sign up for free if you don’t have an account
Prompt Manus to create your website or application. Here’s a cool example to try:
Wait a few minutes and your website will be ready (which you can then edit if you like)
💻 AI on the Go? Yeah, Dell’s Got That
The Dell Pro Max mobile lineup, built in collaboration with NVIDIA and powered by the RTX PRO GPUs, delivers desktop-level AI performance in a form you can actually take with you.
From model training to deployment, you’ll move faster, experiment more, and work wherever you need to be. No bottlenecks, and no desk required.
🥗 Turning a Weight Loss Journey into a $500M Business
The Idea: Back in 2016 Mari Llewellyn found herself at rock bottom, struggling with depression and her physical health. With the encouragement and support of her now-husband, Greg LaVecchia, she embarked on a fitness journey that would see her lose over 90 pounds and completely transform her life. As she documented her progress, she built a genuine community of followers and quickly realized there was a gap in the market for high-quality, delicious supplements for beginners. This was the idea for Bloom Nutrition.
The Execution:
2017: Mari posts her first transformation photo on Instagram. With only 900 followers, the post goes viral, and a community begins to form. Her first products aren't supplements, but simple workout PDFs and resistance bands, packed by hand from her dad's house.
2019: Mari and Greg officially launch Bloom Nutrition as a bootstrapped, direct-to-consumer business.
Early 2020: Bloom makes a strategic move onto TikTok, just as the platform is exploding. They launch their flagship “Greens & Superfoods” powder and partner with a small army of creators to promote the product.
May 2020: The brand has its first $1 million sales day. After selling out of their Greens powder, they build anticipation with a “Hype and Urgency” campaign, selling out again within 12 hours of restocking.
2023: Bloom expands into retail. The company’s revenue soars to over $170 million for the year
January 2024: After five years of being bootstrapped and profitable, Bloom secures its first major investment: a $90 million funding round led by Nutrabolt, valuing the company at around $500 million.
All of which goes to prove that powerful brands can be built on authentic stories. Sometimes the best way to sell product is to sell your story.
🔍 Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Anthropic just launched “Agent Skills”. Very cool.
💬 Killer Prompt: Use this prompt to find profitable business niches.
📹 Must-Watch: Dwarkesh just interviewed Karpathy. This is early Christmas for tech bros.
✖️ Trending Tweet: A FAANG engineer just dropped their vibe coding framework.
💬 Founder Quote: “Start small, start now, start ugly.” Noah Kagan (AppSumo)
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: SitCase
Find yourself waiting at airports a lot? Wish you had a place to sit that you could always bring with you?
Introducing the SitCase™ - the world’s first carry-on that carries you. It’s part suitcase, part folding chair, and fully committed to keeping you comfortable.
SitCase™ - sit tight before your flight
Vote
🔦 Reader Spotlight: Meet Padmagowri
What are you building? I’m building NudgeMath. A free step-by-step math app for Grades 4–6. Kids solve real problems like on paper, not multiple choice, with instant hints and feedback. Teachers and parents get automatic reports.
How did you come up with the idea? I saw kids memorizing, not understanding. With my background in software engineering and child psychology, I wanted to fix that.
How can Half Baked readers help? We’re offering NudgeMath free to schools, introductions to educators willing to try it would make all the difference.
Connect with Padmagowri: Padmagowri on LinkedIn
P.S: If you want your startup or project featured, click here!
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