Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as often as corporate espionage scandals are popping up in the news 🕵️
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In today’s edition:
💡 A Hollywood trend that’s moving into Silicon Valley
📈 Why AI-generated music is having a big moment
🛠 Using AI to guide you through iOS app development
🤑 Making $1M per month selling peanut butter on TikTok
🍻 A new way to increase your screen-time even further
🪞Cosmetic Surgery App
Face your future
Available Domain: Lift.ai
The Problem: Cosmetic surgery, once the domain of red carpets and tabloids, has quietly gone mainstream. And this increase in demand is why the global aesthetic surgery market has ballooned to a TAM of over $75 billion, with one unlikely group driving much of this increased demand…tech workers. That’s right, surgeons in Silicon Valley are reporting a huge rise in face-lifts, neck lifts, and eyelid surgeries among men working in tech. Which got us thinking, with all of this demand for cosmetic procedures, why not create an app to see how they could change someone’s appearance? Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
In a line: An AI-powered app that provides hyper-realistic “before and after” simulations of cosmetic procedures
Product:
📱 A user downloads the app and creates a profile, providing their age, concerns, and desired outcomes.
🤖 Using their phone’s camera, the user scans their face, and the app’s AI creates a medically accurate 3D model. They can then “try on” various procedures, from face-lifts to fillers, with hyper-realistic visualizations.
👨⚕️ The app connects users with a curated network of top-rated plastic surgeons in their area, allowing them to book consultations and share their simulations directly with the doctor.
Business Model: A freemium model where the basic visualization tool is free, with a lead generation fee charged to surgeons for each new patient acquired through the platform.
End Goal: Sell to a major player in the aesthetics industry (like Galderma) for a 4-6x revenue multiple.
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🎵 AI-generated Music is Having a Moment
The Trend: AI-generated music has been around for a while. But in the last few weeks, the space has hit a few big milestones. Platforms like Suno (which just crossed $150M ARR by the way) are now capable of creating music that’s almost indistinguishable from human-created music for the average listener, per this paper. And with OpenAI launching their own music generation model soon, this space is only just getting started. AI Spotify coming soon…
Opportunities:
AI-Powered Music Education: An interactive platform that uses AI to teach music theory, composition, and instrument playing.
AI Ghostwriting for Musicians: A service that helps artists and songwriters overcome creative blocks by generating musical ideas, chord progressions, and lyrical snippets in their style.
⚒️ Using AI to Guide you Through iOS App Development
The Tool: There’s never been a better time to build a mobile app. Combining the building power of AI with the organic reach of TikTok means it’s never been easier to build a viral app, once you can actually build one of course. Here’s how you can use to coach you through building an iOS app.
Step-by-step:
Go to ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude
Enter this prompt into your model of choice
Follow the guide step-by-step and build your first app
🤖 The Simplest Way to Create and Launch AI Agents and Apps
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With Lindy, you can build AI agents and apps in minutes simply by describing what you want in plain English.
From inbound lead qualification to AI-powered customer support and full-blown apps, Lindy has hundreds of agents that are ready to work for you 24/7/365.
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🥜 Making $1M per Month Selling Peanut Butter on TikTok
The Idea: When Erika Mount and her partner Craig Mount moved back to their home state of South Dakota after living in Colorado, they missed one simple thing: fresh-ground peanut butter. Instead of going without though, they bought a used commercial grinder for $800 on eBay, repaired it, and started making their own. And after a simple post on Facebook to see if friends and family wanted any, they were overwhelmed with orders. This was the beginning of Nerdy Nuts.
The Execution:
2019: Nerdy Nuts officially launched as a small-batch, handmade peanut butter company. Operating out of their kitchen, they became a hit at the local Black Hills Farmers Market.
2020: The company embraced a “product drop” model inspired by streetwear brands like Supreme. In June, they launched limited-edition flavors and experimented with Instagram influencers, hitting $27,000 in monthly sales. The real explosion came in July when they shifted to TikTok. After sending free peanut butter to just two creators, their videos went viral, rocketing sales to $165,000 for the month.
2021-2023: Nerdy Nuts continued to master its TikTok strategy, with videos regularly hitting 5 to 25 million views. This organic, influencer-driven growth propelled them from a $50,000-a-year side hustle to a powerhouse. They opened a storefront in Rapid City in 2023, solidifying their transition from a viral sensation to a physical brand.
2024-2025: The company reached $16 million in annual revenue. Craig invested $4 million in a peanut butter cup machine, betting on a new product line to take on giants like Reese's. They now dominate TikTok Live, with Craig hosting 9-hour sessions that bring in $40,000-$50,000 each, totaling over $1 million a month.
All of which goes to prove that if you can find the right platform and authentically connect with an audience, you can turn a kitchen hobby into a multi-million dollar empire.
🔍 Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Mistral AI just launched “Studio”, a platform for companies to move from AI prototypes to production-ready apps.
📚 Must-Read: Amjad Masad’s “how to keep winning” is a must-read for every single founder out there.
✖️ Trending Tweet: Here’s every single product OpenAI is working on.
🧬 Science Corner: New quantum research reveals time doesn't move forward but folds onto itself, meaning your present actions might already be reshaping your past. Probably not a big deal…
💬 Founder Quote: “Speed is the ultimate feature.” Guillermo Rauch (Vercel)
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Keychain Games Console
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