Over the past year or so, ideas to create companies have hit me one after another. I’ll go over my highlight reel ideas in hopes of sharing my ideas with the world, while hopefully attracting some seed funding in the process. More than seed funding though, the source of the capital is just as important, as being on the same page with an investor with regards to expectations and risk tolerance is crucial. I’m not afraid to share these ideas because as one of my idols says, we should be constantly coming up with new ideas. After all, my brain works differently than yours, and I’m not running out of ideas any time soon. Those who feel the need to steal ideas typically aren’t the type to persevere anyways, even if they do somehow get away with intellectual property theft. As always, sharpen your pitchforks while you mutter to yourself Why didn’t I think of that?
To all the venture capitalists out there, imagine a world in which you’d never have to sit through an awkward pitch meeting ever again! To all of the visionary leaders out there, imagine a world in which venture capital is just a bit easier to access. Fundr is my idea to solve these problems. Fundr is essentially Tinder for venture capitalists and start-up founders/CEO’s. The basic mechanic of the app would function just like Tinder., however instead of using it to try to find a romantic partner or one-night stand, venture capitalists and CEO’s would use it find investment opportunities and investors (respectively). Venture capitalists and CEO’s would make profiles on the app, detailing who they are from an investment standpoint and what investment opportunities they are looking for/would be open to. Upon a mutual right swipe, a chat would open between the venture capitalist and the start-up founder/CEO. The two parties would then have the chance to ask each other further questions if they chose to do so. A Negotiate Terms button would appear in the chat. Upon a mutual pressing of the button, basic terms such as dollar amount and equity stake proposals would be sent to the other party. Upon mutual agreement to the terms, the funds can be sent from investor to founder/CEO. Both investors and founders/CEO’s would have to go through a screening process to ensure that they are legitimate. Venture capitalists would have to prove they are accredited investors (though if I had my way, that concept wouldn’t exist). Start-up founders/CEO’s would provide legal documentation of their business’s existence (a registered LLC or other equivalent). Banking details would be kept-encrypted-in the app as part of the initial profile set-up. Admittedly, this a narrow market (since we love to shame entrepreneurs as a culture), so Fundr would need to take a percentage of the transaction in exchange for helping to broker the deal; after all, gotta pay the bills!
Now imagine that you are a real-estate developer. You want to expand however inventory is scarce right now. Odds are, you’ll leave the ultra-competitive landscapes of San Francisco and NYC for new plains. This will lead you to neglected areas. My app idea, GentrifEye, would be exactly what you need! GentrifEye would use your phone’s camera to survey the dilapidated area that you’re currently standing in, and using current consumer spending trends and demographic data, would project the types of retail businesses likely to thrive in the next three years. Along with serving data-based recommendations, the recommendations would be portrayed visually on the screen of your phone. Don’t just develop, GentrifEye!
“But Dan, technology investment gets disproportionally too much coverage and funding. What about the rest of us here in the physical world?”, fret not my potential investor! Sit back and grab a bottle of my beverage idea; NF-Tea! Inspired by non-fungible tokens, in which no two tokens are alike and hence cannot be easily traded for one another. In this same vein, no two batches of NF-Tea will be the same. Other industries, such as pharmaceuticals, pride themselves on having no batch-to-batch variation. However, my beverage company NF-Teas would flip this concept on its head; batch-to-batch variation is the name of the game. The variability would be caused by sourcing tea leaves and spices from practically any grower that could produce them, independent of quality, as well as using them in slightly differing concentrations in each batch As talked about in the landmark book Fast Food Nation, the wine brand Two-Buck Chuck still persists despite having high batch-to-batch variability and little attention paid to the source of the grapes, so the proof-of-concept is already there. I would merely be disrupting the soft-drink space (I’m using founder terms already!). For distribution, bottles from several batches will be shipped together in the same crate, in a random order. Thus, no two bottles of NF-Tea will be the same as the one next to it, even on the same shelf of the convenience store. This eliminates the fungibility of NF-Tea for the consumer. The launch product would have high caffeine and sugar content to addict population to my product. After a cult-like following of sugar and caffeine addicts has been created, then NF-Teas would launch low-sugar and low-caffeine versions of the product to diversify.
“Damn it Dan, all this beverage talk is making me want to scarf down some unhealthy food!”, well my precious angel, I’ve got you covered! Over a decade ago, I sat in a rundown Irish bar with my buddy for his 21st birthday. The food was mediocre, the beverage options were unoriginal, and the ambiance was based off of tacky Ireland stereotypes. I lamented to myself; all of the terrible Irish bars here in the US seem to do well when the idea hit me like a freight train Let’s set-up a tacky American-themed bar in Ireland! My restaurant idea, Bald Eagle Bar and Grill, would serve this niche. The beers on tap would be of the low-quality and mass-market variety here in America; Coors, Budweiser, Milwaukie, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Falls City Beer. The food menu would include artery-clogging US staples such as a cheeseburger (made from only the finest individually-wrapped slice of American cheese and frozen hockey-puck patties). Expect lots of preservatives on the menu! The walls will be lined with TV’s displaying sports games, but only of our horrible teams; the Cleveland Browns, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Anaheim Ducks, the Detroit Pistons, et cetera. The rest of the ambiance will have memorabilia, such as the US flag and the Statue of Liberty, plastered everywhere. As mentioned from my personal anecdote (Gasp!), the proof-of-concept already exists, I’m only going in the reverse direction.
Send venture capital today!
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