A few $30k+/month startup ideas from the most manic/genius founder you've never heard of

May 10, 2024

AI Summary

5 min read

A Few $30k+/Month Startup Ideas from the Most Manic/Genius Founder You've Never Heard Of

Cody Schneider is the kind of founder who tests business ideas by running Facebook ads to a bare-bones Shopify store, getting sub-$1 email acquisitions, and then figuring out the monetization later. He showed up to this episode with roughly 25 validated startup ideas, most of which he's already built alpha versions of and confirmed they work. The throughline across all of them is a specific kind of opportunity: products with terrible monetization that can be improved, markets with high intent that are poorly served, and businesses that can be built with AI tooling that didn't exist even two years ago.

The Cricket Ecosystem: Three Businesses in One

The first cluster of ideas revolves around Cricut, a tabletop CNC machine for crafters that's a billion-dollar company most people have never heard of. It operates like a printer company—sell the hardware, then make money on consumable materials. But there are three separate businesses you could build around it.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Opening: The Best Company is a Good Memo Writer** - Cody pitches a $5k+/month internal recap service where CEOs get AI-summarized interviews from each department head.
2 (00:40) **Introducing Cody Schneider** - Greg welcomes Cody, calling him a "business crush" and an "idea junkie."
3 (02:50) **Idea 1: Unlimited SVG Subscription for Cricut** - A $10M+/year marketplace for AI-generated Cricut design files.
4 (14:31) **Idea 2: Selling Physical Materials to Cricut Users** - A consumables business built on the same low-cost email acquisition funnel.
5 (19:28) **Idea 3: Chrome Extensions as Cash Machines** - Build simple data-extraction tools that rank for exact-match keywords.
6 (28:52) **Ad Break: BoringMarketing.com** - Greg pitches his SEO investment.
7 (29:59) **The Holding Company Mindset** - Cody explains why he builds both complex platforms and simple "autopilot" businesses.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

I’m joined by Cody Schneider, Co-founder of Swell AI, to jam on several business ideas and opportunities: a Cricut subscription service, Chrome extensions that can generate $30k/month, Uber trivia games, and so much more.

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 First business idea: Cricut Subscriptions & Materials
19:30 Second business idea: Paid Chrome extensions
24:40 Cody’s framework for building a profitable business
37:20 Third business idea: AI memo writing for startups
41:50 Fourth business idea: Niche Podcasts
59:25 Fifth business idea: Play Octopus for Uber