Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as hotly anticipated as Nvidia’s Q3 earnings (don’t let us down Jensen) 🙏
Our Hackathon Launch Event with Eric Simons, Bolt CEO, is happening in 15 minutes. Here’s your last chance to sign up, don’t miss out!
Let’s get into it 🚀
In today’s edition:
💡 An idea that could make serious bank
📈 AI is coming for the sporting world
🛠 Using Gemini to create viral growth tools
🤑 How three friends built a $20B business
🍻 An idea to prevent bathroom tragedy
👔 Investment Banking Hiring Simulator
Don't bank on it
Available Domain: Frontoffers.com
The Problem: Trying to break into investment banking is about as hard as breaking into a real bank these days. With acceptance rates at top firms like Goldman Sachs hovering around 1.5% (statistically harder to get into than Harvard), the pressure is crushing. But still, every year, thousands and thousands of young professionals spend countless hours prepping for investment banking interviews. How? They work through a Frankenstein prep stack of outdated PDFs for technicals, generic aptitude questions banks, and awkward mock interviews with roommates. There’s no single environment that replicates the real structure of a bank’s recruitment process of interviews, tests and more. That’s why someone needs to build one. Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
In a line: An AI-powered "flight simulator" that mirrors the exact end-to-end recruitment process of specific top-tier investment banks for aspiring young professionals.
Product:
🚀 Users sign up and select a specific "Track" (e.g., The Goldman Track, The Morgan Stanley Track) to ensure the assessment logic matches that specific firm's vendor choices.
📹 They progress through AI-graded video behavioral questionnaires and aptitude tests (numerical/verbal reasoning) that mimic the time pressure and UI of real provider platforms like Pymetrics or SHL used in investment banking recruitment processes.
📊 Users can also use build DCFs and LBOs in a simulated Excel environment on the platform where an automated engine detects logic errors, circular references, and formatting mistakes in real-time.
Prototyping:
Here’s the prompt we used to build it
Fork your own version of this app
Business Model: Sell seats to top MBA programs and target undergrad schools where investment banks hire from.
End Goal: Acquisition by a major professional education player (Wiley, Kaplan) or a financial community hub (like Wall Street Oasis) for a 5–8x EBITDA multiple.
Rate this idea:
🚨 Our Hackathon is Kicking Off in 30 Minutes
The Half Baked x Bolt Hackathon launch event is kicking off in a few minutes. At 1 PM PT | 4 PM ET | 9 PM GMT we’ll be speaking with Eric Simons, Bolt’s CEO about the hackathon and getting some insights on what you need to do to win.
By registering for the hackathon for free you'll get:
🚀 3 months of Bolt Pro free
💡 Startup Idea Vault
⚙️ Zero-to-Validation playbook
🔥 Private Discord Access
It’s time to build.
🥊 AI is Infiltrating Sports
The Trend: Autonomous machines are becoming the new athletes. From robot boxing leagues where AI-controlled mechanical fighters duke it out in the ring, to the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) where driverless race cars hit speeds of 180+ mph, AI is transforming sports into a battle of algorithms and engineering prowess. It's not just about human performance anymore, it's about who can build the smartest, fastest, most strategic machine. I wonder who the robot LeBron is going to be…
Opportunities:
AI Drone Racing League Platform: Launch a franchise-ready drone racing league where teams design autonomous racing drones that navigate obstacle courses at breakneck speeds.
AI Sports Management Agency: Represent robot teams and their engineers, negotiating sponsorship deals, media appearances, and endorsement contracts with tech brands wanting to showcase their AI capabilities.
🛠️ Using Gemini to Create Viral Growth Tools
The Tool: An incredibly effective way to generate leads for your business is to build cool little tools for your target audience. Think building a churn calculator for SaaS businesses, or a viral hook generator for marketers. The problem with this strategy though is that it takes a lot of time to actually build and deploy these tools. Well…it did. Here’s how you can use AI to build these tools super fast.
Step-by-step:
Go to Google AI Studio and prompt whatever tool you want to make. In this example we used this prompt to create a runway calculator for startups.
Tweak the tool and deploy the project when you’re happy with it
Share the tool across socials with a CTA to capture their email and put them through your sales funnel.
Check out the example tool we built.
🗣 Why 217,000+ People Switched to Oricle Hearing Aids
Customers everywhere are going nuts over Oricle Hearing Aids. And once you try them, you’ll “hear” why. These virtually invisible hearing aids are designed for everyday life, giving you crystal-clear sound that makes conversations easier and your favorite shows more enjoyable.
Forget expensive audiologist appointments and confusing prescriptions. With Oricle, you get reliable, OTC hearing aids for under $100 with wireless charging included.
Over 217,734 happy customers are already hearing the difference and saving thousands in the process. Don’t let high costs hold you back and experience better hearing the easy way.
🍞 How Three Friends Built a $20B Business
The Idea: Back in 2011, Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, and Jonathan Grimm were three friends working at Endeca (which had just been scooped up by Oracle). While grabbing dinner one night, they grew increasingly frustrated with the painful wait to pay the check (we’ve all been there). They looked at the clunky, grey terminals waiters were using - technology that looked like it belonged in the 90s - and thought the solution was a consumer app to let diners pay via phone (think "Venmo for restaurants"). But after pitching it to restaurant owners, they got a blunt reality check: owners didn't care about a consumer app. The real opportunity wasn't in making payment easier for the diner, but in rebuilding the restaurant's entire "operating system" from the ground up. And thus, Toast was born.
The Execution:
2011: The trio incorporates the company, working out of a basement in Cambridge, MA.
2012: They officially scrap the consumer payment app idea. The new MVP is an Android-based Point of Sale system. It’s cheaper than existing solutions, cloud-based, and mobile.
2013: Growth is manual and gritty. They use a "feet on the street" strategy, literally walking door-to-door to sign up local Boston cafes and bars. They hit their first 50 customers.
2016: They raise a $30M Series B. They start adding new features like payroll, inventory, and online ordering, becoming an all-in-one platform.
2020: The pandemic hits. Restaurant revenue drops 80% overnight. Toast is forced to lay off 50% of its staff.
Late 2020: A massive rebound. Toast rapidly deploys "Order & Pay" (QR code ordering) and handheld devices, effectively saving thousands of restaurants by enabling contactless dining. Their software becomes essential infrastructure.
September 2021: Toast goes public (IPO) on the NYSE. They raise nearly $900 million with a valuation of roughly $20 billion, turning their basement project into a hospitality giant.
2025: Toast now powers over 150,000 restaurant locations, continuing to dominate the US market.
All of which goes to prove that listening to your customer is more important than your original vision. If the founders had stubbornly stuck to their consumer payment app idea, they would have failed. But by listening to the restaurant owners' complaints about their backend systems, they pivoted and built an incredible company.
🔍 Founder Finds
🛠️ AI Tool: Ramp has just launched Ramp Sheets, an AI spreadsheet editor. Great for modelling budgets, forecasting revenue etc.
💰 Exit Alert: Adobe is about to buy Semrush for $1.9B.
📹 Must-Watch: Jensen Huang’s 3 minute response to whether or not we’re in an AI bubble.
✖️ Trending Tweet: Slash grew from $2m → $150m in revenue in 24 months. Incredible business.
💬 Founder Quote: “The dirty work no one wants to touch is usually where the biggest opportunities sit.” Ryan Peterson
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Squeeze Toothbrush
Always struggle to get that last bit of toothpaste out of the tube? Wonder why modern engineering gives us bridges and rockets but can’t get you that last bit of minty freshness on your toothbrush?
Meet Squeez™, the toothbrush with a built-in slot that wrings your toothpaste like it owes you money. Thread the tube, pull it through, and watch years of frustration dissolve instantly.
Squeez™ - it’s tooth good to be true.
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