Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as “slop” being named word of the year 😂
In today’s edition:
💡 Taking a brake from boring investments
🛠 Measuring product-market fit using the PMF test
🔋 Building a $100M ARR business + more
🔍 $2.5M raise, Paul Graham, Sergey Brin + more
🍻 Making walking 2x more efficient
Let’s goooo 🚀
📣 PSA: We’ll be taking a break from sending out the newsletter next week for the week of Christmas. Back to our regular schedule on December 29th. Let’s make this last week before the Holidays a great one!
🚘 Classic Car Investment Platform
Wheelie good returns
Available Domain: Motormint.co
The Problem: I don’t know about you, but I’m a big car guy. As a kid I was obsessed with them…collecting hot wheels, sticking car posters on my bedroom wall. And as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to appreciate another aspect of cars (classic cars of course)…the fact that they’re great investment vehicles (ahhh, get it?). Over the past decade classic and collectible cars have outperformed the S&P 500, with blue-chip vehicles appreciating 185% according to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index. So why aren’t more people investing in them? Well, it’s because most car enthusiasts (like me) don’t have a spare 6 figures to go and buy a classic car with as an investment. It’s time to democratize access to this asset class. Here’s how.
The Solution:
💡 The Idea: A fractional investment platform allowing users to buy shares in blue-chip classic cars or car restoration projects
🛠️ Product:
Users download the app, complete KYC/AML verification, and land on a "Showroom" dashboard displaying two distinct asset classes: "The Vault" (stabilized, high-value classics) and "The Shop" (active restoration projects seeking funding).
Users purchase fractional shares (e.g., $50/share) in a specific vehicle. For "The Shop" projects, investors receive video updates of the restoration process, gamifying the investment with content similar to YouTube channels.
Investors can trade shares on a secondary marketplace after a lock-up period, or wait for the "Liquidation Event," where the appreciated or fully restored car is sold at a major auction (e.g., Barrett-Jackson, Bring a Trailer), with profits distributed to shareholders.
🧑💻 Prototyping: Try the demo | Get the demo prompt
💼 Business Model: Take a 1-2% annual management fee on assets under management (AUM) and a 10-20% "carried interest" fee on the profits realized when the car is sold.
⭐ End Goal: Sell the platform and its inventory to a company like Masterworks for a 12x EBITDA multiple to expand their offering into this vertical.
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🎁 The Last-Minute Gift That Definitely Doesn’t Feel Last-Minute
Okay, so you’re scrambling. We’ve all been there. But here’s a move that looks way smarter than it actually was.
Rosetta Stone’s Holiday Sale is going strong with lifetime access to all 25 languages for $149 (normally $399), and delivery is instant. Boom — thoughtful gift sent. This isn’t one of those dusty “maybe they’ll use it someday” things. Rosetta Stone’s immersive lessons actually make learning fun, TruAccent helps you sound like you mean it, and the whole thing fits into someone’s day without drama. It’s the kind of gift that gets used again and again — and might even make you the favorite person at the next holiday dinner.
📐 Measuring Product-Market Fit Using the PMF Test
The Context: Startups always talk about achieving product-market fit. But how do you actually measure if you have PMF or not? Well Sean Ellis (an elite marketer who literally invented the term "Growth Hacking") has an answer. This is how he measures PMF.
Step-by-step:
Email your active users one question: "How would you feel if you could no longer use [Product]?" Give the following options: A) Very Disappointed, B) Somewhat Disappointed, C) Not Disappointed.
If >40% answer "Very Disappointed," you have PMF. You are allowed to spend money on marketing.
If you’re at <40%, stop marketing. Talk to the "Somewhat Disappointed" group and ask: "What is the one thing missing that would make you love us?" Then go and build that.
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: These guys turned meeting recordings into a $100M ARR business. Here’s how.
📈 Trends with Benefits: The war for AI talent is raging on with OpenAI removing vesting cliffs for new employees as they fight for better talent (and are spending half their revenue on stock-based comp).
💬 Prompt Drop: “Atom of Thought” prompting is making AI models 30-40% more accurate on complex reasoning tasks. Here’s how it works.
🆓 Free Resource: Here’s the playbook Tyler Denk used to build Beehiiv to $20M ARR in Public (the creator empire playbook)
💵 Deal of the Day: Get 25% off Slack for your first 12 months. Terms and conditions apply.
🔍 Founder Finds
💰 First Voyage, an AI companion that helps you build habits, just raised $2.5M.
5️⃣ Paul Graham was once asked who he thought were the 5 most interesting startup founders of the last 30 years. These were his picks.
📹 Sergey Brin just did a rare interview at Stanford. Lots of great stuff in here!
🚫 Tim Dettmers believes that AGI will not happen. Here’s why.
📵 Gwyneth’s weekly screen-time average is just 41 minutes. Here’s how she does it.
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Roller Shoes
Tired of walking around at low speeds in your regular shoes? Wish you could crank up your walking speed 2x?
Introducing Moonwalkers™, motorized roller skates for people who looked at Heelys and thought "they need a lot more juice". Strap these $1,400 robot feet to your shoes and glide through the office or through a city street at breakneck speed (please don’t break your neck).
Moonwalkers™ - a feet of engineering.
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👋 That’s All Folks!
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See you soon,