Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as Oracle’s $300B AI bet (bailout incoming?) 😬
In today’s edition:
💡 Taking inspiration from a mega viral product
🛠 Using "trend-jacking" to supercharge your SEO
🔋 Turning a YouTube channel into a billion dollar business + more
🔍 Disco launch, a16z, sperm racing raise, + more
🍻 A tool to stop scrolling once and for all
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 the word “Lindy“
Good luck!
☀️ DTC Sun Protection Patch Brand
Block it like it’s hot
Available Domain: Hotspots.shop
The Problem: If you’re a girl, or happen to know a girl, you’ve probably heard of Starface patches. These star-shaped pimple patches have been a big hit on TikTok, propelling the business into a $100M per year beauty brand. Through clever branding they managed to turn a boring accessory (pimple patches) into a must-have fashion accessory. Which got me thinking, could you do something similar with something like sun protection? A lot of us have moles we want shielded from the sun on beach days, and applying sunblock endlessly gets annoying. So why not create Starface, but for sun protection? Here’s what we’re thinking.
The Solution:
💡 The Idea: A playful, high-adhesion SPF 50+ patch (Z-oxide infused) that physically blocks UV rays on moles and other high-burn areas.
🛠️ Product:
A customer buys a packet of patches with 20 - 30 patches of different sizes.
They apply sun-shaped patches to any moles they are worried about on their bodies that are exposed to the sun. The patches are infused with mineral zinc and a UV-sensitive pigment that turns from yellow to purple when UV exposure hits a critical limit.
Once finished, patches are removed and disposed of.
🧑💻 Prototyping: Check out the landing page | Get the landing page prompt
💼 Business Model: A Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) subscription model sending monthly refill packs of patches, with a seasonal "Summer Surge" retail strategy in stores like Sephora and Ulta.
⭐ End Goal: Sell to a skincare brand like Supergoop! or Johnson & Johnson (Neutrogena) for a 5-8x revenue multiple as a Gen-Z focused portfolio expansion.
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🤖 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.
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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 "Trend-Jacking" to Supercharge Your SEO
The Context: Ranking for super competitive keywords on Google is a losing battle. But what about ranking for events that have just happened? That’s a much easier task. Here’s how you can “trend-jack” your way into ranking on Google.
Step-by-step:
Watch for news in your industry (e.g., a competitor shuts down, raises prices, or a new regulation passes).
Write a blog post on the news item e.g. "Salesforce increasing prices? Here are the 5 best alternatives for 2026." Since the news is fresh, there is limited keyword competition.
Publish your post and (hopefully) rank #1 immediately. The traffic is high-intent, fresh and should convert really well.
Give it a try!
❓ 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: You can turn a YouTube channel into a billion dollar business. Here’s how these guys did it.
📈 Trends with Benefits: It's going to get a lot harder for startups to raise venture capital in the coming years. Here’s why.
💬 Prompt Drop: Procrastination is a founder’s biggest enemy. Here’s a prompt to fight against it.
🆓 Free Resource: This Solo Founders Report gives a great summary of the state of the solo founder market in 2025. Super interesting read!
💵 Deal of the Day: AppSumo still have a few Black Friday deals live (like this one).
🔍 Founder Finds
🖱️ Google just launched Disco, a tool that reimagines browsing on the web. Looks very sick!
💡 a16z just released part 2 and part 3 of their series covering biggest problems builders need to tackle in 2026.
🏎️ Sperm Racing just raised $10M to build the next olympic sport. It’s a bubble.
🎨 Cursor now lets you design directly in your codebase. It’s a bad day to be Figma.
🚀 Google is also rolling out its built-in Gemini AI experience on Apple's iPhone and iPad. Maybe this means we’re getting a Siri that will work?
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Shock Case
Ever wonder where your evening went after "just five minutes" on TikTok? Tired of your screen time report making you feel bad?
Introducing ScrollShock™, the phone case that delivers a gentle (okay, not that gentle) electric zap every time you mindlessly scroll past the 10-minute mark. It's like having a tiny, judgmental personal trainer living in your palm. Finally, Pavlov's dog gets its revenge.
ScrollShock™ - shocking, right?
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
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