Reference checks as a service, the need for more competition everywhere, GPT travel planning, leaving work broken, ...
Hey,
this is Jakob Greenfeld, author of the Business Brainstorms newsletter - every week I write this email to share the most interesting trends, frameworks, opportunities, and ideas with you.
Let's dive in!
đĄ Opportunities
âBusiness idea: Reference checks as a service. Do thorough on-book and off-book references, and then build the world's best private database of references that other companies will keep paying you for as they make hiring/investment decisions etc.â - Erik Torenberg
Note: hereâs a great analysis of the idea by the founder of CBInsights.
âside project idea -- WordPress/Ghost plugin that generates featured image using words in the post. should work within the CMS inline editor. (ideally hooks up to e.g. Midjourney API although i understand they haven't released yet)â - Ryan Kulp
âNeed more competition in SaaS. Clickfunnels sucks. Active campaign sucks. Hyros is overpriced. Webinarjam sucks & overpriced. So much money to be made by just building a better version of the existing options.â - Ben Bader
Note: This is true in any SaaS category. Tools always look shiny and polished on their landing pages but once you start using them seriously, you start noticing that itâs really just a ton of duct tape under the hood. For example, we recently started using ClickUp for our agency. Itâs incredibly slow and buggy and yet itâs better than all the alternatives we looked it.
Note 2: The same is definitely also true when it comes to services. On their landing page and posts every agency looks like they have their shit together but behind the scenes, itâs usually pure chaos and underwhelming results. If you ever talked to business owners about their experience working with different agencies, you probably know what Iâm talking about.
Note 3: The general lesson here is to never be discouraged only because there are already many competitors. I really canât think of any category, software or services, where Iâd say âdonât even bother, these guys are too good to compete againstâ.
âGPT is a better therapist than any therapist I've ever tried (I've tried ~10)â - Kat Woods. Also: âGPT-4 helped me brainstorm an approach to a health issue i have been dealing with 10x better than any doctor i have spoken to, most of which just kind of shrug and say I don't know, with helplessness flowing through their veinsâ - Paul Millerd
Note: There are definitely plenty of opportunities to build niche consulting/coaching AI tools. But an opportunity just as big is to use GPT-4 just for yourself as a personal coach in whatever area youâre struggling in. For example, just yesterday I used it to brainstorm career moves with my girlfriend and today I just used it to get unstuck on an issue in our agency.
I just came back from a week-long trip to Porto and was once again reminded how much travel planning sucks despite all the information available on the internet. (I wrote about this before.) For example, you definitely canât trust Google Maps reviews since 99% of people wonât share your taste. Itâs only useful to avoid the absolute worst businesses. Similary, Google, Tripadvisor, etc. offer just lists of generic, boring, touristy stuff. What Iâd love to have access to is a properly categorized itinerary of âgreat days in Xâ or more atomic âgreat experiences in Xâ. I think there is now an amazing opportunity to build it using GPT (especially now that it can browse the web). Fun to build, easy to monetize. Solid example of whatâs possible here. Had this idea too late to test it in Porto but will definitely test it for my next trip to Bangkok in two weeks.
đ Â Things Worth Checking Out
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đšâđ Framework: Leave your work broken
This is an incredibly useful approach to avoid the cold start problem every day.
Instead of working until youâve finished whatever youâre working on, stop while there is still something to be done and you know exactly what needs to get done next.
This way, youâll have no problem getting back into work mode the next morning.
You wonât be tempted to browse Twitter etc. until you finally feel like starting to work if you know exactly what needs to get done next. One of the biggest drivers of procrastination is uncertainty in terms of what you should be working on.
đș Watch This
This is a great talk by the founder of Calm on how he grows his businesses creating web assets in the same verticle.
End Note
As always, if youâre enjoying this report, Iâd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up.
Have a great week,
Jakob
Thanks for this! I'm trying to figure out business case studies for how Japan differs to other markets