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🏭 Mercedes-Benz Partners With Apptronik for Humanoid Robot Pilot in Manufacturing
🤖 Mercedes-Benz has joined the humanoid robotics trend by partnering with Apptronik to automate low-skill, physically demanding tasks in its manufacturing facilities. The pilot program, although undisclosed in specific figures, signifies a significant step forward for both companies.
🤖 Humanoids, such as those developed by Figure and Agility, have attracted substantial investor interest, with Figure recently securing a remarkable $675-million raise. This partnership highlights the growing importance of advanced robotics in streamlining industrial processes and enhancing efficiency, setting the stage for potential widespread adoption across various sectors.
💬 Source
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🔬 Microbiome Startups Navigate Criticism Amid Industry Scrutiny
🤖 Amid accusations of “questionable practices” in the microbiome industry, startups have responded with nuanced perspectives. While critics warn of analytical limits and regulatory gaps, companies such as Parallel Health, Tiny Health, and Daye emphasize transparency and compliance. These startups, specializing in personalized health solutions, navigate uncertainties by leveraging scientific consensus and rigorous testing methods.
🤖 As the industry matures, regulatory intervention may be necessary to ensure consistent standards and reliable outcomes. Investors should monitor developments closely as startups strive to legitimize their role in this burgeoning field.
💬 Source
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🌐 TikTok CEO Tells Users to “Make Their Voices Heard” Against a Bill That Could Ban the App in the US
TikTok’s CEO is urging users to speak out against the potential U.S. ban rather than addressing the possibility of the company being forced to sell. This move to rally the user base against the ban could backfire if people feel like they’re just being used for lobbying instead of being valued by TikTok. It’s a risky move that shows TikTok is worried, but this back-and-forth is likely far from over.
💬 tiktok/video/7345981888646941994?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7346002911552505376">Source
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🎮 Discord Opens Access to Games and Apps Embedded in Chat App
Starting March 18, developers will gain access to the Embedded App SDK, enabling a multitude of interactive experiences right within Discord chats. This move expands on Discord’s Activities feature, allowing for the creation of diverse mini-games and apps. Striving to become a hub for developer creativity, Discord is offering funding opportunities and experimenting with migrating apps across accounts and servers.
Against the backdrop of recent restructuring, Discord continues to push innovation by focusing on user engagement and empowering developers. It makes one wonder: What major projects could emerge from having such a platform?
💬 Source
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Idea: Digital Document Conversion and Organization Services
Offer comprehensive services to businesses that need assistance with digitizing their physical documents and organizing them into a structured and easily accessible digital format. This could involve document scanning, optical character recognition (OCR) technology to convert scanned documents into editable text, and implementing document management systems to streamline document storage, retrieval, and collaboration.
While the niche itself may not be perceived as exciting, businesses in various industries often struggle with managing large volumes of paperwork and outdated filing systems. By providing efficient and reliable services to help them streamline their document management processes, you can alleviate their pain points and offer valuable solutions.
Idea: Aquascaping design software
Aquascaping is a complex art that requires careful planning, design, and implementation to create visually appealing underwater landscapes. However, designing an aquascape can be a difficult and time-consuming task, especially for beginners.
To address this challenge, you could develop a SaaS tool that allows aquascapers to design and plan their aquascapes in a user-friendly and intuitive way. The tool could include features such as:
1. A drag-and-drop interface that allows users to easily add and move plants, rocks, and other decorative elements in their design.
2. Pre-built templates and design themes that users can customize to fit their specific needs and preferences.
3. A 3D visualization tool that allows users to view their design from different angles and perspectives.
4. A library of plants, rocks, and other decorative elements that users can use in their designs.
5. Collaboration features that allow users to share their designs with others and receive feedback and suggestions.
6. Integration with other aquascaping tools and resources, such as plant and fish databases, lighting calculators, and maintenance trackers.
With this SaaS tool, aquascapers of all levels of experience could easily design and plan their aquascapes, save time and effort, and create more visually appealing and functional underwater landscapes.
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Idea: Design variants
A tool that consumes one or many images of your design and generates different variants of it.
A list of non-SaaS niches:
- E-commerce (selling physical products online)
- Fashion and beauty (clothing, cosmetics, accessories)
- Health and wellness (fitness, nutrition, personal care)
- Education and training (online courses, tutoring, workshops)
- Entertainment (gaming, movies, music)
- Food and beverage (restaurants, catering, delivery services)
- Travel and tourism (hotels, vacation rentals, tours)
- Real estate (buying, selling, renting properties)
- Automotive (sales, repairs, parts)
- Sports and recreation (fitness equipment, outdoor gear, team sports)
- Home and garden (furniture, decor, DIY)
- Pet care (food, grooming, supplies)
- Personal finance (budgeting, investing, taxes)
- Art and crafts (painting, pottery, knitting)
- Business services (consulting, accounting, legal)
- Non-profit and social causes (charities, activism, volunteering)
- Photography and videography (wedding, events, portraits)
- Beauty and personal care services (hair styling, makeup, nails)
- Language learning and translation services
- Healthcare and medical equipment (supplies, devices, accessories)
The new video era is coming.
Idea: Make YouTube videos about anything
OpenAI has introduced a new video model called Sora, alongside others, which assists in generating a video based on a prompt. With this technology, you no longer need to search for stock videos to accompany your narrations. Creating YouTube videos is gradually becoming simpler and more accessible, as creators can now generate customized video content directly from their prompts, eliminating the need for extensive sourcing and editing of existing video footage.
What's needed: create a YouTube channel, create a scenario for your video, generate short videos for the scenario, combine them all with your (or others') voice, upload. Though, remember: it's very hard to obtain even some views on YouTube right now; and, with more video creators coming, it will become harder. Evaluate the opportunity before jumping in!
Or, you could also create solutions to streamline the process. There are many possibilities.
It's productive to not execute the idea that just came to your mind and sparked your great interest immediately.
—-
Years ago, when I haven't build a lot of solutions yet, I usually started to almost instantly create what came to my mind because I was driven by a huge energy of my fascination about problems I may solve. Also, I enjoyed building solutions with code.
Of course, I didn't finish many such things I've started to create because:
- the idea wasn't mesmerizing enough to continue building a solution. Coding 4 hours vs. coding a month is a significant difference.
- I understood that the idea didn't solve problems.
- I found out I'm interested in building other ideas.
And other reasons but they all come down to the absence of reasonable planning. We have limited energy and time, so it's more productive to allocate them to the projects that make sense in the long-term.
Of course, this statement is obvious but I fall into executing not properly planned projects sometimes.
Idea: Communication skills training
It's a platform that focuses on helping individuals and teams improve their ability to effectively communicate in various settings, such as business meetings, presentations, and virtual interactions. The platform could include a variety of features, such as:
1. Online training modules: The platform could offer a range of interactive training modules that cover topics such as active listening, public speaking, and nonverbal communication. These modules could include videos, quizzes, and other interactive elements to make the learning experience engaging and effective.
2. Virtual coaching: Users could have the option to schedule virtual coaching sessions with communication experts to receive personalized feedback and guidance on their specific communication challenges.
3. Role-playing exercises: The platform could offer a variety of role-playing exercises that allow users to practice their communication skills in realistic simulated scenarios, such as a job interview or a difficult conversation with a coworker.
4. Analytics and progress tracking: The platform could provide users with analytics and progress tracking tools to help them measure their progress and identify areas for improvement.
5. Team collaboration: For businesses, teams could use the platform to collaborate and learn together, getting feedback on their communication skills and then implementing new strategies.
6. Integration with communication tools: The platform could be integrated with popular communication tools like Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams to provide users with real-time feedback during virtual meetings and interactions.
Idea: Medical equipment delivery
A personalized medical equipment rental service that delivers medical devices, such as wheelchairs, crutches, and hospital beds, directly to patients' homes. The service would be particularly useful for patients who have just undergone surgery or have mobility issues, as well as for elderly patients who need assistance with daily living activities.
The service could include a mobile app that allows patients to easily request and schedule deliveries, track their orders, and communicate with customer service representatives. The company could also offer additional services, such as installation and maintenance of the equipment, and work with healthcare providers and insurance companies to streamline the payment and reimbursement process for patients.
By focusing on personalized service and convenience, this startup could differentiate itself from traditional medical equipment rental companies and improve the patient experience.
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Idea: A mobile app that helps users discover and explore unpopular or lesser-known hobbies and activities
Problem: Many people have trouble finding enjoyable and engaging hobbies, particularly those that are less popular or well-known. This can lead to a sense of boredom and a lack of fulfillment in their free time.
The app could use machine learning algorithms to analyze a user's interests and preferences, and then provide personalized recommendations for hobbies and activities that they may enjoy but are not as well-known. For example, the app could recommend niche sports or outdoor activities, unique crafting or DIY projects, or obscure forms of art or entertainment. The app could also provide resources and information on how to get started with these hobbies, as well as connect users with others who share their interests. By helping users discover and explore new and interesting hobbies, the app could provide a sense of excitement and fulfillment in their free time, as well as help them to expand their horizons and explore new passions.
🚀 Apple’s Latest Acquisition: AI Startup Enhancing Manufacturing Efficiency
🤖 Investors, take note: Apple has expanded its AI portfolio by acquiring Canadian company DarwinAI, Bloomberg reports. Specializing in vision technology for manufacturing, DarwinAI aims to optimize the observation of components, improving efficiency. While the deal has not yet been confirmed by either Apple or DarwinAI, team members have reportedly moved into Apple’s machine learning divisions.
🤖 With DarwinAI’s significant funding and expertise, Apple is looking forward to advances in manufacturing and artificial intelligence capabilities in devices.
💬 Source
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🚀 What is the appropriate amount of funding for a startup?
Here are some tips on how much money you should raise for your startup:
1️⃣ Raise enough to reach profitability, so you don’t need additional funding rounds. However, some startups (like hardware companies) may require follow-up rounds.
2️⃣ Your funding goal should cover 12–18 months of operations to reach the next fundable milestone.
3️⃣ A rule of thumb is to estimate $15,000 per month per engineer. So, for a five-person engineering team for 18 months, you’d need around $1.35 million.
4️⃣ Try to give up no more than 10%–25% equity in your seed round; 20% dilution is common.
5️⃣ Create multiple funding plans for different raise amounts, articulating how far each will take you.
6️⃣ The optimal seed raise is usually $500,000–$1.5 million, though $600,000 is typical these days.
7️⃣ Develop a credible plan to boost investor confidence in the growth potential of their funds.
8️⃣ Be prepared to pitch a range—e.g., “We’re raising $X to $Y for 12–18 months of runway.”
The key is balancing enough runway while minimizing dilution, with a raise amount backed by a credible plan for either slower or faster growth depending on what you can raise.
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🇪🇺 European Parliament Approves Landmark Artificial Intelligence Act
The European Union has approved its landmark Aritficial Intelligence Act, placing strict rules on high-risk AI uses. It’s a bold move, signaling Europe’s uncompromising stance on protecting rights over unbridled innovation. While the act provides helpful guardrails, the heavy regulatory burden could stifle startups lacking resources for compliance. As investors, we must assess whether the tradeoff is worthwhile for EU-focused AI plays versus more permissive regions. Responsible development is crucial, but an overly restrictive regime risks being outpaced globally. Navigating this new reality may be critical.
💬 Source
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⚖️ Tesla Faces Court Battle Over Autopilot’s Role in 2018 Crash
Tesla heads to court again over a 2018 crash that resulted in the death of Wei “Walter” Huang. The trial, set for the week of April 8 in California, will assess whether Tesla’s driver-assist features bear responsibility for the tragic incident. Investigations revealed both autopilot and distracted driving contributed to the crash. Huang’s family alleges Tesla lacked essential safety features such as automatic braking at the time.
Despite previous legal actions against Tesla’s driver-assist technology, the automaker has never been held liable. With mounting regulatory scrutiny and ongoing controversies, this court case marks another critical moment for Tesla and its investors.
💬 Source
📌 This channel is owned by V3V Ventures
Idea: Community engine
A website engine/template that allow businesses/persons/communities to create a place for their community: useful resources, articles, a place for the discussion, and other related features.
If I were to start a community, I would ponder for a while what technology I should use to create a website, a messaging channel, a newsletter maybe? So why not having a template for all of that? For example, this solution would provide a ready-made website for the community's searchability in search engines, a Discord/Slack/Telegram/etc. platform template for discussions, a service to run newsletters, and other features that this community may have.
Currently, there are many things to consider when running a community: a technology for a website, a lot of resources to read on how to run the comm. in Discord/etc., how to take payments, etc.
ChatGPT prompts for more ideas that you can generate yourself:
1. "Generate a startup idea in the technology sector."
2. "Propose a business idea that solves a common problem in everyday life."
3. "Create a startup concept that leverages emerging trends and technologies."
4. "Generate an innovative business idea for a niche market."
5. "Propose a startup that disrupts a traditional industry with a fresh approach."
6. "Develop a business idea that promotes sustainability and eco-friendly practices."
7. "Generate a startup concept for a mobile app or web-based service."
8. "Create a business idea that focuses on enhancing user experiences or convenience."
9. "Propose a startup that caters to the sharing economy or collaborative consumption."
10. "Generate a business idea that leverages social media or influencer marketing."
Bonus: the prompts for niches:
1. "Generate a list of emerging and untapped niche markets."
2. "Propose business opportunities in industries that are often overlooked or undervalued."
3. "Create ideas for niche products or services that cater to specific hobbies or interests."
4. "Generate niche market opportunities that target underserved customer segments."
5. "Propose business ideas for niche markets with high growth potential."
6. "Identify untapped opportunities in local or regional markets."
7. "Create ideas for niche businesses that leverage unique cultural or regional characteristics."
8. "Generate business opportunities in niche sectors that have a strong online presence."
9. "Propose ideas for niche markets within the health and wellness industry."
10. "Identify underserved niches in the travel and tourism sector."
#chatgptprompts
Some time ago, I worked on a solution that creates simple websites. It didn't have any UI interface. There were 10 or so primary templates where their details were adjusted on the fly such as colors, button radiuses, fonts, and shadows. So, even if you have a small number of templates, you could generate thousands of visually different simple websites.
However, every use case or niche may require a different set of templates (not just HTML blocks but also forms, etc.), and that's why people usually try complicated website builders with enormous UI interfaces (e.g., Webflow): they provide them flexibility. For instance, if I want to build an advertising agency landing page, it may be time-consuming for me to find a template I like, and it's more difficult to adjust it in the way I prefer it to be. Or, if I'm a small cafe owner, I don't know about tech much, so, I probably ask someone with more tech background to help me with a website.
Why create a tool for many niches? You may pick just one. Do people need websites? Yes, and businesses need them more and are more willing to pay for having one. But you don't want to spend a few years building a regular website generator and then even more years adjusting the solution to customers in quite different niches.
What if you pick one niche and one use case? For example, a wedding photographer's niche, landing page/portfolio use case. Talk to many of them, and ask if they need websites, and how they use them. Identify patterns and build a solution for them only.
In this case, you don't even need an app for that: you approach every one of them individually and generate HTML for what they want, and sell. After some time you may want to switch to a different model: self-selling, so you create a UI and set up a full-fledged SaaS. Or, just sell 1500 templates individually.
Prompt: "Create a list of SaaS ideas that can be executed without coding knowledge in a few days. Provide ideas that are already used by companies to earn a lot of income."
1. Curated Newsletter Services: Use platforms like Substack or Mailchimp to create and distribute newsletters on niche topics. Monetize through subscriptions, sponsorships, or affiliate marketing.
2. Online Course Platforms: Utilize platforms like Teachable, Udemy, or Skillshare to create and sell courses on topics you are knowledgeable about. Revenue comes from course sales or subscription models.
3. Digital Marketing Services: Offer digital marketing services using tools like Canva for design, Buffer for social media management, and Mailchimp for email marketing campaigns. Charge businesses a fee for managing their online presence.
4. Virtual Event Planning: Use tools like Zoom, Eventbrite, and social media to organize and host virtual events. Monetize through ticket sales, sponsorships, or by hosting paid webinars.
5. E-commerce Storefront: Set up an online store using Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce. Dropshipping or print-on-demand services can be used to avoid handling inventory, focusing on marketing and customer service instead.
6. Subscription Box Services: Use platforms like Cratejoy to launch a subscription box service. Curate products within a niche and manage subscriptions and shipping through the platform.
7. Content Curation and Aggregation: Create a platform or service that curates or aggregates content for a specific niche, using tools like Curated.co. Revenue can be generated through memberships, ads, or affiliate links.
8. Online Consulting or Coaching: Offer consulting or coaching services in your area of expertise using scheduling and video conferencing tools like Calendly and Zoom. Charge per session or on a subscription basis.
9. Personalized Content Creation: Use AI tools for creating personalized content, such as resumes, cover letters, or business plans. Charge for each personalized document created.
10. No-Code App Development: Utilize no-code platforms like Bubble, Adalo, or Glide to create and sell custom apps for businesses or specific niches without writing code.
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Being honest with yourself is demanding but fruitful.
---
I came up with many ideas that solved real problems, I thought. I had those problems, hence, thinking of potential solutions was simple. However, it's not enough to have any problems: some of them aren't worth solving. The problem should bother a person to the extent that they take action to address it.
I sometimes deceived myself about the importance of the problems I attempted to address. As a result, I developed effective solutions for what I believed were significant issues, but they were only perceived as 'effective' within the distorted perspective I had created.
What could have been different? By providing myself with honest answers, I could have avoided wasting energy on endeavors destined to be abandoned in the end.
YCombinator (startup accelerator, more) requests for startups is a list of niches where they want more people to work in. I highly recommend reading it because:
- they've just updated it 6 days ago;
- they've seen a lot of startups, so they map YC experience/expertise into what they think are interesting (high demand) areas;
- they try to foresee the world trends, so this is another interpretation of the future for you.
—-
There are many items on this list that I may comment more. Let's start from the first items: "applying ML to robotics" and "using ML to simulate physical world".
The robotics industry is developing further, and while they may struggle with hardware, the software part is far more important. ML technology is improved by a lot and there are many possibilities to apply the tech in robotics. For example, when communicating with people; converting the communication results into physical world actions; (robots) making decisions given physical and digital worlds information.
If we consider such possibilities with the other item on the list, "New defense technology", we may ponder even more about such fusion's ramifications and potential: AI, robots, weapons.
The development of either AI, robots, weapons (and any combination of those) is inevitable, so YC only indicates the demand/potential in those domains.
Idea: Secure and transparent voting systems
Voting systems around the world are often plagued by issues such as voter fraud, lack of transparency, and mistrust. A potential solution could be a platform that leverages blockchain technology to provide secure and transparent voting systems. Blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology that allows for secure and transparent record-keeping.
The platform could be used for a variety of voting scenarios, including national elections, corporate elections, and even online polls. Each vote would be recorded on the blockchain, providing a tamper-proof and transparent record of the voting process. The platform could also provide anonymity to voters, while still ensuring that each vote is counted accurately and securely.
To monetize the platform, a potential solution could charge a fee for each voting event or offer a subscription service for ongoing use. Additionally, the potential solution could partner with governments, corporations, and other organizations to provide a comprehensive voting solution that meets their specific needs.
Overall, this potential solution has the potential to address a significant global issue and help ensure fair and transparent voting processes around the world.
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
Idea: A location-specific peer-to-peer services
A platform that connects people with local service providers, such as plumbers, electricians, and handymen. The platform could allow customers to easily find and book services, and it could also provide tools and resources for service providers to manage their schedules and communicate with customers.
Idea: No-code for games
There are many creators who would like to create a minimalistic game without coding. There are game engines that allow you to create complex logic but it's not needed for those creators. There is Twine, for example, for creating text-based games (I recommend it) that allows one to create a HTML-based game without coding at all, using UI. However, to create more complex game logic, you should code.
The problem here is inaccessibility of such game-creation tools for newbies and for people like me, who can code, but don't want to spend time coding, and want more complex logic. So, no-code for games?
Here is a few examples for potential improvement in the niche:
1. A possibility to make cross-platform games without coding. Like Twine but with additional features to embed the HTML game/story into a mobile app's web view.
2. A simple UI to make not just text-based stories/games.
In what niche(s) are you interested in or working right now?
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