Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as talked about as Trump basically announcing the Hunger Games (aka the Patriot Games) 😂
In today’s edition:
💡 An idea to help 45+ million Americans
🛠 How to edit images in Nano Banana with annotations
🔋 Meet the fastest company ever to go from $0 to $100M in ARR + more
🔍 OpenAI raise, Cursor acquisition, new frontier lab + more
🍻 An idea that really sucks
Let’s goooo 🚀
💸 $1,000 Giveaway: We weren’t planning on doing a giveaway this week, until T-Mobile stepped up to help us give one of you $1,000 to help you with your business. Let’s call it a Christmas miracle. To enter all you have to do is:
Click here and see if your business qualifies for their new internet offer (takes 5 seconds)
Reply to this email with either “Yes“ or “No“ so we know if you qualify or not.
Winner will be announced next Monday. Good luck!
🏦 Cross-Border Mortgage Platform
Home sweet loan
Available Domain: Remithome.co
The Problem: There are 45+ million immigrants living in the US, many of whom maintain deep financial and familial ties to their home countries. They want to buy property for aging parents, invest in real estate back home, or prepare for eventual return - but the current system makes this nearly impossible. The problem? Your US credit score and income don't travel. If a software engineer earning $200K in San Francisco wants to buy a $150K apartment in Mumbai for his parents, he faces a brutal catch-22. Indian banks won't lend to him because he has no local income or credit history. US banks won't lend because the collateral is overseas and unenforceable. He's creditworthy by any reasonable measure, but the system treats him as invisible. It’s time to fix this. Here’s how.
The Solution:
💡 The Idea: A cross-border lending platform that underwrites loans for international assets using domestic US income, employment history, and credit scores.
🛠️ Product:
Users connect their US financial identity via Plaid (bank statements) and check their FICO score instantly to generate a "Global Buying Power" limit.
Users browse pre-vetted real estate developments or auto dealerships in their home country that accept this specific financing, viewing prices in both USD and local currency.
Once a loan is approved, the platform handles the cross-border legal compliance and disburses funds directly to the seller abroad in local currency, while the user makes monthly payments in USD from their US bank account.
🧑💻 Prototyping: Try the demo | Get the demo prompt
💼 Business Model: Origination fees (1-2% of loan value) plus net interest margin on loans held on balance sheet
⭐ End Goal: Sell to a global remittance giant like Wise or Remitly, looking to capture the high-LTV asset market of the diaspora, likely for a 5-10x revenue multiple.
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📶 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).
🖼️ How to Edit Images in Nano Banana with Annotations
The Context: Prompting isn't just about words anymore. Because now, in Gemini, you can draw on images to show what changes you want to make to them. Here’s how it works.
Step-by-step:
Upload a photo from your gallery or generate a new one within Gemini.
Tap the Edit or Modify button (look for the pencil or wand icon) overlaid on the image and draw whatever changes you want to make to the image
Once you have marked the area, type exactly what you want to happen in that specific spot (e.g., "Change this cat to a french bulldog" or "Add a pair of sunglasses here").
Hit enter. Gemini will apply the changes strictly within the boundaries you defined. If it’s not quite right, you can keep the drawing and adjust the text prompt to try again.
🎁 This Season, Give Yourself the Gift of Compliance Done Right
Delve’s AI Copilot handles SOC 2, HIPAA, and ISO end to end while reading your policies, completing evidence, and automating the tasks that usually slow teams down during Q4.
Instead of spending weeks gathering documents or chasing approvals, Copilot keeps every requirement moving in the background so your audit stays on track even during the holiday rush.
The outcomes tell the story.
Lovable achieved SOC 2 in just 20 hours.
Wisprflow closed Mercury and Superhuman in one month.
11x unlocked $1.2M in ARR through accelerated compliance.
This season, skip the stress and let Copilot deliver the cleanest audit you have ever had.
🔋 Founder Fuel
🤑 The Money Shot: Meet the fastest company ever to go from $0 to $100M in ARR (8 months).
📈 Trends with Benefits: Peptides are becoming more and more mainstream everyday.
💬 Prompt Drop: You can use this mega prompt to help with your taxes.
🆓 Free Resource: Y Combinator’s Startup School is one of the best resources out there for founders
💵 Deal of the Day: Get $100,000 in AWS credits for free with Amazon’s AWS Activate Startup Program
🔍 Founder Finds
💰 OpenAI is in talks to raise $100 billion at $830 billion valuation. We’re also in talks to raise $100 billion at $830 billion valuation for Half Baked. Those talks are not going well…
🆕 Brett Adcock (founder of Figure, the humanoid robotics company valued at $39B) is putting $100M of his own money into the new lab called Hark.
💳 Revolut’s been in the news a lot over the last few weeks. Here’s Nik pitching the company back in 2015.
📹 Casey Neistat’s new video about excuses is an incredible watch. No more excuses in 2026.
✖️ Sean Frank (Ridge wallet founder) believes your whole world can change in 5 years. He’s 100% right.
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Vacuum Shoes
Tired of your roommate "forgetting" it's their turn to clean? Ever wished your strolls around your house could double as domestic labor?
Introducing Vacuum Shoes™ - footwear with built-in suction technology that cleans your floors with every step you take. Finally, pacing anxiously during work calls has a purpose.
Vacuum Shoes™ - it really sucks.
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👋 That’s All Folks!
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See you soon,