Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. 👀
In today’s edition:
💡 A platform badly needed in the current jobs market
🛠 Using the “smoke test” method to validate a startup idea
🔋 Turning a failed social network into a €5.3B business + more
🔍 A16z, Claude code, Sam Altman + more
🍻 A product to 10x your mouth hygiene
Let’s goooo 🚀
💸 $1,000 Giveaway: This week we’re partnering with Lindy to give away $1,000 to support one of you on your founder journey. To enter just:
Reply to this email with something you’ve used Lindy for
Good luck!
🪧 AI for Laid-off Employees
A good goodbye
Available Domain: Waypointer.com
The Problem: The job market is in a weird place right now. Unemployment is sitting at 4.4%, and companies (particularly in tech) are posting record profits, yet layoffs seem to be happening left, right and center. For some employees though (cough cough…Executives and VPs) it’s not too bad, since companies pay for outplacement services to help them find new roles (at a cost of $3000-$10,000 per employee by the way). But what about everyone else? The other 95% of staff get a goodbye email and a month of severance. That’s about it. It’s time to give companies a toolkit they can offer to all of their laid-off workers to help them to take back control over their careers. Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
💡 The Idea: An AI-powered "Severance Agent" that companies buy for laid-off employees to rewrite their resumes, auto-apply to jobs for them, and help them find a new role in record time.
🛠️ Product:
Sign up with your LinkedIn profile or upload your existing resume, and within minutes the AI analyzes the user’s career history, identifies transferable skills, and generates multiple tailored resume versions optimized for different target roles
The user can activate "Job Hunter Mode" to launch intelligent outbound campaigns where the platform identifies companies hiring for their target roles, researches the hiring managers, crafts personalized outreach messages, and manages multi-touch sequences across LinkedIn and email
Users can also practice interviews by completing voice sessions that simulate real interviews for your specific target companies and roles, with the AI providing instant feedback on content, delivery, and confidence.
💼 Business Model: Companies buy seats in bulk (e.g., $150 per departing employee) to provide 3 months of platform access as part of severance packages.
⭐ End Goal: Sell to Rippling, Deel, or Gusto (HR Platforms) as a native "Offboarding" feature to close the loop on the employee lifecycle, potential 8-10x revenue multiple.
Rate this idea
🤖 AI that works like a teammate, not a chatbot
Describe what you need done, and Lindy builds custom AI agents that qualify your leads, draft your reports, handle customer support, and knock out the busywork eating up your team's day. No coding. No complexity. Just results.
What you can automate with Lindy:
Sales agents that qualify leads and book meetings while you sleep
Support agents who resolve tickets instantly across phone and chat
Ops agents that turn hours of manual work into minutes
Start free with $20 in credits today and get up and running in minutes with Lindy’s 6,000+ integrations.
💨 Using the “Smoke Test” Method to Validate a Startup Idea
The Tool: Building a product before validating it is the #1 mistake most founders make. That’s why it’s critically important to prove people will actually pay for your idea before you start building, and one way to do that is through running a "Smoke Test". Here’s how to run one.
Step-by-step:
Add a Buy Now button, but instead of a checkout, link it to a generic "Sorry, we're at capacity" email capture form. The key is to capture intent to buy.
Run $50 - $100 of Reddit or Facebook ads targeting your specific niche to drive traffic to the page.
Measure the clicks on the Buy button. If strangers try to pay you, you have a business. If they don't, you saved yourself 6 months of work.
Try it out for yourself!
❓ Business is Unpredictable. Your Internet Shouldn’t Be.
Running a business means dealing with constant uncertainty. But one thing you can control is your internet provider.
That’s why we’re teaming up with T-Mobile for Business. Their 5G business internet gives companies a way to simplify connectivity and keeps teams running smoothly.
With T-Mobile for Business, you get:
Fast, dependable 5G internet built on America’s largest 5G network
Connectivity that scales easily as you add locations or devices
Real support from real experts, available 24/7/365
👉 See if your business qualifies (it takes 5 seconds).
🔋 Founder Fuel
🤑 The Money Shot: These guys turned a failed social network into a €5.3B business. Here’s how.
📈 Trends with Benefits: The inverse relationship between entrepreneurship and hiring rates is striking. Gonna be a lot more entrepreneurs in the future!
💬 Prompt Drop: Here are 10 Powerful Claude prompts to help you build your business.
🆓 Free Resource: Google’s new (and free) AI learning platform is definitely worth a look.
💵 Deal of the Day: OpenAI is preparing to launch a holiday referral campaign for ChatGPT. We’ll let you know once it drops…
🔍 Founder Finds
❓A16z's investors gave their takes on the biggest problems builders will tackle in 2026. Here’s the full list.
5️⃣ Sam Altman looks for 5 things in a founder. Here they are.
🎧 James Dyson is one of the great inventors of our age. This interview with him is really good.
🚶♀️ Startup Grind and The Hustle are hosting a “Founder Walk & Talk” in New York tomorrow. Swing by if you’re in the area!
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Toothbrush x Camera
Ever wonder what's really going on inside your mouth? Tired of your dentist judging you when you clearly have no idea what they're seeing?
Introducing OralEye™, the world's first toothbrush with a built-in 4K camera so you can finally witness the horrors your molars have been hiding. Livestream your brushing routine to concerned family members, or just use it to settle once and for all whether you actually reached those back teeth.
OralEye™ - brace yourself.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
Before you go just a few public service announcements:
Looking to sponsor Half Baked? Just fill out this form and we’ll get back to you asap.
See you soon,