Half Baked

Get the startup ideas we don't cover on the show: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/

Episode 6: Darragh Lucey (https://x.com/darrrragh) and John O'Keeffe (https://x.com/JohnDOKeeffe) break down the AI businesses that are still wide open because almost nobody has noticed them yet, from brokering company data to AI labs, to helping small businesses actually use AI, to solving the mess when your AI agent buys the wrong thing.

Sponsors:
Google Workspace: https://gethalfbaked.com/google
Name.com: https://name.com/?utm_source=half+baked&utm_medium=podcast

Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(0:27) Why you're not late: only 0.2% of people use AI beyond Q&A
(1:09) Idea 1: data brokers selling company data to AI labs
(3:32) micro1 paying $100K to $2M for proprietary data
(5:21) How to find businesses sitting on valuable data
(6:47) The volume approach: outbound to thousands of companies
(9:43) The counter-trend: a certification for companies that won't sell data
(11:08) Buying closed businesses for their data, and the Bending Spoons playbook
(14:55) Proceed with caution: arbitrage or bubble?
(18:29) Idea 2: helping small businesses actually deploy AI
(19:01) The 1997 website moment: freelancers, agencies, then platforms
(22:33) The plumber test: agents that handle the admin
(25:49) The small play: start with trades
(27:02) John's route: in-person AI training sessions first
(31:18) Why being AI literate is the highest-leverage skill right now
(35:29) The big play: AI for construction
(37:11) Leapfrogging: why AI may be easier to adopt than Web 2.0
(39:07) Meeting businesses where they already are: WhatsApp as the CRM
(39:51) Idea 3: who's liable when your AI agent buys the wrong thing?
(41:34) Nikita Bier's Dr. Evil agent prompt
(43:04) Platform risk: will Meta lock agents out of WhatsApp?
(44:24) A standard for agents to identify themselves
(46:11) Is software dead?
(49:26) beehiiv, Tyler Denk and the 300-feature backlog
(52:18) Headless software and "newsletters are dead"
(56:32) Wrap up

Check Out Half Baked:
Newsletter: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/
Follow the show on X: https://x.com/gethalfbaked
Got one of these ideas and think you're the person to build it? Message Darragh and John on X.

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Half Baked

Get the startup ideas we don't cover on the show: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/

Episode 5: Darragh Lucey (https://x.com/darrrragh) sits down with Sean Griffey (https://x.com/seangriffey), co-founder of Industry Dive, who bootstrapped five newsletters into a $100M revenue business before selling to Informa. Sean hands over his playbook for building in unglamorous niches, plus the opportunities he thinks are ripe right now, from media that connects audiences to each other to premium lounges for gig workers.

Sponsors:
Google Workspace: https://gethalfbaked.com/google
Name.com: https://name.com/?utm_source=half+baked&utm_medium=podcast

Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(2:19) Industry Dive: five newsletters on day one to $100M in revenue
(3:30) Skipping VC: why venture is a poor tool for media
(4:58) Waste, recycling and electric utilities: picking unsexy niches
(6:09) The launch checklist: capital spend, competition and trade shows as a proxy
(8:42) Idea 1: media that connects audiences to each other
(15:47) Sell it to media companies or become one?
(17:37) Half Baked's cohort experiment and the missing community tool
(21:42) Reciprocity: the metric that can't be gamed
(25:17) The Anthropic email test
(27:06) The Industry Dive playbook: scale through simplicity
(29:22) Idea 2: premium lounges for gig workers
(32:13) Where to start: driver density meets cheap real estate
(33:44) Why betting against "AI changes everything" wins
(36:32) AI slop and why nobody wants crap
(39:00) Build your own media or rent someone else's?
(41:19) Starting from zero: niche down to the job title
(42:59) Press circuits: go where your customers are
(45:35) Want to build one of these ideas?

Check Out Half Baked:
Newsletter: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/
Follow the show on X: https://x.com/gethalfbaked
Got one of these ideas and think you're the person to build it? Message Darragh and John on X.

—
Half Baked

Get the startup ideas we don't cover on the show: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/

Episode X: Darragh Lucey (https://x.com/darrrragh) and John O'Keeffe (https://x.com/JohnDOKeeffe) sit down with Brycent (https://x.com/brycent), creator, investor and founder of Vesting, to break down three startup ideas, from startup cafes as a service, to an AI quote aggregator for car repairs, to a Zocdoc for functional health. Then the hosts pitch him theirs in Meet or Yeet.

Sponsors:
Google Workspace — https://gethalfbaked.com/google
Name.com — https://name.com/?utm_source=half+baked&utm_medium=podcast

Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(1:30) From IT sales to self-taught engineer to crypto gaming and media
(3:09) Idea 1: Startup cafes as a service
(4:39) Why Corgi built a cafe: go to market disguised as a barista
(5:42) Cafe margins and the B2B sponsor layer
(7:09) The Brexpresso: how drink sponsors pay the bills
(8:03) Why it might be a better creator business
(9:52) Grabbing discord.gg/startup for $50 and the case for community
(12:28) WeWork vibes and the Adam Neumann test
(14:25) Idea 2: An AI quote aggregator for car repairs
(18:51) Voice agents, the Guinness index and Google's Ask for Me
(22:28) Collecting and selling aggregated data
(23:24) Idea 3: A Zocdoc for functional health
(26:50) Could Function Health or Superpower bolt this on?
(28:26) From lead gen to an OS for doctors
(30:47) Why grounded ideas beat moonshots
(33:41) Meet or Yeet: a go-to-market creator agency
(35:16) Inside Brycent's Slash deal and the forward deployed creator
(39:35) Meet or Yeet: Timeleft for founders
(43:32) Beyond dinners: padel, golf and founder excursions
(45:29) What Brycent looks for in a founder

Check Out Half Baked:
Newsletter — https://www.gethalfbaked.com/
Follow the show on X — https://x.com/gethalfbaked
Got one of these ideas and think you're the person to build it? Message Darragh and John on X.

—
Half Baked

Get the startup ideas we don't cover on the show: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/

Episode X: Darragh Lucey (https://x.com/darrrragh) and John O'Keeffe (https://x.com/JohnDOKeeffe) break down four half-baked startup ideas anyone could run with, from saunas and gyms in airports, to auctioning your plane seat, to tech kits for kids, to online courses that pay you back for finishing.

Sponsors:
Google Workspace — https://gethalfbaked.com/google
Name.com — https://name.com/?utm_source=half+baked&utm_medium=podcast

Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(4:07) Othership: the New York sauna session that sparked it
(9:27) Selling de-stressors where stress peaks: gyms and spas in airports
(13:45) An airline with a 10 out of 10 pre-flight experience
(16:14) Buying a seat off someone on a full flight
(21:12) Ryanair, Southwest and the power of one goal
(26:05) Screen-free tech and the subscription box comeback
(29:31) KiwiCo's $1B and the CrunchLabs playbook
(35:51) CrunchLabs for entrepreneurship
(37:49) The evil villain version: a talent funnel for young founders
(42:00) Completion bonds: fixing online courses' 5% completion rate
(51:40) Own content or marketplace, and the MasterClass model
(54:39) Productising incentives: gyms and accountability
(58:15) Ali Abdaal's refund promise, and why all roads lead to Meta

Check Out Half Baked:
Newsletter — https://www.gethalfbaked.com/
Follow the show on X — https://x.com/gethalfbaked
Got one of these ideas and think you're the person to build it? Message Darragh and John on X.

—
Half Baked

Get the startup ideas we don't cover on the show: https://www.gethalfbaked.com/

Episode 2: Darragh Lucey (https://x.com/darrrragh) and John O'Keeffe (https://x.com/JohnDOKeeffe) sit down with T.A. McCann (https://x.com/tamccann), serial founder and operator at Pioneer Square Labs, to break down five startup ideas at the intersection of AI and health.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(3:40) T.A.'s background: 5 exits, 500+ ideas, and building Lev
(6:15) What kills an idea: the PSL validation gauntlet
(10:00) Protocol: an AI-powered personal health record
(18:00) N of one: community and data-sharing around a disease
(24:01) Why T.A. killed a funded company the day before closing
(27:22) Scout: building an AI EA and a team of 13 specialists
(37:32) Reroute: rebooking for travellers when a flight gets cancelled
(43:42) Forge: an idea-capture machine for founders
(48:18) Validation as a service, and Lev in auto mode
(50:34) Into the oven: the idea T.A. wants built
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Links:

Get the startup ideas we don't cover on the show: [https://www.gethalfbaked.com]

Episode 1: Darragh Lucey (https://x.com/darrrragh) and John O'Keeffe (https://x.com/JohnDOKeeffe) break down four half-baked startup ideas anyone could run with, from a podcast app that fixes discoverability, to a calmer energy drink taking on Monster, to a verified video-first dating app.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(8:05) Podcast overload: an app that clips shows by topic
(18:06) Why podcast discoverability is broken (and why Spotify cares)
(20:15) Why big acquisitions so often fail
(23:51) Acquired as a business: $1.5M ad slots, a team of three
(29:51) Transplanting the Acquired format to sports franchises
(35:37) A verified, video-first dating app
(53:33) Taking on Monster with a "calm energy" drink
(1:11:16) What Half Baked is and how to get funded
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Sponsors:
Google Workspace — [http://gethalfbaked.com/google]
Name.com — [https://name.com/?utm_source=half+bak...]
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Check Out Half Baked:
Newsletter — https://www.gethalfbaked.com
Follow the show on X — https://x.com/gethalfbaked
Got one of these ideas and think you're the person to build it? Message Darragh and John on X.
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