Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as OpenAI’s Federal Backstop Scandal 👀
💸 Weekly Giveaway: This week we’re teaming up with the wonderful folks over at Lindy to give away $1,000 to one of our readers. To enter all you need to do is:
Go to this link and check out Lindy (it’s a great tool, we use it ourselves)
Reply to this email with the word “Lindy“
Winner will be announced next Monday 💸
Let’s get into it 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 An app to help you really lock in
📈 Why US startups are outperforming their peers (per Stripe data)
🛠 Using AI to name your business
🤑 The husband and wife duo who built a $4B business
🍻 A product every kitchen in the country needs
⏱️ Productivity Timer App
Locked in
The Problem: Being productive is ridiculously hard. That’s why the internet is flooded with productivity hacks, systems, and rituals…most of which are complete nonsense. But one trick that actually works? Timers. Alex Hormozi swears by his physical countdown clock, racing against it to finish tasks faster. I do the same with a massive timer on my screen, because when you see time slipping away, you feel the urgency to focus. But carrying around a physical timer isn’t ideal. So why not turn the biggest distraction in your life - your phone - into the solution? Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
In a line: A consumer app that puts your phone into a strict "countdown timer mode," blocking all functions except emergency calls for a user-defined period.
Product:
⏱️ A user downloads the app and sets a duration for their focus session and hits "Start session." The app initiates a full phone lockdown, making it impossible to access any apps, notifications, or non-emergency functions.
🚨 During lockdown, only incoming calls from whitelisted emergency contacts are permitted. All other notifications are silenced and held until the timer expires.
🎉 Once the timer ends, the phone returns to normal functionality, and the user is greeted with a summary of their focused time and the notifications they missed.
Prototyping:
Here’s the prompt we used to build it
Fork your own version of this app
Business Model: A freemium model with a one-time purchase for a "Forever" license (e.g., $9.99) that unlocks advanced features like recurring schedules and detailed focus analytics.
End Goal: Get acquired by a digital wellbeing giant (Calm/Headspace/Forest) at 6–10× ARR
Rate this idea:
⚒️ Using Lindy to Give Your Marketing Team Superpowers
What if your entire marketing workflow ran itself? With Lindy, it does. Their agents can research markets, analyze data, and generate creative that converts, all 100% automatically.
How it works:
Go to Lindy.ai and install their AI CMO agents - the Research Agent, Analysis Agent and Creative Agent
Once you’re in, follow each agent’s prompts, starting with the Research Agent
Sit back and relax while your marketing campaign comes together
Check out the full tutorial and claim $20 worth of free credits to try Lindy today.
🇺🇸 US Startups are Pulling Ahead of Their Peers
The Trend: US startups are killing it right now, and Stripe has the receipts. These charts from Stripe (shared by Patrick Collison) show average revenue growth for software startups across different geographies, and since mid-2023, US companies have been growing at a faster clip than similar sized startups in other countries. And no, this is not just because of AI startups. If you strip those out, there's still a big divergence. The reason? Well Patrick puts it down to the fact that US startups are adopting new technologies faster than companies elsewhere. Time for the rest of the world to catch up!
Opportunities:
AI-Powered Market Intelligence Platform for European VCs: A platform that uses AI to analyze the US AI startup ecosystem and identify emerging trends, technologies, and business models that can be replicated or adapted for the European market.
Global Startup Tech Stack Index: A public dashboard showing which tools (AI, payments, analytics, automation) are trending among top-performing startups by region, helping others benchmark and adopt faster.
📛 Using AI to Name Your Business
The Tool: Shakespeare famously asked…"what's in a name?” Well when it comes to your business, there’s a lot in a name, which is why it’s so important to get it right. Here’s how you can use AI to name your business.
Step-by-step:
Go to Untitled.new (it’s free FYI)
Go through the site’s 10 questions to get your name ideas.
Pick the name that best suits your brand.
💯 100+ ChatGPT Prompts to Revolutionize Your Day
Supercharge your productivity with HubSpot's comprehensive guide. This free resource is your fast track to AI mastery:
Industry-Specific Use Cases: 15+ real-world applications across various sectors
Productivity Guide: 21 best practices to 10x your efficiency with AI
Prompt Powerhouse: 100+ ready-to-use prompts for immediate implementation
Challenge Buster: Overcome common AI hurdles with expert strategies
Plus, in-depth sections on email composition, content creation, customer support, and data analysis.
🏠 The Husband and Wife Duo Who Built a $4B Business
The Idea: While renovating their 1950s ranch house in Palo Alto, Adi Tatarko and Alon Cohen, a husband-and-wife duo, found themselves buried in a pile of magazine clippings and contractor recommendations, yet unable to communicate their vision. They were shocked that in the age of the internet, there wasn't a single place to find beautiful home photos, connect with design professionals, and buy products all in one place. So, fueled by their own renovation nightmare, they decided to build it themselves from their kitchen table. This was the idea for Houzz.
The Execution:
2009: Adi and Alon launched Houzz as a side project, a simple site with a couple hundred photos to share with a small group of parents and local designers. It was a scrappy, community-focused MVP that grew entirely by word-of-mouth.
2010: The organic growth was undeniable. They secured their first funding, a $2 million Series A round and launched their first iPad app, which quickly became a hit.
2011: With hundreds of thousands of users, they caught the eye of Sequoia Capital, raising an $11.6 million Series B to scale the platform.
2013: Houzz launched its first monetization feature, Houzz Pro, allowing professionals to pay for premium placement, proving their community-first approach could pay off.
2014: The company went global, opening offices in the UK, Germany, and Australia. They also launched their marketplace, allowing users to buy products directly from the photos they loved, and raised a massive $165 million Series D, valuing the company at over $2 billion.
2017: Houzz raised another $400 million in a Series E round, pushing its valuation to $4 billion. They also launched their “View in My Room 3D” augmented reality feature.
Present: Houzz remains a private company and has over 40 million monthly users and a suite of software tools for the industry.
The lesson? Focus on building a great product around a passionate community first, then monetize. Because sometimes, with a great product and a little luck, if you build it, they will come.
🔍 Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Krea just launched Krea Nodes. Looks cool!
📊 Founder Data: This is the % of startups that die after seed, Series A, B etc. Startups are hard, man.
📚 Must-Read: How to decide when to sell your company, from Jason Fried.
✖️ Trending Tweet: Vercel’s CEO shared how to build a $9.3B company from 0.
💬 Founder Quote: "Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money.” Nat Friedman
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Tabletop Conveyor Belt
Ever get tired of saying “can you pass the salt” at dinner? Wish family dinners had the efficiency of a sushi restaurant?
Introducing Conveyr™, the world’s first dinner-table conveyor belt. Just load it up with plates, and watch your roast chicken do laps like it’s training for the Olympics. No more reaching, just revolving.
Conveyr™ - the food revolution starts here.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
Before you go:
Looking to sponsor Half Baked? Just fill out this form and we’ll get back to you asap.
What did you think of today's edition?
See you soon,