4 profitable startups from the founder of exploding topics

September 4, 2024

AI Summary

5 min read

Brian Dean, founder of Exploding Topics, joined the podcast to share four startup ideas he would personally pay for, each rooted in a specific market gap he has encountered while building his own audience and content business. The conversation focuses less on abstract theory and more on concrete opportunities, the logic behind them, and the practical steps to get started.

The AI Content Update Tool

The first idea addresses a pain point Dean experiences directly: keeping a large library of blog posts current. Exploding Topics has roughly 500 posts, and even with one and a half full-time people constantly updating stats, fixing broken links, and refreshing sources, the process is manual and slow. For a publisher with 25,000 posts, like Tom's Guide, doing this manually is impractical.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of The Startup Ideas Podcast

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 (02:13) **Idea 1: AI Content Update Tool** - Brian pitches an enterprise tool that automatically finds and fixes outdated content in a publisher's CMS, a problem he faces with Exploding Topics' 500+ posts.
2 (08:26) **Idea 2: Premium Prepared Meal Service** - A high-end, chef-prepared meal delivery service priced at $50+/meal, positioned as the "Uber Black" of meal kits.
3 (18:11) **Idea 3: The ADHD Brand Opportunity** - Instead of building another ADHD product (chair, timer, app), build the go-to brand and community for the booming ADHD market.
4 (26:36) **Idea 4: Content Repurposing Service** - A service that takes a company's existing content (blog posts, videos, webinars) and repurposes it into new formats, rather than creating from scratch.
5 (30:45) **Closing & Where to Find Brian** - Brian directs listeners to his X account (@BrianE_Dean) for more trend insights.
6 Standout Quotes
7 (00:03) "You build the audience, the world is your oyster... once you have the audience, the product's the easiest thing to do."

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Join us for an engaging conversation with Brian Dean, Co-Founder of Exploding Topics I, as we explore a wide range of startup ideas and business opportunities

1) AI Content Updater for Publishers
• Automatically finds & updates outdated content
• Fixes broken links, outdated stats, irrelevant info
• Integrates with CMS for seamless updates
• Target: Large publishers with 1000s of posts
• Potential: $1k-$10k/month per enterprise client

2) Uber Black of Meal Delivery
• Chef-prepared, high-end meals ($50-$75 per meal)
• Beautifully presented, like an "Apple product"
• Target: Tech cities with high-income professionals
• Potential: Multi-million dollar business in select markets
• Key insight: There's always a market for premium versions

3)ADHD Brand & Community
• Position ADHD as a potential superpower
• Create content, products, and community
• Start with social media to build audience
• Expand into apps, tools, coaching services
• Opportunity: No clear market leader in ADHD space yet
• Pro tip: Name it after a historical figure with ADHD

4) Content Repurposing Service
• Turn blog posts into videos, podcasts, newsletters
• Target: Content marketers at larger brands
• Pricing: Per-update model to avoid subscription fatigue
• Potential: 8-figure agency if executed well

Want more free ideas? I collect the best ideas from the pod and give them to you for free in a database. Most of them cost $0 to start (my fav)

Get access: https://www.gregisenberg.com/30startupideas

🎯 To build your own portfolio businesses powered by community you might enjoy my membership.

You'll get my full course with all my secrets on building businesses, peer-groups to keep you accountable, business ideas every single month and more!

Spots are limited.

https://www.communityempire.co/

📬 Join my free newsletter to get weekly startup insights for free:

https://www.gregisenberg.com/

70,000+ people are already subscribed.

To improve your rankings your business on Google and using AI for SEO, sign up to

http://boringmarketing.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND BRIAN ON SOCIAL
X/Twitter: https://x.com/BrianEDean
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianedean/

Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
02:11 Startup Idea 1: AI Content Updater for Publishers
08:25 Startup Idea 2: Uber Black of Meal Delivery
18:08 Startup Idea 3: ADHD Brand & Community
26:28 Startup Idea 4: Content Repurposing Service