Domain setup API, dream workout app, all-in-one health lab, 3PL filters, family offices, ...

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!

💡 Opportunities

• “Today, everything from finding a good doctor, to scheduling tests, to interpreting those tests are confusing as hell. I think there's a significant opportunity out there for an all-in-one health lab where people can get checked out once a year. Is anyone building this?” - Justin Mares

• “It would be nice if there was a service or API that handled the set up for a new domains for me. Updates my Porkbun DNS to Cloudflare, adds domain to Cloudflare, adds domain to Mailgun, adds all the DNS records for email & my servers. Anything else?” - James Ivings

• “We have looked for 3PLs in various cities in the USA, but quickly became overwhelmed, because pricing seems opaque and it's impossible to quickly compare pricing and level of service. How do we begin this process? Is there any way to make this search process more efficient? Any recommendations to get this figured out?” - Reddit

  • Note: Third-party logistics (or 3PL) refers to the outsourcing of ecommerce logistics processes to a third party business, including inventory management, warehousing

• “Thinking ab dream gym tracking app - Log workouts with chat, eg “squats 3x5 at 80%, 2x5 at 90%” and it’ll autoformat into spreadsheet. Autocomplete with common exercises. Auto categorization of exercises and progress. Ask q’s about workout history in natural language” - Tyler Angert

🛠 Things Worth Checking Out

• SaaS Origin Stories Podcast. Deep conversations with founders as they share how they started their SaaS journeys. You’ll hear firsthand the do’s and don’ts of building and growing a SaaS company and inspirational stories to fuel your own SaaS adventures. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

• Damn Good Leads. We book meetings for busy founders using cold email.

📈 Trend Signal

• I read a fascinating Vanity Fair piece about a guy who faked a ton of credibility signals and then managed leverage them to sell tickets for his family office conferences.

• One interesting take away is that if you can capture the attention of the right people, that alone is worth a ton of money. This might sound obvious but I think a lot of people starting media ventures overlook this. How much is the attention of the people you’re creating content for really worth?

• The guy was able to charge $20,000+ to entrepreneurs hoping to get a chance to pitch one of the family office attending his conference. Rumor is that he hired actors to play representatitves or arabic family offices and never any investments materialized.

• But for example, there’s also credible players in the space like Opalesque. Their pitch: “100 of the top 100 hedge funds, globally, read Opalesque”. Now imagine how much they can charge for a newsletter ad compared to your average newsletter for, say, indie hackers.

• A second interesting thing I learned is that the fake credibility signals the guy used were comically bad and yet they worked. For example, there’s the Heraldrys Institute of Rome selling “heraldic documents” for $199 a piece. They’re basically selling made-up documents that link your family to some interesting historical figures.

• These guys are printing cash. According to Similarweb, the site is getting 447.3K visits a month. Even if a tiny percentage of them convert, that’s a ton of money for such a shitty site and service.

• “seed oil free” is the new “sugar free”.

• There’s already an app that that helps you locate seed oil free restaurants.

👨‍🎓 Framework

• A great way to find product ideas is to study what companies are spending signficiant money on.

• Then brainstorm if there’s a way to provide something cheaper or better in any of these categories.

Alexis Grant @alexisgrant

We spent nearly $12,000 on digital tools to run @TheyGotAcquired in 2022. Some we no longer use. But here's the full list, including what we use each tool for. Top three costs were Ahrefs, AirTable & ConvertKit.

💸 Revenue Signals

• Tiny.host is now at $10,000 MRR. (“The simplest way to host & share your web project”)

• Happy Feed made $3,600 last month. (“An app for gratitude, photos, good vibes, and sharing memories with your friends.”)

• Mention Tools generated $2,350 in its first month. (“Monitor your brand and grow brand awareness. Analyze sentiment. Find new customers.”)

End Note

As always, if you’re enjoying this report, I’d love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up.

Have a great week,

Jakob

PS: Wanna partner with me? If you are interested in reaching my audience, click here.