Welcome to Half Baked, the newsletter serving up startup ideas as momentous as Warren Buffett's last day as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway 😢
PSA: We’re looking to make Half Baked 10x better in 2026…and we need your feedback here to do so (it takes 60 seconds). Excited to hear your suggestions!
In today’s edition:
💡 A platform many companies need right now
🛠 The "competitor churn" ad campaign tactic
🔋 Turning a motorcycle accident into a $450M business + more
🔍 OpenAI Residency, Ivan Zhao, Jevon’s Paradox + more
🍻 An absolutely scent-sational idea.
Let’s goooo 🚀
💸 $1,000 Giveaway: We’re teaming up with Squarespace to give away $1,000 to one of our readers who take action this week. To enter all you have to do is:
Check out Squarespace
Build a one-page website on Squarespace (could be your personal website, a landing page, anything to move you forward) this week
Reply to this email (or any email this week) with what you’ve built
More details later in the email. Good luck!
🙋 Standby Staffing Platform
Shift Happens
Available Domain: Covercrew.com
The Problem: During major holidays, many businesses like bars, restaurants and hotels face a predictable catastrophe: nobody shows up to work. The numbers are pretty brutal. Holiday shift acceptance rates plummet 67% compared to regular weekdays, according to a 2023 Instawork study, while absenteeism spikes over 300% during these periods. That nursing home on New Year's Eve? Down three CNAs minimum. That restaurant on Christmas? The manager's burning through their entire contact list at 4pm, begging someone…anyone…to come in. But here's the thing: this is entirely predictable. Same dates every year. Same staffing collapse. So why not build a platform to solve this? Here's what we're thinking.
The Solution:
💡 The Idea: A staffing insurance platform where businesses pay retainer fees to reserve pre-vetted backup workers who guarantee availability for high-risk holiday shifts.
🛠️ Product:
📅 Businesses identify their highest-risk shifts (NYE dinner service, Christmas morning nursing rounds) and pay a retainer ($50–$150) to reserve a qualified backup worker
👤 Pre-vetted professionals (bartenders, CNAs, security guards) sign up as "Standby Workers" and get paid the retainer just to keep their calendar clear and stay available
🚨 When a regular employee calls out, the manager hits the "Panic Button" and the Standby Worker is automatically notified and deployed at a pre-negotiated surge rate (2x–3x normal hourly wage)
✅ Workers build reputation scores - those who consistently show up when activated get priority for higher-paying retainers and unlock "Premium Standby" status
🧑💻 Prototyping: Try the demo | Get the demo prompt
💼 Business Model: Platform keeps 50% of all retainer fees as the "insurance premium" plus a 20% commission on hourly wages when workers are actually deployed.
⭐ End Goal: Sell to Instawork, Qwick, or Shiftgig (who want the premium/reliability layer) or to a payroll giant looking to add emergency staffing services for 8–12x revenue multiple.
Rate this idea
🌐 Your Idea, Live on the Internet
You've been sitting on that idea. This week, ship it.
We're teaming up with Squarespace to give away $1,000 to someone who stops planning and starts publishing.
The Challenge:
Launch a one-page website on Squarespace (could be your side project, your portfolio, your next big thing - whatever's been living in your notes app.
Reply to this email (or any email this week) with the live link.
The best site wins $1,000. Submit by Sunday night at midnight PT.
Get started today and use code HALFBAKED10 to get 10% off any plan!
🤫 The "Competitor Churn" Ad Campaign Tactic
The Context: Oftentimes, your highest intent buyer of a product is someone about to cancel their account with your competitor. Here’s how you can target these users directly in ad campaigns using Google AdWords.
Step-by-step:
Go to Google AdWords and target search terms like "Cancel [Competitor Name]", "Delete [Competitor] Account", "[Competitor] Refund".
Create a specific landing page showing "How to migrate data from [Competitor] to Us" and link off to it from the ad
Bid on these search terms on AdWords and watch the users roll in
Give it a go!
📶 Take Control of Your Connectivity with T-Mobile
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: This founder turned a motorcycle accident into a $450M business. Here’s how.
📈 Trends with Benefits: A lot of people are going “long degeneracy” right now. This amazing article called “The Prison Of Financial Mediocrity” explains why.
💬 Prompt Drop: Alex Hormozi is the king of offers. Here’s a prompt to construct one of his “Grand Slam” offers.
🆓 Free Resource: Here’s a free course for anyone who wants to learn Claude Code.
💵 Deal of the Day: AppSumo’s “Tools of the Year” is worth a look for some decent discounts!
🔍 Founder Finds
🧑💻 OpenAI is launching a Residency in 2026. Apply here if you’re interested!
📖 Ivan Zhao (Notion founder) wrote a piece called “Steam, Steel, and Infinite Minds.” It’s great. You should read it.
🧠 Aaron Levie (Box founder) just wrote a piece called “Jevons Paradox for Knowledge Work.” Once again, totally worth a read.
🔙 Jeff Bezos’ Grandad taught him an important lesson about kindness in his childhood. We can all learn from it.
📧 This guy shows the exact cold email he sent to Mark Cuban that Mark actually responded to.
🍺 Drunk Business Idea: Scent Socks
Ever feel like your socks are a little boring? Wish your novelty socks packed a little more punch?
Introducing ScentSocks™ - aromatic footwear with a twist. Pizza socks that smell like pepperoni. Bacon socks that smell like breakfast. Finally, smelly socks that everyone actually wants.
ScentSocks™ - have a scents of humor.
Vote
👋 That’s All Folks!
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