Hanging out with crazy characters, microbiome optimization, a marketplace for new media brands, ...
Hey,
this is Jakob Greenfeld, author of the Business Brainstorms newsletter - every week I write this email to help you level up your entrepreneurial game.
Let's dive into today's ideas, trends, and opportunities.
✨ Brought to you by Ali Abdaal's Free 5 Day Camera Confidence Crash-Course
A good friend of mine and very successful YouTuber, Ali Abdaal, is releasing a new camera confidence course this Friday 16th September.
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If you want to hear more about it, you can sign up to his free 5 day email crash course where he'll share lots of insights and tips into how he's become the engaging speaker he is today, and you'll also get exclusive access to a 35% discount when the course is launched this Friday.
💡 Social Listening
“Old forums felt like hanging out, drinking beer and talking shit with crazy characters was the internet equivalent of those italian guys who never work and spend 10 hours a day sitting outside a cafe.” - Telegram group chat
Note: There are currently hardly any places like this. Telegram groups come closest imo but good ones are notoriously hard to find.
“HubSpot acquired The Hustle. Outreach acquired Sales Hacker. Zapier acquired Makerpad. Stripe acquired Indie Hackers. More and more companies are starting to think like media companies and I expect this trend to continue as attention becomes more scarce in markets. Seing about 100 communities listed on MicroAcquire.” - Twitter
Note 1: It’s never a smart idea to be at the mercy of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Instagram who constantly change their algorithms. So building or buying media channels they fully control makes a ton of sense companies
Note 2: Flippa is very much focused on oldschool content/affiliate sites, MicroAcquire focuses on SaaS, but there’s no dedicated marketplace for this new kind of media brand like The Hustle, Indie Hackers, etc.
📈 Trend Signals of the Week
Seed probiotics is a brand of gut health products founded in 2018.
Their growth is definitely fueled by the rapidly growing interest in gut health optimization.
Unfortunately there are tons of junk products that do not really do anything and lots of conflicting information.
So an authority site like Examine.com but laser focused on gut health that translates scientific evidence for different kinds of health supplements into a language normal people can understand could be an amazing opportunity.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects the large intestine.
Obviously related to the rapidly growing interest in probiotics products but the search volume here demonstrates that there’s a huge market here.
The percentage of population reporting symptoms of IBS is in some countries as high as 40%!
👨🎓 Framework of the Week
The Framework: “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed” - William Gibson.
Explanation: Who usually gets access to the “future” first? Rich people. So studying the tools, gadgets, and supplements rich people are using to solve common problems can be a great way to get a glimpse into the future. Then try to find a way to give more people access to these tools, gadgets, and supplements.
Example: Check out all the crazy things Bryan Johnson is experimenting with to reverse aging. Or try to find out how billionaires tackle problems like IBS. (gut microbiome optimization through genetic sequencing, boutique fecal replacement therapy, …).
💭 Prompt of the Week
The Prompt: If done-for-you is currently the standard in the industry, would it make sense to offer done-with-you or do-it-yourself services?
Example: Build you own home.
💸 Revenue Signals of the Week
Plausible is now at $100k MRR. (“open source and privacy-first Google Analytics alternative“)
Insquad grew from zero to $100k MRR in twelve months. (“hire startup-ready rockstar remote developers in 2 weeks“)
Geoman is now making $5k/month. “edit GeoJSON directly on the map“)
HelpKit hits $4k MRR. (“turn your notion docs into a self-service knowledge base for your customers”
AfterSell grew from zero to $3k MRR in just three months. (“irresistible post purchase offers, checkout editing for shopify”)
The Believe app just crosses $1k MRR. (“affirmations, quotes & daily reminders“)
📚 Business Read of the Week
The Article: Fuck The 10,000 Hours Idea
My Take: This is an amazing article for indie hackers working to make money before they become experts.
Highlights:
Gladwell said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. He forgot to mention it takes 0 hours to start making money.
Learning or improving on a skill is far more like an adventure video game than it is like memorizing flashcards.
🤖 AI Idea of the Week
The Idea: The Airbnb of Boats
The Pain Points: I have a friend who was trying to rent a boat for a day in Lake Tahoe for his birthday. But, it was hard to find a boat because he had to contact so many different people to coordinate it. Also, many boats were too expensive for a day trip.
The Opportunity: There are a few sites that allow you to rent boats online, but they don’t make it easy to coordinate with friends. I’d like to see a site that allows you to find and book a boat with just a few clicks. Ideally, you’d be able to rent the boat for a day, coordinate with your friends, and split the cost.
📢 Shoutouts
My friend Jacob O'Bryant runs The Sample, an awesome content discovery platform. They curate articles from hundreds of blogs and newsletters and send you the ones that match your interests.
The Average Joe: Don’t forget this famous investing quote “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful”. Catch the market bottom and receive unique insights with The Average Joe, a free newsletter read by 30,000+ investors.
Fred Rivett just started an incredible new newsletter called saturday morning fax. I absolutely love the raw writing and message in his first post.