Leeds Catalyst

Extract from Samba blog: http://www.sixmonthmba.com/2009/02/999ideas.html

Hamster Burial Kits & 998 Other Business Ideas

Ideas are a dime a dozen. The money is in the execution.

Need proof? For Seth Godin's Alternative MBA program, this week the nine of us came up with 111 business ideas each. But ideas are only valuable when someone (like you) makes something happen.

What follows are our 999 business ideas, free for the taking.

Prepackaged school supplies based on the lists from the school districts
Incubator site providing office space, hosting, etc. for startups that are seed funded.
In-grocery store prep service (buy vegetables first and drop them off to be chopped to your specs - pick them up on the way to checkout)
A website that you can submit your design and work with vendors to manufacture your own clothes line.
Online discount brokerage that has no closing hours and provides access to all exchanges throughout the world and handles currency and legal issues automatically.

Stamphead, where stamps can be custom made in the likeness of an avatar the user creates.
Aggregator site for affiliate marketers to collect daily reports. Would work on a tiered pricing structure giving you more info the higher up you go. Basic would be for people like me who just want to know if they made something and how much; advanced would pull down all available data.
A gadget to cook beans/lentils/vegetables/rice for the same amount of time (quicker than what can be done in a slow cooker.)
Herbal Flavored Gum. MMM...rosemary.
Church issued credit card with automatic 10% for religious tithing
Brainstorm Consulting - Teach companies how to brainstorm
Create a website for non-profits and a list of their projects/needs and a similar list for foundations. Its a central meeting place for people to look for funding from the right people.
Tutorial videos for technological skills (word processing, internet applications, email) for people who don't know how to navigate technology but need it.
Website where musicians can collaborate on tracks
Signs in restaurants on menus that list all the ingredients.
Network of chefs that rotate being personal chefs
Nuclear waste storage facilities completely removed from society.
Hedge fund that makes bridge loans to homeowners facing foreclosure.
Small-town / city - websites (through city and Chamber of Commerce) - most small town websites are terrible
whistle It.com: download audio of people whistling popular songs.
A food service where you can email them your mom's recipes and have them make it for you and deliver it during lunch time.
Multiple camera angles on live television (especially for sports) or online viewing
Replicate reality TV shows for foreign countries.
SIM card swap service
An alternative medicine or homeopathic online service that diagnoses your ailment and gives you the proper corresponding alternative treatment; also provides you with doctors in your area that treat with alternative medicines.
Create the double snuggie.
A company that installs a monitor at a building entry and hosts virtual door attendants.
Web-based language tutors leveraging Skype and Google Docs for curriculum.
Meal delivery in hospitals
Web package for a school system that allows parents to see their kids' school schedules, grades, lunches, sports activities
Santa Delivery Service - A dressed Santa will come to your home during the holidays and deliver your gifts as Santa
Presentation Consulting - Teach companies how to improve their presentations
A website that boasts: Buy one product, have one mystery product of lesser value shipped to a friend for the cost of s&h. the user don't know what they’ll get, but it will be fun as hell and keep the user in touch in an interesting way.
Tribe Consulting - Help individuals (not companies) discover what Tribes they should lead and help them do it
Music Box manufacturer that will turn any inanimate objects mailed to then into music boxes. Users buy direct online, picking from available stock. Added charge for sending in the you own inanimate object.
Customer feedback software for mobile phones sold to marketers.
Web-based rent-a-CFO.
Application to sell to universities that allows students to access their transcripts online
Exchange clothing (like PaperBackSwap.com) for men's & women's clothing
Monthly subscription service for unlimited ebooks on your ebook reader device. Rhapsody/Netflix model for ebooks.
Cell phone made of biodegradable materials
iPhone app that tells you odds for a poker hand
Let’s Get Coffee – for couples; pairing service similar to matchmaking service “It’s Just Lunch” to help couples find other couples with similar friends
A service that discounts newspapers after 8pm the day of print. I do not want to buy a NYTimes for $5 at the end of the day.
Nonprofit that takes old CD electronics to developing countries
A unified affiliate marketing program for every store on the web.
Contest company for small local businesses
Website mock-ups for people seeking VC funding
Grocery delivery service for college campuses: Fresh direct for dorm rooms.
Independent calorie testing company - A company that actually does testing on food for consumers to determine calorie content
Earplugs that go deeper into your ears but don’t hurt them.
Online transcription service for conference calls - leveraging Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Google for video & audio - Dragonspeak -> voice to text -> with searchable tags
A service that just vacuums and dust your apartment.
A way to ensure that each person can only create one account on a website, without having to sacrifice anonymity.
A small flap or cover (separate or built-in) for computers and technology with little lights that flash when they sleep (so you can sleep.)
Crutches that stand upright by themselves. The base would have feet that fold up or spring out so you don’t have to lay them on the ground where they get in the way and people trip over them, etc.
Interior Design on a Budget - for people who still want their homes to look good but can't afford Restoration Hardware - client defines a set budget and consultants design using budget pieces from TJMaxx or Marshall's or odds & ends shops
Landscaping business specializing only on LEED rooftop gardens.
Company that records your voice message and other digital forms of media and sends it out into space as a message in a space bottle.
Fireplace rehab – clean, paint, resurface, whatever to make it pretty. Big in places where same brick as outside the house is used for the fireplace and it’s not attractive (I’ve had two houses now like this.)
"How to live on a small budget" website written by college students for college student for all sizable college towns sponsored by local merchant coupons.
Someone/service that keeps inventory in a household (products, cleaning, etc.)
A drink company that brings the Shirley Temple back – the best drink ever!
Online Firewood Sales - Sell firewood online directly to consumers and business
On-click online data storage and streaming of a clients entire media library. (never lose anything again and have anywhere anytime access) Charge by the GB and bandwidth. Provide conversion services from CD to MP3.
Cupcake Shop (fresh and creative cupcakes)
A mobile job fair in a tractor trailer that pulls up in the parking lots of offices of businesses performing massive layoffs. You then make money by renting out space in the trailer to companies in similar industries.
Online Professional Wrestling Memorabilia Store - Sell pro wrestling memorabilia online directly to consumers
Software to manage energy sales back to the grid generated by home systems.
Analytics software for customer profiling, not just click analysis.
Disposable mittens made from biodegradable materials in vending machines at supermarkets.
OnlineConfessions.com. read other confessions and share the you own anonymously.
Instant Flash builder, providing motion templates with easy upload graphic and text to fit template animation.
Technology licensing agency.
Consulting business creating a series of Squidoo lenses for an author on and around specific book titles. Pitch to publicists and literary agents, as well as directly to authors.
Hire voice actors to read popular blogs to create podcasts where they don't yet exist ("Best of the Blogosphere Podcast")
Personalized cereal boxes (to celebrate child's achievements)
Local business-sponsored community bike program
Antique wedding jewelry shopping – another eco/reuse theme. Rather than buy something new that requires mining and blood diamonds, get an antique that comes with a story (about the long marriage of the previous couple, of course). We find it for you in the style you think you want.
Surgery-specific recovery packs in hospital (if Sucrets and a can of cranberry juice is better than water & crackers, that pack exists)
Personal lessons for using your cell phone features
Venture capital consulting for startups.
A company that makes hybrid fruits. Instead of drinking a lime pomegranate drink you can eat a lime granite.
Photography studio that casts you as characters from movies
Centralized web portal for university technology transfer offices.
A service that gives well-known business people a public email address, so that if an email get sent there you can read the email and then read the response. The idea being that it will give you insight into the mind of the person and what made them successful, and it will also teach you how to write good emails and learn email etiquette.
A technology/service that Preachers/Rabbi’s/Clergy can use that creates a way to gather feedback during the service from the attendees.
Online flower shop with one-hour delivery
A non-profit that provides credit consulting for youth and impoverished.
Local fresh restaurant that opens off-peak hours to hold cooking classes to locals.
Fractional Ownership of Technological Conference Room in Office Complex
Rent-a-wife – a woman who cleans, cooks, does laundry, picks up dry cleaning, mail, etc but without the emotional relationship.
Project management website for volunteer shift scheduling – church nurseries, hospital auxiliary members, protest marches, etc.
Pencil sharpener type device to grind down dog toenails
An iPhone app that allows you to search a database of unique and obscure beers and drinks
Glow in the dark non-toxic washable paint that you can spray on your kids/pets when they are trick-or-treating so they don't get hit by a car.
A party planner for kids birthday parties, but with educational and fun activities.
Instant Ad builder where sexy templates are linked with creative common photos.
Spring Shadows - program where kids can shadow business people for a short two weeks internship to see what they want to major in once they go to college and what they might want to do once they graduate
GPS / location based meetup based on pre-selected preferences (i.e. - Manchester United)
A paperless hospital.
Whack-a-Mole style game with political figures
Automatic thank you notes, sent to contacts as a postcard generated from uploaded contact lists. On the card is a highly realistic signature that users digitally upload.
National Restaurant Customer Service Association - traveling customer service training system
Artists' Playground. This is a building that has rooms setup for ceramics, painting, silk screenings, theater, writing, open mic, dance, photography, etc. This building will also have social areas for people to mingle over coffee and healthy foods. People pay a monthly membership to have access and it is also rented out for events.
Concierge services for an office building. Sell as a value add to the building managers or to the specific businesses as a benefit for their employees.
A place where people could go to eat/study but would HAVE to do it at the same table with a stranger. It would encourage us to talk to/meet new and interesting people.
Street Bar - bar inside a huge vehicle that drives you around
Feng Shui website where you upload your floor plan and other details and get a recommendation on how to construct your space.
Web-based rapid prototyping service that allows amateur product designers to test their designs and have our RP machines "print" their products in 3D.
Training company that teaches people to be brave.
Retractable spikes for boots to walk on the ice on sidewalks
Recipe Subscription Business - Subscribe to the website and pay for premium recipes
Online eulogies (recorded by your friends before you die)
Software that automates Search Engine Optimization without registering as black hat.
iPhone app that is specifically for ski maps. Shows number of runs made and has lots of cool interactive features. Even shows which runs are groomed. Every ski resort would need their own app. Probably provide the app for free and the ski resort pays an arm and a leg for being featured in the app.
Publisher of web-based children's games.
Horoscope porn site that provides the user with a personalized video stream based on preconceived notions assigned to your “sign”.
A travel company that arranges people to stay at others houses.
Slow cooker meals in a bag - drop it in and forget it
A travel mug that’s not plastic or aluminum (ceramic) but with a rubber lid (tight-sealing), that has a good grip. Most travel mugs retain the smell of the material and give the liquid a strange taste after a while. Also, something that doesn’t allow Tupperware to smell.
Employee monitoring service that provides detailed reports on employee's online and offline activities. - include hardware scrubbing and "forensic" proof removal of data, footprints and histories.
Tattoo parlor for pets
Story Consulting - Help companies define and refine their story and teach them how to tell it
A service that tells your neighbors to be quiet (nicely). They will draft a letter or note and send it to your neighbor so you can be the objective third party.
Graffiti generator .com, where friends can type in text and, using different styles and palettes, create a tag-like version of their name, poems, etc.
Internet and webcam set up for seniors to communicate with grandkids
Theme restaurant - Karaoke in front of a live band
Graph consultants - Company that specializes in making effective graphs from any data you give them.
A conflict negotiation service (online or regular) where you submit a problem and we provide an answer
School real estate rental company - Company that specializes in renting out underutilized school rooms during the summer
Tuning rooms for entry level home theaters
Build Your Own Perfume Shop.
Front door cleaning service – get rid of all the stuff that gets left on your door every day before you get home
A company that sells framed book covers, so that you can hang the covers of your favorite books on the wall of your office.
Standing in line for people
Brainstorming.com - put in an idea and gives you 10 ideas
Chewing gum that is good for braces and dentures.
Glass repair company - Company that specializes in repairing scratches or slightly broken glass
Twitter third party app to help drivers find vacant parking spaces in crowded metro areas; sponsored by local merchants and advertising.
Make your own batch of whiskey - takes 12 years, you pick flavors and types of oak barrels at the distillery, pickup in 12 years
Franchise business consulting that helps large franchisees improve their businesses.
Repossession agency for the most dangerous jobs in foreign lands.
Digital tombstones that serve rich multimedia messages and memories of the deceased.
Marketing and Advertising agency that excels at telling stories.
A site like intrade that would allow investors to make bets on analytics type data, like the number of page views Wikipedia will get next January, or how many copies Malcolm Gladwell's new book will sell.
A service that pairs you with the right tools and helps you find a career by pairing you with the right resources (NOT an uninformed headhunter)
Web portal to help large corporations source physical building contractors for specialized facilities.
A company that digs your car out of the snow and removes snow from your driveway and starts car in the morning.
A trend of the month club, where each month you get mailed something hip with a glossy booklet explaining how cool that item is about to become. Limited to 5,000 people. Gives you a cool story to tell yourself for the rest of the month, and something to talk about with your friends.
Come to your house alterations
Custom adventures using Virtual Reality goggles and a windfan (i.e. - basejumping a waterfall or the Grand Canyon)
Performance art as advertising - i.e. Cirqu de Soleil actors selling an item / brand
Service to teach doctors how to use technology to reach out to patients
Company working with magazines to help them develop a social networking presences
A pill that gradually dies body hair.
Technology scout for large corporations that looks for acquisitions.
Create book trailers for small publishers/authors to place on YouTube
IP Scanner. Scans images straight to flickr or similar service. Great for archiving family pictures or kids drawings.
Independent account fraud company - A company does regular checkups of your online accounts (like social networking sites) to check for fraudulent activity
Web-based devil's advocate service for startups looking for someone to critique their ideas. Perhaps also provides referrals to cheap services for startups, like cheap graphics design, cheap business plan feedback, etc.
A half refrigerator/freezer/microwave in the trunk of a car. That way, wherever you go in the car, you can always have food handy. How great for road trips.
Pandora for spin bikes
A non-profit that documents the stories told by elderly in nursing homes.
A company that will apply your logo in glow-in-the dark removable paint around a town so it appears at night.
Replication service for clothing items – make you a new pair just like the old pair
Improve soft contacts so you can wear for 1 year at a time.
An online counseling program via webcam (for therapists, inmates)
Not-for-profit that works with people to help cure their acne.
Service that takes your text messages from your phone to your computer
Fast food restaurants with healthy, organic and tasty foods. Similarly, healthy foods in cafeterias and grocery stores in low-socioeconomic areas.
Software company that builds marketing dashboards sold to CMOs, brand officers, etc.
A Build Your Own Robot Shop.
A store that sells all inflatable products. So, for example, large inflatable cushions that kids can use to make play forts that compress flat afterwards. Good for Manhattan apartments where you buy a 30 dollar toy that takes up $800 of floor space.
Offshore software development company based in China.
A company that will sell a large digital frame for close to free and then provide a service for a fee that sends artwork to the digital frame every week.
Desk mounted lighting systems for video chat
The Black Cow (least innovative product)
A way to turn recipes on the web into peapod orders. A way to turn the customized diets that Weight Watchers or WebMD create into a peapod order.
Online petition forms with compliant signature verification software.
Customer service solution for general contractors that allows them to put in notes and they’re generated as an email or voicemail to customer to provide them with regular reports on how the work is going and what is holding things up
Networked home alarm systems so that neighbors can check on each other's homes during break-ins.
Scavenger Hunts, Inc. - We setup pre-defined scavenger hunts for small business team building (like a mini Amazing Race) or even for kid's birthday parties (in a local park)
Eyeglasses that you can adjust to the light. Not that they adjust on their own.
Worst, etc.
Clipping service for high school athletes parents
EZPass for humans on public transportation (key fob?)
A company that creates baseball trading card style packets for restaurant chains.
A cleaning service using only eco friendly products
Custom Hypnosis CD Business - Customers go to a studio and record their own voice reading self-hypnosis scripts
Online Suspenders store - Company sells nothing but suspenders
A non-profit that supports poor on using technology in classes taught by young freelance artists.
Online Antique Appraisal Service - Send pictures of your antiques online to have them appraised
Microbrewery with high-octane beers with boutique labels that cost as much as good wines
Technology consulting for venture firms.
Harmonica It.com: download audio of people playing popular songs on the harmonica.
A site that aggregates naturopathic medicines that have been shown to work to peer reviewed journals, but which for whatever reason aren't prescribed by mainstream doctors. The site would then show the medicines proven effective for each condition, with a link to the journal article or clinical data or whatever.
A hyperlocal iPhone app to find food, but for a series of use cases more specific than what Zagats and yelp are designed for. For example, list the best 3 food places within one mile of each highway exit that take less than 20 minutes. Or what wine tastings are within 10 miles of me within the next week.
Anti-drug education program for inner city schools. In conjunction with a touring program that sends a message to parents across the country.
Food consulting company that helps local restaurants with calorie measurement and other health issues - and publishes calorie, fat, vitamin data to third party apps on smart phones.
Mushroom/compost farm that uses the Matter of Trust “lasagna” to eat cleaned up oil spills
Company working with small local newspapers helping them develop a social network presence
Giant Magnadoodle for teachers
Computer Remote Technician - Fixes your computer by remotely connecting to your PC or Mac
Conference organizing company that handles all the logistics of creating and running conferences for other organizations.
Retro-fitting older school buses with seats with seatbelts
Online Town Hall
Speed dating online.
Adopt a prisoner "charity" that allows people to adopt an inmate and assure that they are visited and receive cards/letters on important dates.
Prius Cab Fleet (www.greenfares.com)
Buzz-monitoring of brands with software tools sold to enterprises and brand managers.
The Purple Cow (most innovative product)
Feng Shui experts that tells you the best way to put your stuff/furniture in your house.
Expert roommate negotiator - Expert negotiator specializing in solving roommate disagreements
Rent a scout that gives you a good idea of your child's sports potential
Book packaging for great college writing and emerging writers.
Online Palm Readings - Readings done via Skype
Self-righting picture hanger
Website for online job searching with IM capabilities so you can ask questions to other people searching or people who are advertising.
An IMDB for people who have won awards. I want to a quick way to find the professors with the most citations in any given subject, the chefs in the area with the best Zagats reviews, the local high school football players with the most touchdowns, etc.
A digital coloring book.
SMS messaging for television tickers scrolling at the bottom of popular shows.
A website that users can program in advance to take some action if some event happens. For example, a national chain of tire stores could send an email reminding its customers to get their snowtires on two days before the first predicted snowfall of the season in that user's zipcode.
Garanimals for adult men
Dating Consulting - individualized service on how to find, meet and date quality people
Boat or Yacht share program.
DeadCells Art: mail your old, hated cell phones to a factory that smashes it and returns it to the user as framed work of art.
Girls Getaway - a company that sets up 'girls week / weekend' vacations (shopping, Broadway shows, hiking, wine tasting, etc.)
Toilet seat covers for public toilets that don’t fall off the seats.
For younger students, nap time is often hard to relax and in a bright room. There should be a company that creates comfortable nap time products for kids.
A company that you can hire that will come to your town and make a 4 show realty series that you can show to your friends or play on local stations.
A service that manages the risk of house swapping.
Build the you own Barbie.com. Pay $100 to dress and color the you own doll.
Twitter or SMS restaurant reservations
Digital family whiteboard on fridge (like an iTablet for the family)
A website that connects people with Objects of Sociability. For example, you have a group of friends you want to do something with and it connects you with an open hibachi table or a deep sea fishing boat rental. You can also rent objects of sociability, so for example you could rent a bread maker or a super nice tea set with 30 looseleaf teas. It would also connect people to third places that would be suitable for, say, a first date.
Dissolvable contacts that deliver medicine to the eye overnight
A charity that works with major retailers to encourage buyers to bring in their old clothes for a discount. The company will then take the clothes from the retailer and send to a third world country or American red cross.
TV Show Summary Service - Brief summaries of your favorite shows are e-mailed to you in case you missed them.
Globalization consultancy.
Creating a website community for freelance professors (professional educators with a specific expertise; different from tutors in the sense that they are not preparing students for a certain test or "actual class") to connect with students who want to be educated via an alternative route. The ideal site would essentially be a hub for professor profiles/portfolios with a variety of mediums for conversation between the students and the professors for hire. comments/rating system (no anonymity including a record of that person's comments rates so you can get a better picture of who is saying what). The idea is similar to something like pick a prof. that most college kids use now to pick their classes; however, the emphasis with pick a prof is typically to pick easy classes to graduate where as this would be an effort to allow professors and students to negotiate the value of the education without going through the university as a middle man. Monetization routes: site advertisements, membership fees for students and/or profs, selling books written by professors for commission
Build Your Own Back Pack Shop.
Group dating website.
Online mentoring program for students of all ages (Pen pals that teach each other skills online.)
Citizen journalism website.
A website that teaches kids how to do quant trading. The site would come with a data feed, dozens of pre-packaged statistical tests that could be deployed or combined in various ways, and the ability to do backtesting to see if this strategy would have been effective on previous data.
Designer bibs for patients during their teeth cleaning. This could be a cartoon design for kids or pattern for adults.
RingTone this.com: upload audio and have computer-like versions automatically generated and sent to the you cell phone as a ringtone.
A book about the history of the internet made from recycled phone books.
A cutting-edge fashion company that tells the story of wearable computing.
A virtual interior decorator that will make suggestions via digital photographs.
A company like 800CEOREAD that does bulk book rentals. So for example you could rent 1,000 copies of Jeff Jarvis's new book for a month instead of purchasing them.
A company that sells high quality sawdust / sand in bulk to put on the floor of restaurants or bars. The company would then be responsible for removing the old material and replacing it when necessary.
IP Camera security company - software solution - offsite remotely recording
Military Peak Performance Consulting - Consult the military on matters of peak performance (nutrition/stress management/etc.)
An event planning organization that markets to stay-at-home moms with big ideas, eager to share there inventions and business ideas with other mothers.
Educational youth iPhone games
An automatic dimming light bulb coated in that same stuff that is on glasses that the user wear on the you face.
Frozen venison shipping store - Company that specializes in shipping the best venison across the country
A safe vice for your head when you have a headache (made from strong fabric maybe)
Apprenticeship management company for high profile business personalities.
Celebrity voice wake up calls
Obama TARP consulting for financial institutions.
For Americans book series – Cricket for Americans, Bollywood for Americans, World History for Americans, French Film for Americans – would be topics that go outside our country to hopefully explain that the rest of the world isn’t just like us, nor should it be
A consulting company that works with aerobic instructors to trademark their exercise routine.
Webcam security set up to watch kids, dogs, older parents
A recipe holding cell online for all your recipes to edit, print, and send to friends.
A small handheld set up to video chat only via satellite.
A business model that implements a ‘couples fare’ if you are in a long distance relationship you register for a year deal where you get specialized pricing and discounts.
iPhone app that has similar features to Nike plus (who doesn't have an app yet). For runners. Pace, speed, etc. All reports back to a website that has monthly subscription cost
Network of restaurants where chefs rotate
Agency that trains people for doctor’s offices. Doctor’s offices need etiquette training for their employees desperately.
A service that transfers CDs -> LPs (not the other way around)
Organic grapes and wine brokerage.
If you're doing home exchanges, a personal website devoted to you and your trip and all of its details. It will have an itinerary on a main page so you don't have to access your email to see it and it has all the details there.
Collectibles investment club.
After Party Art where the user send in bottles collected from special gatherings to a factory that melts and shapes glass into guest gifts.
Stickers for backpacks (stick well to nylon, etc.)
Roomba type toy for dog to chase around house. Should move faster, be fairly indestructible and make appropriate noises.
An online toy that introduces children to audio mixing through a Mr. Potato Head-like interface. Add a nose, add an instrument to the band!
Children's school that finds the right balance between Marine Corps boot camp methods, Montessori methods, and liberal arts education - located half the year in big cities worldwide and half the year in wilderness camp setting.
Dashboard painting of car interiors
Amusement park based on video games
Personal chef for a day. A formalized service where you can call and get a chef with a specific specialty to come and cook a few days worth of food. In cities, this would be very popular and in demand.
After party cleaning crew
Fence store - Sells nothing but designer fences with custom designs
Investment bank that helps non-profits tap the public market with stock listings.
An invite only site that allows friends to create video playlists from Hulu, the userTube and third party programming.
Online Astrology Readings - Readings done via Skype
Gym review company - Company that reviews gyms and creates a guide like ZAGAT that we sell
Netflix for freshwater aquariums. If you get bored of some of your old fish you can swap them out for new ones.
Phone booth style device that you walk into and it steam presses your clothes
A website that you can put in a characteristics of a person and it will come up with an avatar.
A store for really obscure food products that change regularly. Every time a customer checks out, you ask them if there are any products that we don't know about that we should know about, and if there is then the customer ten dollars off their bill and that product shows up in the store within a week or two. Maybe even more narrow than just foods in general, so for example a store for niche meats that come from animals you've never heard of.
Religious Karaoke Bar - Bar where only religious songs allowed to be sung, and no alcohol
Soda Pop flavored mochi balls.
A sophisticated website that uses an eHarmony-like algorithm to match nannies and families
Solid state lighting retrofits of vintage light fixtures (art deco, 40's 50's 60's fixtures) get them at Goodwill and other second hand shops and turn them into $300 "green works or retro art"
A dating service where only your friends can set you up on dates.
Fractional Ownership of Season Tickets / Box Seats
Affordable home matting and framing kit
Consumer fingerprinting business - Company provides trained experts to apply fingerprints tests for household events
A relocation service for Americans looking to permanently move to a new location for global opportunities.
Website where musicians can collaborate on lyrics
Roomba for the backyard to pick up dog poop and enzyme it. Or it works with the Doggie Doolie and dumps the poop in it on a regular basis.
Fish Burial Kit.
Mail in your old mixtapes and get a playlist sent to you via email with a digital version of that mix.
A not-for-profit that pairs experts with eager and willing pupils for an apprenticeship program.
Actor research consulting service - Consulting service for actors to be setup with people who can mentor them in research for their roles
Automatic documentary maker, where families upload clips, photos and music from their special occasions generating a smooth transition clip that captures the essence of the moment.
Executive Power nap business - Locations where executives can take a 20 minute energizer nap during the day
Graphic novels based on video games
Professional protesters agency.
Lip reading school - School that teaches students how to read lips
Digital Workflow Consulting - "We'll get your precious memories (files) into the cloud"
Brand of energy ice cream.
Cereal Bar (cereal the way you like it with "extras" - open late)
Sell web stats back to website owners who are computer illiterate (Google Analytics)
Anti-inflammatory Hot Sauce
Firefox Plugin for Autosave Clipboard
Undercover Teenager - hire a teenager to spy on your kid
iPhone app that uses the GPS to measure amount of accumulated gains in altitude for climbers, hikers, skiers.
Pay at the pump carbon offsets
Roof-mounted Active Denial System (pain ray) to keep deer out of your garden. Or possibly a sounder laser. The system would be mounted next to a camera with an image recognition system that could pick out a deer.
Netflix for conversation pieces. Get bored of your coffee table book and send it back for another.
Box removal after people move – green message of recycling
Relationship Hotline - Relationship experts answer phone calls 24/7
Age verification company - A company that solely does research to verify someone's age (little league baseball would be a big client)
Campaign Suite -> Political Suite - set of web apps - all the good things Obama did in a "package"
A seminar business that trains people to be tribe leaders.
Mobile software for a picture-based wishlist. When you see something you like at a store, you can take a picture of it and record the info about it either so you can comparison shop or someone can shop for you. Might replace the print-out-20-sheets-of-info gift registries in places like Target.
An Urban Dictionary for texting.
Salon for blind people
Picture book series for adults explaining technology topics
Closet organization for adult men – Garanimalize their clothing for them after the fact
Vision board builder site that provides a virtual design for users to focus on their goals daily.
A website that teaches you about what is involved in the day-to-day training for different sports, so you can make an intelligent decision about what sport to take up instead of just choosing based on what it looks like on TV. Has links to where you can go to take up a sport as a beginner, what the competition structure looks like, how far you typically have to travel, etc. Can drive traffic to consultants who help get kids recruited to college, to genetic testing firms, to sports physiology labs, etc.
DeadTV Art: mail your old, hated TV sets to a factory that smashes it and returns it to the user as framed work of art.
Organic vitamin pills and supplements for vegetarians sold through health stores.
Teach companies how improv comedy can help them in their business (comfort zone, setup your partner)
Herb garden planting – plan, plant and basically get your herb garden going.
Legal Advice Hotline - Legal staff and call center charges consumers to call in for advice charge per hour
A website for elementary and middle school kids that helps them build a portfolio of their best artwork, writing, sports accomplishments, etc.
A data aggregator of global statistics on death, destruction, catastrophes, violations of human rights, freedom in media, etc. There is so much attention put on the middle east. It would be interesting to see and compare what is happening in your neighbor
Jelly Belly for gum
Team in Training - supporting a family or village instead of a cause
Filmmakers café-It would be great to have a place that people could go and use a TV and DVD player in a cool coffee house setting--similar to how the internet cafes are run...It could be a place where people could just leisurely watch something midday and also people can meet and discuss their work and others' work while watching through it.
Website that allows people to share clothes and shoes (fractional closet ownership)
iPhone app that measures the speed of a pitch. Utilizing the built in accelerometer, you throw the phone as fast as you can. When you pick it back up it tells you the speed of your throw. This pairs well with the iPhone insurance idea.
A site that gives you a step-by-step system to build a large web presence and a large group of followers, and makes it easy to track how many people are reading your blog, commenting, sending you emails, etc. so you can work on growing your number of followers and increasing your influence as efficiently as possible. Gives you detailed instructions each step of the way based on your performance.
Affordable set top box with video chat (less functionality and cheaper than Media Center)
Robotics sports entertainment company - Create robotic athletes that play sports using AI, charge for admission
A storytelling site that markets to families who want easy ways to archive the voices of their elders.
Interactive billboard advertisements with codes for coupons sent to mobile phones (mobile-location-based-presence advertising).
One stop shop custom photo labs - bring in digital pictures and you have access to Photoshop expert, printing matting, framing,
A village in china that paints portraits of pop culture icons as various dog breeds. Look, Obama as a GreyHound!
Fish babies. Specifically market a female and a male fish capable of mating to customers interested in seeing the miracle happen at home.
A consumer hotline to advise people on electronic purchases and installation on a $ per minute basis.
BestOf.com [http://BestOf.com] A website that only sells one specific type of each product...but you know its the best.
Create YouTube channel with local restaurant reviews (or any kind of local business)
Words sewn into a certain brand of clothes - need to find people with same clothes to spell out a word or phrase on the website to win a prize (like McDonald's Monopoly but with clothes and a website)
Public bathrooms that you pay to use. There is a room attendant for your bags.
A bio-degradable “plastic” to be used in developing countries where outsiders come in and drink lots of things in plastic bottles because they can’t drink the water. These countries don’t have trash and thus no way to deal with the plastic trash Westerners bring with them.
A free live music concert video site streaming a huge archive with limited commercial breaks.
Portable safety landing zone for emergency extractions sold to government first responders.
A mentoring program (website) that connects entrepreneurs with specific mentors they seek.
Art co-op that sells memberships and the art travels among the homes of the members. Kind of a Netflix for art, maybe. Art to eventually be sold at auction via exclusive contract with Sotherby’s and profit made. Could be sold as a shared-art program or as an investment co-op. Or both.
Senior friend – hire people to come by to spend 30 minutes just hanging with your older relative who live away from you.
Website that generates naming and branding ideas
Travel agency that shows you dying civilizations
A service that provides specific enthusiastic people who want to volunteer or have time to go engage with people at nursing homes and doing activities with them.
Private investigation company for restaurant employees - Restaurant companies pay to have PI's investigate whether employees are washing their hands in the bathroom
A service that takes your records and digitizes them into MP3's.
Unique Bachelor & Bachelorette Parties - we work with you to design a fun, unique bachelor or bachelorette party experience
A singer/song-writer could offer to write, record, and perform personalized songs for people's special occasions (anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, or just because). Many would love to have the ability to write, record, and perform an original song for a special someone, but they just don't have what it takes musically. Then, there are those of us who do have the ability but don't know how to market themselves.
Outsourced sales staff for high-ticket items.
Manufacturer of flying cars (courtesy of Tim Draper).
Mobile app with hospital floor plans, maps, info about area restaurants, etc.
Digital Painted Blinds. Every time a dorm student closes their blinds, the window becomes a poster of rotating images he/she uploads from a flash drive.
A service of highly trained babysitters specialized in all ages that you could call upon last minute any night of the week
A service where people are employed to talk specifically to antisocial or shy people at a party (they’ll feel better about themselves and will be more likely to open up next time with their new confidence.)
Live Tutor (online tutoring via webcam, chat)
The "C-Games" - like the X-games, but real people and celebrities compete in wacky (think Japanese game show) events & all $$ goes to charity
A website that aggregates tastemakers. Collect the people who do for other things what Fred Wilson does for music. Give them a really good platform. Give them points for picking up on trends before they go mainstream.
A consulting company that creates tribes for your business.
USB stick into a cell phone
site that allows people to upload stock video in HD for use by other filmmakers. Low cost per minute. 50/50 split between site and uploader when a purchase is made.
Positive news TV channel (PNN) - TV news network that only plays positive TV programming, nothing negative
Grocery checkout efficiency consulting service - Company consults grocery stores on their checkout process to increase efficiency
10% for the world - an association of businesses who add 10% to their prices and donate the 10% to charity.
Traveling Poker school - weekend intensive poker school - get some pros
Assist business people (authors, bloggers, executives) organize speeches and presentations - establish relationships with many venues & marketing channels
Baby fitness class company - Organize fitness classes for babies and their parents
iPhone app that is a recorder (like the ocarina app, but more familiar).
Globalization import-export trading company.
Really good collaboration software for creating mindmaps, with version control that's as easy to use as Wikipedia's history tab. Uses the same open data format as FreeMind.
English speaking, US educated virtual assistant
Restaurant where you cook alongside the chef , choose your ingredients and learn a new technique.
A virtual world future's exchange, so you can bet on how much a Linden dollar will be worth in US dollars six months from now.
Script Assistants-A business that assists screenwriters as they are developing their script by aggregating credible/hard to find reference material that is diverse. Often a young (or firsttime) screenwriter has a great idea and may not know what to reference to develop their idea. This business would evaluate the theme/tone/genre of the script and assist in coming up with a solid and effective reference package pulling from books/TV/movies/screenplays.
Web cam at school events so you can see your kid when you can’t make it
Use Google Earth to determine green improvements to a given residence
A personal education coach-they pick blogs, books, resources for you to learn based on your personal interests and career goals. They gather all the materials and for you and make recommendations on the best way for learning the material.
Non-profit that takes old technology items (computers, monitors, phones) to make them usable for non-profit use – clean off the software, ensure it has all the pieces, etc.)
We come to your house to list only your good stuff on eBay or Amazon so you don't have to bring it to a store. You could have a portable photo studio in the van so the product never leaves the premises until they have cash in hand after the sale. Charge a commission and have college students working for you.
All electronic gadgets in one. Phone charger, mp3 player, computer, radio, watch) should all be able to be charged by the computer. (Travelsize/lightweight.)
Gold reclamation service from old electronics
A guitar pedals that make exotic animal noises.
Kids choose a week's worth of lunches online with their parents and a van delivers them everyday at lunchtime.
An organization devoted specifically to growing awareness over an obscure problem that no one really looks at (i.e. kids that grow up in negative environments and what that does to them as adults.)
Fractional Ownership of Segway
3D personalized bubblehead dolls ordered over the Internet based on submitted photos and scans.
Art for the blind - Company that translates art into some type of Braille system where blind people can appreciate it.
A place online that has all your usernames and passwords for all of your bank accounts, bill paying (cell phone, grocery, utilities)...keeps track of them.
Vanity audiobook company for Lulu.com authors
Website that allows groups to document their lottery ticket purchases and each individual members' shares to avoid problems when they win - there are a lot of winners beside the jackpot winner.
Wikipedia search hotline for those who don’t have access to the internet and simply want quick answers to their inquiries sent to them as SMS texts.
Build Your own Mardi Gras mask site.
RSS Batches - supported with ads (so you can subscribe to a batch of the top 10 marketing blogs and in addition to the feeds you get an occasional relevant and anticipated ad)
Philanthropic tourism - pay a huge fee with part of it going to help the people you visit
Grocery store with only junk food
Headphone buds that look like headphones but that are really powerful earplugs so people can’t tell the difference.
A store completely filled with weird vending machines.
Offer private curbside recycling service in towns where it isn't offered. For a monthly fee, provide a container and service it once a week. All the contents are taken to the city's collection site.
Marketing Awards (like the Oscars, potentially online)
A private site where corporations hire street artists to Tag over their build boards in an ongoing campaign to draw attention to the location of the sign. Then at its peak awareness, replace it. And start the process again.
Online judge dispute resolution - Submit your disagreements onliine and for a fee a judge will email you back the verdict on who is right
Steroid scandal consultant - Firm specializes in advising baseball players that are in the midst of a steroid scandal
Casino Airlines - Airline that has casino games on the plane as soon as the plane gets over the sea
Trade Ya.com where users trade their personal goods for other user’s crap.
A drive through fast food place that has healthy sandwiches.
A laundromat/video arcade - Play video games with your kids as you wait for your clothes to be done
A crowd-sourced social filter. So you type in something you think would be funny to say or do to someone else, and the site tells you whether it's actually a good idea or whether it would be wildly inappropriate.
Instead of cryogenic freezing of bodies, store genetic signatures and compile multimedia memories.
Change Consulting - Teach companies how to change - "stories of change" workshops
Website that is an aggregator of all the charities that celebrities support and how you can get involved.
To-go food materials that are 100% recyclable such as a straw.
Company that anonymizes current case studies from real companies facing real struggles that others can subscribe to to be aware of current day challenges, sold as subscriptions.
Delivery service of food from local restaurants that don’t offer delivery
Restaurant of the month club - diners pay $100 - get $200 gift certificates for a rotating set of restaurants
Police texting alerts-in case of an emergency you can text the police instead of calling them.
An application that is a Thesaurus for your phone.
Will you marry me.com, that allows viewers to share video of wedding proposals and live stream real ones.
Neighborhood phone book
Travel agency for the rich and famous.
Improv comedy coach comes to dinner parties or can order "Improv Party" DVD set
Mobile pet neuter vans.
A software that will allow you to change the channel and adjust the lights in the room through you computer.
Etiquette guides for various social media
Start a multi-level marketing company that specializes in sex toy parties for men.
Snow Man kit: a packaged snow man parts, encouraging fun times building a Snowman with family and friends. Biodegradable.
A digital book reader that provides an OED, so that readers can look up words as they come across them.
Web-based portal that allows people to invest in or fund movie scripts written by new writers and allows studios to scout for good stories.
FamousNoses.com, pick the you favorite hollywood star and get a rubber version of their beak for the you own!
Online Executive Betting System - Online trading system that allows you to trade CEOs like securities to make money
Create your own ice cream flavors
Tech adventures. Expensive one and multiday adventures where we put the players in scenarios where they get to play with the latest cool technology...night vision...robots...James bond type stuff. Real life role playing game.
A PhD site where students and teachers post thesis.
Casual escrow service - Escrow service for more casual transactions, like between family or friends
A software program that functions like Pandora for television programs.
A company that creates baseball trading card style packets for fashion designer lines.
Government sign business consultant - Company finds infrastructure signs (roads, bridges, etc.) that are ineffective or misleading that by fixing will save the government money
Stacked Twitter iPhone App (like TweetDeck or PeopleBrowsr for the iPhone)
A place where kids can go and dress up like their favorite childhood book. There will be a set and costumes to dress up. Perfect for birthday parties.
A car sharing service that manages the risk and coordination of sharing a car in major cities.
Video messaging service where people can tape their messages (birthdays, holidays, etc.) and they give us the content from their own camera and we edit them and send them to the people they love.
A not-for-profit company that works with the NYC government to spray paint North/south/east/west signs on the street or on a sign outside the subway stations to help the directionally challenged.
A YouTube VC firm, that will invest money in people who are willing to do stupid stuff on video in hopes that the video will go viral and they will make a profit.
AngryClickers.com: a streaming site that allows users to cue live face punches in an online fight. This is sick.
Job swap board for stay at home moms – I’ll do your laundry if you do my grocery shopping.
A high school homework site that markets to the schools and teachers who want to know what their neighbors require and post best-of results.
Bicycle that generates electricity to run the club
Interview practice company - A company that will do mock interviews with you and give you feedback on your performance.
A website or iPhone app that finds places for large groups to hang out in real time. So for example if you're wandering around union square with fifteen friends at night, find the nearest ten places that can accommodate that many people right now.
In store sales (for the next 60 minutes - x is 50% off - sent via SMS to customers who have signed up)
Design agency for Second Life and other digital worlds.
Private Security Insurance - promise trained "Blackwater-esque" security in the event of civil disturbance.
Green Architecture Best Practices Community
Nap stations throughout the city. To integrate it into our culture, we can introduce them through napping stations similar to coffee houses.
Video creation for local businesses to put on YouTube
Install digital screens on shopping carts and sell advertising to national packaged goods companies. This would replace the current printed adds on the shopping carts. Grocery store shares in ad revenue. The carts could be location aware and tell you about products you were close to.
Company that creates widgets that advertise high-end jobs on the most influential and specialized bloggers in the areas of tech, medical, finance, etc.
Pillow case store - Store that only sells customers a large variety of custom pillow cases
Tactical fire arms training for urban environments.
Be a sports team mascot for day
A digital medicine cabinet where patients upload their latest prescriptions and receive automatic feeds that relevant Google alerts.
Dedicated sms/twitter service responding to shopping people about "greenness"/ethics of products.
Software to build social graphs based by comprehensively integrating all the different online and offline social networks.
Fractional Ownership Site showing what people want to share - Cars, Trucks, Homes, Boats, Limo Service
A sensor that turns the heat on as soon as you wake up so that the floors and the house is warm when you get up.
Build Your own rock video, using templates that are provided on the site.
Fantasy Camp - Mobile Air Force Flight Simulator (traveling semi)
Bedtime story company - Company that you call who reads you a bedtime story if you can't fall asleep
ThatsAThing.com - tells you if things already exists
Golf balls with low powered GPS signals in them so you can always find your ball
Argument module for Twitter
Advertising platform for customer service phone systems where callers willing to listen to a commercial get bumped up in the queue.
Novelty designed knee braces and wrist braces – I am so tired of beige wrist braces!! And black knee braces! Why can’t I have flames or flowers?
Take along window sunscreen – foldable, suction-cup held window screen for people traveling on the train or bus who get stuck on the sunny side
Ability to tag certain parts of online videos so users and friends can find videos and certain parts of videos easily
Sensitive seats for trains so the instructor known when someone sits in a new seat.
Mobile app that notes the GPS location of your car when you park it so you can find it again
Refurbishing old photo equipment and giving it to kids.
Netflix for home exercise equipment. Swap out your ergometer for an elliptical and then swap that for a treadmill.
A perfect crayon box. com where customer is invited to create their own crayon box, picking his/her favorite colors. the user don't have to have brown anymore, kids!
Sell pre-paid wireless access to the internet. Like pre paid cell phone but for USB internet card.
Consulting services to help companies set up their own television show on UStream for internal communications purpose. Or maybe to utilize any Web 2.0 property for that purpose.
A superpowerful exhaust for South-Asian homes.
Tivo for the radio
DeadPC Art: mail your old, hated PC’s sets to a factory that smashes it and returns it to the user as framed work of art.
Amazing Race membership club that organizes trips to the various locations and to do the tasks from the show. Members get badges for every task, Detour or Roadblock they accomplish. Companies that were featured in the show would pay a fee to continue to be “the” place for the particular task.
Device to brew wine in your own home
One Xbox per child
Consulting firm to help financial institutions fix bad mortgages portfolio.
System that sends me my receipts electronically via email rather than paper copies at the store. Should file them in the same categories as my budget or credit card statement and talk to my bank/money management software. Could either work with my credit card company or via the loyalty cards stores offer. Compares the receipt I receive with the statement that comes later. I can see the copy immediately on my cell phone to check it there as well.
Something that doesn't make blinds so hard to pull (a lever or switch.)
Personalized Macbooks - Provide custom laser engraved artwork on the new all metal Macbooks.
Student loans collections agency that tracks ability to pay through online sleuthing.
Ask an African.com, where users ask African locals about cultural issues, news, and consumer interests.
Home delivery of pet food/snacks/toys on a set schedule
A movie theatre that refuses to play movies but Nascar and live sports broadcasts instead. 21 and up. BYOB. Half the seating is replaced with round bars and barstools.
A slide projector the size of a cell phone with a usb input for flash drives.
A flower shop that is actually a restaurant, delivering pizzas that are shaped to look like various floral varieties.
Online Pictionary Game Website - Play Pictionary online with people all over the world
Brainstorm support – call in service with someone to talk with you to help get your brain going
Virtual Stylist - On call stylist will look at what you're wearing via webcam and give advice
A way to get more people involved in Internet-mediated locally social stuff. For example, improve the techniques of using the Internet to organize people playing capture the flag in central park or some such.
Program to organize health educators in the U.S. to come do sex and AIDS education in Southern Sudan. Could also include a medical team for testing, etc.
Build Your Own Anime site.
A site that does for intrade what Ning did for social networks; in other words, you get to make your own intrade for your organization or business, or just with your friends.
A company that makes specialized dog food geared toward different breeds.
American Idol online where the user judge the you own peers and strangers, built on a karaoke format.
Bluetooth + quality microphone (like a combination of a Jawbone and a Snowball)
Glow in the dark contacts
Ammunition disposal - offer to collect unwanted and old ammo for a fee and sell it to collectors or recycle
Commercial sales of ostrich eggs to gourmets... don't think this has ever been done
Users vote online which specials get on the restaurant menu every week
Rent a kitchen. Comes with all that you need plus a great dining room table.
A non-profit that works with town governments on writing laws that create incentives for landlords to make their homes more energy efficient. There are already best practices available for solving the principal-agent problem, they just need to be put in place at the local level.
Tribe building - teach authors how to build & connect with Tribes
A company that throws Tupperware parties for different company products. This could be anything from down comforters to purses.
Frozen razor blades online store - Store sells special cryogenically frozen razor blades that last 10 times longer than conventional ones
Auto transportation service for eBay motors buyers. Buy a car in San Diego and you’re in San Antonio? We’ll pick it up, inspect it to ensure it meets the OK, pay for it and deliver it to you. You have already paid us for the car and the delivery service. Price of car is refundable if you don’t think it meets the eBay description, but not the delivery service fee.
Cloud computing company that allows large enterprises to do mega-scale statistical simulations on-demand or a SaaS model.
Advertising platform that uses the web to allow local businesses to create and buy ads to be played in local traditional media channels such as television, radio, and perhaps newspapers.
An online service that if your wallet gets stolen, has a secure place for all the credit cards and accounts you need to cancel right in one place. Instead of having to dig and search and figure out online or in general which accounts and phone numbers you need, this website has them all in one place. Security might be an issue here for hackers, etc.
Design cell towers and wind towers as art to make them more palatable within an urban and suburban setting.
Picture Organizer-A business that helps people aggregate all their family and personal photos and then makes them into customized albums. So many people have just boxes of pictures with no way of looking through them easily. This would at least give people the initial push of getting them in order.
Stand alone IP Scanner that scans directly to a web site. Would have automatic document feeder and could be used for archiving photos directly to the web.
A video edit site that markets to Families looking for easy way to frame their families’ special videos, share, and comment.
Neighborhood concierge
Blog post editing with three hour turnaround time
A person or pamphlet that explains health coverage.
An application that you have your friends fill out that will compare against your answers and give you a compatibility score. In addition, tips about their personality.
Mobile app to calculate quilting yardage. Would need to include stable of block patterns for choosing so you’d know how much to get of each fabric needed.
Children's fitness cartoon - Cartoon network that teaches fitness to kids
Stylish and/or novelty compression and support stockings and sleeves. They only come in black and beige, if that wide a range. And they’re expensive!! So have some fun with them.
A company that creates cupholders for public transportation rides. The Metro North does not have cup holders and I want someone to create one so I can buy it.
Online tutoring videos for academic subjects or other subjects in general. (Or online teaching videos where you teach someone something you know, and they do the same.)
Rent a pet to see if it's a good idea for your family
A company that specializes in creating organization out of chaos. Example is making direct walking paths in Grand Central Station.
Car rental service offering exclusively exotic cars and even better, one-off concept cars (with waivers).
Cloth napkins made of old tshirts
A business that provides great service for tech support for government subsidized broadband companies (a service that doesn’t exist yet, but it will).
Yoga services/teachers for corporations during lunchtime.
Online therapist that is available 24x7 via chat.
Solar Power AC Company - Company that installs Solar Panels in order to provide/subsidize energy for AC
A website that aggregates places you can go for factory tours. Like Ben & Jerry's, the Cape Cod potato chips factory, etc.
Build your own hot sauce online system - Online system lets you select key ingredients and quantities for hot sauce, makes it and ships it to you
Modern websites for bible stories side by side - a bible story and a real life modern application of it - a graphic novel/interactive website.
A grocery auction site. Bid online and only go to the store to pick up the items you’ve won.
How to monetize this list: we buy a domain for each good idea, and create a high quality pitch and story around that idea. We then get people to fall in love with the idea and the domain and then sell the domains for a couple thousand bucks each.
Company that helps marketers with digital promotions; especially in the form of loaded memory key drives containing coupons, special content, etc.
A bobble head doll that has a motorized mouth...you set it in front of your video chat camera when you do video chats. When you talk it moves its mouth.
Netflix for books/used books; online delivery service
A digital chalk board site that allows teachers to upload pictures of their white boards at various states and post them online for students to see again.
A service that allows you to test out different jobs per week/month
eLance model for bands - "I'll play that venue for only $500 and 1/2 of the door"
Someone that creates an itinerary for running errands and chores for a household with working parents.
One-stop set up of your digital world – create your profiles and accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Visual CV, Twitter, etc. so you just have to go in and use them.
Custom monopoly boards.
You come and make your own music video (we provide the space, house band, video recording & editing)
Herbal ice creams
A website that gives NYC street artists a web presence based on where they hang out. There are a bunch of people that sell photos on the street, but then I ask them and they don't have a website. Maybe a web presence for people who hang out in the same place in the city each day in general, like food vendors and crazy religious people and whatnot.
A ceiling/standing fan that doesn’t make noise
A site that mines Zagats and yelp and restaurant reviews to tell you what the best menu items are at each restaurant, and which to avoid. There are a bunch of restaurants that have one amazing thing on the menu, but everything else sucks. (Example: Rockmeisha has the best ramen in NYC, but nothing else is especially notable.)
A self cleaning microphone that never smells like breath or beer.
A website that aggregates gaps in our scientific knowledge that would make good research projects. "The sum of all human ignorance, available to anyone for free."
Advertising company that pays college students to wear advertisements on their laptops, backpacks, apparel, autos.
iPhone - virtual trading card app - limited edition -- creates secondary market - facilitate trading between electronic devices
Custom window displays for small business
Systems for airports that would read RFID chips in luggage so they always know where the bag actually is
Expert legal testimony business - Company finds and connects expert witnesses with lawyers
A spiritual/meditation workshop for the homeless, inmates, and people who don’t have regular access to these services.
Laundromat/Theatre company - Watch a show while you do your laundry
RC Airplane Class - Weekend intro to Remote Control airplanes with expert instructors
A service that specifically helps 1st and 2nd generation immigrants communicate with their kids; an expert comes in and helps solve problems
Something that tells you when your trash in your email is about to be deleted so you can look back and see if you need anything.
Compost machine similar to a trash compactor that handles the temperature and turnover for you and opens to the outside of your house for easy shoveling into your yard.
Zagats for churches.
Voiceovers offer cheap internet only voice over service (with copy writing) for media adverts
Locavore restaurants - all items come from within 100 miles
Insulation made of recycled book
Transcribing service that takes old journals/noteboooks
Development company retrofitting malls and other abandoned retail to new purposes, style and uses
Lamp manufacturer that will turn any inanimate objects mailed to then into lamps. Users buy direct online, picking from available stock. Added charge for sending in your own inanimate object.
Local tour guide for foreign tourists
A company that is the Lulu Lemon for running.
Recycling for people (offer to pick up their recyclables and take care of it all for them... for a fee + the value of the recyclables
A service/technology that migrates information on a persons MySpace page into a webpage or facebook.
A travel company that takes people around to small towns in the South.
Eco-lingerie. A company that makes lingerie that is created with eco-friendly material.
A newsletter for people laid off of their jobs.
Web-based portal for user-generated and -designed Flash games.
Living through a recession or depression magazine with online properties and print.
Agency that seeds word-of-mouth campaigns through a systematized process for large consumer goods companies.
Create a "home security" multi-level marketing product line that is sold through parties like pampered chef and "in home" seminars on personal safety and self defense.
A tool that you can scan barcodes of food and it will tell you the calories and aggregate them into your daily intake.
Mancations - a company that sets up 'guys week / weekend' vacations (whitewater rafting, hiking, hunting, fishing, sporting events, etc.)
Box-like device that you stick your foot in to measure it using laser detection. Your foot shape and size are recorded into the computer, with a program to then recommend shoes for you that will actually fit.
A device that will hear words and translate for you instantly.
Connect people who want to learn similar things. For example, if there are ten people who all want to learn the material from Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, introduce them all to each other. The site could even be monetized by allowing the people to rent a conference room to work in for a week or two. The idea being that this is stuff they could learn on their own, but they will all start at the same time and help each other and whatnot. (Ivan Illych proposes this in his book Deschooling Society, which was written in 1971.)
Patent consulting for corporations and product developers.
Animated versions of the best Ted talks, where slides come to life in Marvel Comic-like presentations.
Interactive TV - remote control with ability to annotate parts of movies or shows, then friends can view with your commentary
Eco-friendly furniture in traditional styles (not just contemporary and modern).
Something that ties up all the cords around hard drives and tech. equipment.
Mobile app with picture-based inventory of my closet. Allows me to see that I already have 14 black sweaters so don’t get black! Or just that I do have something that this fabulous belt would go with.
A company that will work with an organization to come up with a lottery program to raise funds for the group.
Series of programs for educators on using social media to extend the classroom.
Netflix, but for books. You pay a monthly fee for a subscription and get access to any book (new, old, "long tail"). Same logistics as Netflix. They've proven that the model works for DVDs, use the same model. Free shipping. A queue. Keep it as long as you need, etc.
A sturdy, durable change purse that never breaks.
Hampster Burial Kit.
Hot product report for your town – develop contacts with local retailers and publish every day who has any hot products in stock
An academic search engine targeting people who are college educated but who don't necessarily have extensive experience with the inner workings of academia. Right now there are really good ways of accessing journal articles online, but really poor ways of learning what academic journals to look in. There's no way to know which journals are respected and which aren't. No easy way to translate plain English questions into the keywords that are used by academics. For example, if I want to know how grades correlate with how much money you make as an adult, there is no way to know that academics use the term "future earnings potential" and stuff like that is published in the Journal of Applied Whatever.
Exercise call business - Expert motivators call clients to remind them to go to the gym and hold them accountable
TIVO training company - Service that trains people on how to use TIVO
Sand Castle kit: a packaged sand castle parts, encouraging fun times building a sand castle with family and friends. Biodegradable.
Tea appreciation classes
Company that helps smaller import/export companies band together to do collective borrowing based on purchase orders or letters of intent.
Help communities create collective workspaces around the country. Ex http://www.madcollective.com/
Cement painting advertising company.
Twitter as a channel into a call center / customer support app.
a website/directory for local restaurants that provides up to the minute status of their seating
Kitsch contest site that invites user to design and vote on their best Kitsch ideas, Vang Gogh bow ties, low brow art, etc. The best get built and sold on the site.
Netflix for handbags
Zappos Consulting - Teach companies how to deliver remarkable customer service and embed it in their culture
A website that will sell you a really cheap airline ticket to a foreign country anywhere in the world, but you only get to pick the day you're leaving and coming back. The site picks where you're going on vacation for you.
On colleges, a service to put money on your college ID card for laundry, food, supplies, etc.
Pandora for restaurants
Real estate fund for acquiring under-valued properties.
Multicultural Service Initiative- takes kids abroad to do service or help out local communities internationally.
Mobile Drive-In Movie Theater - One semi trailer is a screen and the other is tickets / concessions - goes town to town and shows unique / remarkable movies.
Online karaoke competition website powered by proprietary software, Skype, and other tools.
A program that analyses you music to create a track for aerobics instructors for their classes
Custom Watch Design Store - Luxury online store where you can build your own watch with all different complications
Buy a buddy a booty call business, allowing customers to hire actresses to call a friend and simulate phone love.
An industrial design firm that will redesign the look and feel of a portable room heater.
A service that compiles people’s family photos/videos and makes them into something meaningful for them (Give us your family memorabilia and we’ll turn it into something fantastic); either for a party, occasion, etc. Also takes boxes full of photos and organizes them into something meaningful.
Resume writing website that submits jobs for bid by idle HR recruiters and professional resume writers.
A God loves You Hotline, dial a number and talk to a priest.
A gym that just has exercise classes – nothing else.
A store that only sells goods for trailer homes.
Group cruise for women’s ministry leaders
A website that provides a semi-standardized way for people to build up a reputation without needing a college degree.
Hairbush that cleans your hair
Website that sells you home décor seen on TV shows and in movies
Company history books – vanity coffee table books that recount the company’s history with pictures and stories.
Magazine summary service for all the most important articles of the month in all the business magazines; similar to book summary services; paid for by memberships or subscriptions.
Living through a recession or depression website and books.
Unique design-patented snowboard protector sleeves to prevent damage to snowboards and cars.
A touch screen digital picture frame that can be used by my grandma. He can't use Google to find new content, so the key thing I need is the ability to send him podcasts and videos of booktalks that queue up sequentially as if they were blog posts in an RSS feed. What I also need is the ability to check online to see if he's already viewed something, and if so the ability to get rid of it and add more stuff to his queue.
Get you published service (Lulu editing and mechanics) for the non-computer literate
An ultra high end daycare - we pick the kids up in a bus full of car seats with in seat DVD players playing Baby Einstein or age appropriate content, extremely nice facility, the best teachers, fully technology enabled with webcam 'spots' throughout the day
Custom pets on iPhone
Twitter or SMS when your table is ready - tied into website reservations
Agency that specializes in helping professional athletes find obscure, unprecedented, endorsement deals.
iPhone app that is a massive multiplayer games - like an "Amazing Race" that is not geographically specific
Mailboxes Etc. that comes to you
Turn down service for you home. They will even read you a bedtime story.
Conflict resolution service that teaches any individual or corporation how to interact harmoniously in conflict. It will offer classes and workshops.
Web-based “pre-paid legal” counseling subscriptions.
A site that aggregates what people or companies are working on and makes it searchable. So if you have a great idea, you can see which companies and people are already trying to solve that problem or similar problems.
Consulting service for families who are helping transition their parents to an assisted living or nursing home
Pandora for clothes. A service that drops off a different set of clothes for you to wear on whatever days you want each week. (E.g. only on Friday and Saturday.) It shows you a complete wardrobe on the website, and if you don't like it then you get to veto it. You get up to three vetos each day, and if you veto three wardrobes then you automatically get the fourth. Then the clothes get delivered to your apartment. You have the option to buy the outfit at the end of the day, but if you don't buy it that day then you never get the option to buy it again.
Dance club in an old airplane
Facebook and gmail/aol chat in one.
Cloth diaper delivery service.
iPhone app that shows allergens in air
Digital rights management for books. A book publisher may individual mark all their books with a serial number, creating a digital database that can be accessed by buyers. Allow buyers to verify their serial number and receive their digital version fro $2. Read the real book at home, carry your digital version of all your books on vacation or long term travel.
Web portal that aggregates all government projects open for bids.
A chain of theme restaurants similar to the hard rock cafe or the rainforest cafe, but where everyone eating dinner was participating in some sort of game show. Buzzers at every seat of every table, with some sort of thing in the middle for the best contestants going into the final round. The food would cost twice as much as any other restaurant, but there would be some sort of prize for the winners. Maybe the winning contestants at each location would get together in one restaurant for a chance to win a car or something.
Not-for-profit idea – hold free exercise classes on summer mornings in different areas around town.
Stickers for decorating casts
Sharable, open source address book
Gordon Gecko iPhone case - makes your cell look huge / old
A company that creates songs for educational purposes. It would focus on high school students in the content area of science and social studies.
Pole advertising. A company that creates attention grabbing advertisements for telephone poles.
Publish books for super niche markets like Internet celebrities, underwater basket weaving, dumpster diving, etc.
A business that specializes in listening-how to listen, how not to listen, how to be a more effective listener.
A business that figures out solutions to weird problems on earth-i.e.. How to run when there is snow on the ground without falling.
Portable billboards, preferably digital for ad-hoc and outdoor events.
Ning for children
Web-based contract management for complex contracts that need legal counsel online.
MyLifePlanner.com - allows people to set individual goals in public and help each other work toward them
A company with a large list of jobs that you can sign up to try for a week or two as a hobby. For example, but a bike messenger for a week.
6 month, temporary / legit looking tattoos - fade out after 6 mos.
A random gift generator system - Enter in specifics about a person's personality/interests/demographics and the system spits out a gift
A travel guide website where people can make pages about virtual destinations. So for example people could make Squidoo type lenses about Second Life locations. Currently people can create cool in-game buildings and items in second life and gain social status in game, but there is no way for users to showcase their creations to users outside the game. And, similarly, there is no way for people interested in Second Life but who don't want to spend all day wandering around to find out what's cool. For example I don't want to make a Second Life account to take a virtual tour of Harvard, but I'd like to see what the buildings look like and what activities the Harvard island hosts if I could do that via the web. Then for actual players there is a Second Life link syntax, so with one click you can teleport to that location in game.
Rake with a lever that puts leaves into a bag
Dance Universe.com, a dancer specific site where dancers share their moves and tips and music with each other.
Pet Video Shows - Organize pets and make funny shows using pets as characters.
A live actors video stream where user’s log on and provide scripts and character suggestions online.
A "cheesebox" that makes call centers transparent. Generates a line graph that's updated on real time of the average hold time and posts it to the web. That way customers know when the down times are so it evens out the call flow, saving the company money, and at the same time makes it easy for the company to hold themselves publicly accountable for great customer service.
Sermon to podcast service for churches.
Online dating profile consultant - Clients would receive coaching on how to improve their dating profile to attract more visitors
Cemetery care - guarantee that the dearly departed always have fresh flowers and holiday appropriate accouterments on their eternal resting place - for a monthly fee.
Hygiene stations at public parks or near benches.
Something that protects the back of your heels if you wear tennis shoes that dig into your heel. So you don’t have to buy new shoes but you don’t have your heels hurt either.
Tutoring program for struggling and underserved communities.
A service that re-orders your prescriptions automatically (auto billpaying but for medicines.)
Celebrity chef tour - $150 / plate - cooked by famous chef - meet chef - signed cookbook
Print rifle/pistol targets on demand (with images uploaded by the client)
A company that reinvents the index cards.
Tell if someone is lying service - Submit your recorded calls where experts will analyze whether the person is telling a lie or not.
A company that turns pay phones into internet portals. Similar to iPhone centers that people can access the service for a fee.
High-quality food delivery service, offering a few fixed meals.
Software that converts data between open-source and proprietary software.
A cell phones that takes photos and automatically uploads them to satellite buckets without complicated prompts or web access. Perhaps it is a phone designed by Flickr or Picassa.
A hair straightener that does a salon-like job without the time spent...a brush that has heat and spikes as one. (the brush really has to blow heat out powerfully for it to work.)
A poker .com that invites players to purchase products through an affiliate as “buy in”, where $1 items and $100 items can be won and lost. No cash is exchanged p2p, but Billie Joe may end up with that rubber devil duck the user bid on.
Fair trade jewelry importing business
A service to come to one’s location to perform quarterly preventive maintenance on computers on a yearly contractual basis.
Baby Fitness DVDs - Selling baby fitness DVDs directly to consumers online
A “fearless” company/service where if you’re feeling fearful or worried, you go there to get recharged or get techniques for how to deal with your fears. Any and all fears are acceptable and people will leave feeling empowered.
Web-based homeschooling curriculum. Like club penguin, but educational - an online learning environment. Integrate with MS touch.
A car service that includes carrying your luggage to your front door.
A service where you can teach kids in developing countries/village a particular skill or trade.
TV show on UStream
A company you give your new shoes to and they break them in.
Rent a living room. Pay per hour for a public living room.
A service to write professional obituaries for people preparing their estate documents.
Babysitting service with actors - Provide babysitters for clients needing service with actors as the babysitters
Custom vending machines in an office - higher prices but people get to 'own' four spots
A nail polish that taste bad and will keep people from biting their nails.
Web-based Flash-based display advertising rotation management.
Barber business for facial hair - Barber that specializes in facial hair, no haircuts, just facial hair trimming
iPhone app that sends SMS coupons - store allows coupon if you bring your iPhone
Car driver moving service - Driver will drive your car to any location (useful when moving)
Standalone iPhone app to access custom Ning sites
A not-for-profit that creates tax deductions for builders if they house homeless in their unused properties under a supervised program.
Online boxing training video service - Special high def in-depth videos online that teach you boxing, pay by subscription
A website with completely transparent costs & profit margins
Thai/ Mexican restaurant that serves Penang burritos.
Open an macramé shop and try to bring back the 70s
Anonymous Employee Feedback Portal on company Intranet w/votes, etc.
AI system for your cell phone that tells you (in a speaking voice) when you have appointments, let’s you know where it is when you can’t find it, warns you when it’s starting to run out of juice. Learns your preferences and adapts to them and you can set things via voice recognition.
Web / Touch-screen scheduling for small businesses (like restaurants). Currently it's always paper based and always changing. Need ability to send a mass email / SMS to others to cover your shift.
A pet consignment store. Your dog could get fat or grow out of the seasons fad. Maybe it doesn’t like camouflage anymore. This will keep your dog in the latest fashions for less.
Replicate Swoopo for China.
Virtual Music Studio - no need to fly in the artist to the studio
Almost everything else is customizable today. Why not the best selling book in the history of the world?
A website that creates a place for up-and-coming athletes. The site tracks their performance in competition and connects them to scouts and sponsors, in addition to letting them meet each other.
Obama posterize your photograph
Velvet Rope Dating Site
Fed Ex/UPS alerts-something to notify you of when your package is there even if you’re not home (or a service that someone can wait for your package even if you’re not home)
Create a Facebook Fan Page for your business
Zappos (best customer service)
Open source SaaS delivered CRM software.
A place where you can go and pop bubble wrap. Possibly a bar of some sort.
Online service that features relationships online (will show how other people deal with their relationships, will be highly entertaining.)
A service that calls patients to confirm their appointments or to call the doctors if their patients will be late.
Design your own custom running shoes.
Docking station for the laptop that includes a printer and a fax
Sell the slots to sing the National Anthem at ball games
Home delivery service for hardware – traveling truck that has basic stuff like nails, screws, washers, drill bits, etc. that arrives within 30 minutes with what you need. Can also take custom orders for bigger things like lumber, etc. We buy and bring it for you.
A heated brush to wipe cars off in winter
Designer garage installation service.
Shoes made of hemp and recycled rubber.
1-800-NOT-HOLD - $2 - $3 per call - a service that stays on hold for you and calls you when the operator picks up
A Design the you Own Hawaiian Shirt site.
Hamster babies. Specifically market a female and a male hamster capable of mating to customers interested in seeing the miracle happen at home.
iPhone app with GPS based advertising once users signup (travel near your favorite business and you get a coupon via SMS)
A site that asks for live feedback on fashion decisions the users made.
Radio with a scan button that recognizes the format of the station and only stops on types you like
Music for the deaf - Company that translates music into some type of visual system where the deaf can appreciate it.
Importing antique soviet weapons and selling them mail order.
There is no number 789.
Unique cleaning business. Have your housecleaners bring samples of the delicious down home cooked meals that you can bring to them. Usually if someone is too busy to clean their house, they're too busy to cook too. What if they had a complete meal brought to the home. You could eventually build up the meals to be 5 days a week. The word would spread. You could target busy people. By word of mouth, your cleaning business would grow. Clean everything. Windows, cars, gutters, dogs, furniture, fireplaces, chimneys etc.
iPhone app that allows you to dial numbers rotary-style
Futures market for high school and college students related to their future earnings
Bodies: The Musical
A google laptop with all the proper Gmail applications installed.
After Party site that invites social groups to post info before and after their special events.
Executive adventure concierge service (book "exclusive" adventures for rich people)
A company parents secretly hire to teach kids a lesson. Parents hire a person to stage an accident or scare them to teach a life lesson such as don’t talk to strangers. Lesson learners.
Car Repair Video Online Service - Detailed videos online of general car repairs that you can do by yourself.
Holographic concerts
Rent-a-screening room. A collective space that artists/filmmakers could rent to screen their rough cuts/final versions. There could be a casual space and then a more formalized space for final screenings.
A service where someone comes to your house and explains how to use and care for all of the technological devices (printer, computer, tivo, etc.)
Personalized children's videos where they're favorite character says their name during the show
Rent a personal assistant for the day
Consulting for sustainability (with certifications and very official looking logos)
Game design studio that creates only violent urban-themed games.
eLance for books -> Users submit book idea & abstract -> agent -> publisher -> author
Coaching service for adult intramural sports, for adults to get an edge in their recreational league
Executive bath/shower business - Locations where executives can take baths to relax or showers to
Dating service for people who are different than the norm; you could say "this person is great for xy" and then the other person can respond or not.
A one-stop scholarship website without all the confusing mumbo jumbo.; very simple and easy to navigate for students
Hedge fund of online identities (Domain names, Twitter, Facebook and GMail usernames)
Online brand & reputation monitoring - help companies manage their online reputation
A toothbrush that is environmentally friendly.
Digital pricetags in retail stores that change based on supply and demand
Book suggestions to help you break out of a rut in the type of book you read
A gambling site that sends % of earnings to charity.
Cubicle in a box decorations – for various holidays, birthdays, themes. Everything you need to decorate your cubicle provided at various price points based on quantity and quality of items.
A company that tests each individual fish for mercury and PCBs, so your plate of sushi comes with the story and the numbers printed on a nice heavy stock card.
Event to raise money to equip and train women in Sudan to become tailors
A service that holds art shows in unused buildings.
Web-based live feeds for big events, night clubs, sporting events, concerts, etc. on a pay-per-view model.
A Gambling site that doesn’t pay the user in Cash but instead send the user items of equal value from Amazon.
Company that organizes & executes business retreat / team building activities based on adventure sports
Customer service "call center" that provides customer service via twitter and the web rather than by phone. Think outsourced comcastcares.
Buying old Leslie Cabinets and doing refinishing, then turning them into "boutique" guitar rigs...
International stationary store housing beautiful journals, pens, paper, writing supplies imported from other countries from people who make these supplies locally.
Software to anonymize online sales, able to accommodate micro-payments.
Genetic/DNA cloning of French and Italian truffles sold to fine restaurants.
Rent a llama or goat to eat your front yard
Bricks made in different shapes – triangles, tessellations, etc. – for homebuilding
A product that takes away the static from hair during wintertime.
iPhone app that lists fake and snobby things to say about the wine you just drank
Online school for niche professions such as truck driving, nuclear waste disposal, environmental cleanup, etc.
A spin class where attendees select the music and routine before the class.
Service that reads books aloud. (non-fiction books require concentration and focus, which some people have a hard time doing while reading. If someone could read the whole thing at a proper pace, it would make it easier to concentrate.)
Real mail order brides service with real multimedia interactions to help lonely guys really decide and have confidence and trust in the service.
Group travel company that only does extreme sports locations and activities like skydiving, bungee jumping, rock climbing, etc. for thrill seekers.
free iPhone app that has a more valuable desktop client application that you charge for
Shared umbrella rental locations. A person would have to check them in and out. A monthly fee would be charged.
A website that aggregates food in grocery stores that is about to expire and gives you a big discount on it. This would help to greatly reduce the millions of tons of pre-consumer food waste each year.
Kiosk in movie theaters that tell you where else the movies are playing if they are sold out.
Bike Garage. A garage within a current attended car garage that stores bikes for a small fee and you are guaranteed it will not be stolen.
A combination blogging platform / analytics package for high school teachers that would let students put their writing online. The idea is that the software would teach students to write something that people actually want to read, using the analytics to track how many people read the writing and how much time they spend reading it when they don't have to. Students could then compare their writing with kids in other classes and at other schools, and the best student writing would be featured internally within the community via some Digg-like interface.
Environmentally friendly carpentry company that takes old wood and furniture and re-purposes or refurbishes. Example you are having a room remodeled and have extra wood. This company will come by your house, take the unused or old wood and create it into
A website that you can interact with your doctor via webcam.
Eco-friendly wedding dresses and formal wear – made from sustainable fabrics like bamboo.
Instead of working at burger king in high school, a service that employs kids to be mentors for others. It holds the mentor to a standard of quality and improvement by teaching someone else, and the mentee will benefit.
Company that puts on high school and college reunions.
Online game shows that allow massively multiplayer video interaction with more than at least 100 players simultaneously.
Structural alignment analysis company - Via webcam a trained specialist will look at your spine curvature and give you a structural analysis
A place to play board games and eat/drink, like a coffee house, but where board games are the main focus.
Skyding for executives - Company that focuses on team building by taking groups of executives skydiving
Software company that helps companies deal with the coming regulations that are a part of the backlash or reaction to the global financial crisis.
Swiss Army Squid - connection device that can connect just about anything
Sell a higher end pillow and blanket for red-eye and long / overseas in coach class
An online carpooling service where you can pick your location and route and the service will compile a list of people, cars and route for you to travel.
Design stylish toothbrush holder with big holes to handle modern toothbrushes!!
A national chain of tool libraries. So you can subscribe and then check out a hacksaw or an awl, without having to own your own set of tools.
Companies that bring workout equipment and trainers to offices at lunch hour.
A headband that plays music
Regional import/export company within US borders for regional specialties.
Online health monitor service - Luxury health monitoring system where sensors transmit health data to doctors (like in NASA) doctors are alerted when readings become abnormal
Employee referral service that hires well-trained people for medical offices.
A music site that gives the user a playlist based on Dance lingo, i.e., “I need a tango count at 127 beats per minute.” done.
Green pharmaceutical company - Manufacturer of drugs with completely green standards
A playlist .com that allows users to stream their friends playlists and create their own but with a recorded personalized introductions to each song.
A non-traditional school that combines academic education with martial arts principles and training (An academy of sorts of smart Shaolin monks)
Book summary podcast – would include a long version with an in-depth summary and a lazy person’s version with three things to know and what to say when someone asks you about it.
Service that de-clutters your home when you aren't there
A material you can put on your windows to keep the noise out.
Glow in the dark keychain so I can find my keys in my purse!! Only ones I can find are either of bugs or Skelanimals. There’s nothing appropriate for a stylish grown woman.
A company that makes nice metal sign 'street maps' for small towns and neighborhoods that don't have them
Tailoring jeans business - Tailor clothes in-store by clients needing service, but only jeans
Luggage with RFID chips in them for better tracking
In-sourced IT for small business (Geek Squad on IT / server side)
Online karaoke contests.
The vast majority of niche file types are currently not indexed by Google. Even though these file types make up only a fraction of a percent of what people are looking for, if you were able to create a search engine that covered a wide variety of these then there might be some opportunity. For example, if your search engine can index .sfg files (for Go players), .mm files (mind maps), etc.
A store that specializes in high end and unique baby items
Online ordering service for girl-scout cookies. Fundraising using online resources and a blog for both girl and boy scouts.
A blog widget, representing a mini version of a blog that can be embedded with html code.
A battery operated heating pad with no cord attached
A website that aggregates people who want to complain about their college. Something along the lines of myCollegeSucked.com.
Personalized sports coaching, videotaped and compared against videos of professionals to compare form. Users can review & manage their videos online.
Software that combines or integrates multiple customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
A device that lets you take all the liquid out of the bottle, instead of just turning it upside down and waiting for it to accumulate at the bottom.
Etsy consulting service - Consult people on how to better build their Etsy stores
Trash systems using pneumatic tubes for trash, recycling and compost. Put the right thing in the right tube and it sends it to the appropriate can or pile.
Pay per Tweet service - we tweet for you
Books tied in with local radio shows – example: KERA in Dallas has a show Everything You Ever Wanted to Know. People have been clamoring for a compendium for years, but they don’t have the resources to do it.
Coordinator service for independent maids
Wait for a table for you at the bar or restaurant
Angel Them.com; where users upload photos of their favorite people, attach digital angel wings, etc, and explain why they love this person. A love blog that is intended to be express gratitude to important people.
A blind date site where the site picks you will date, but you gain karma by going out on good dates with people. The more karma you earn the better people the site picks for you to date in the future. After each date the site sends a rubric to the person you went out with, and you can gain karma for things like showing up on time, buying the other person a drink, being nice, being a good conversationalist, not being clingy, etc. The site starts out as a blind dating website, but then other people get to write about you and post pictures of you. So essentially your identity is created by other people through what are at first blind dates, but as you gain karma and reputation becomes like a more traditional dating site but that is verified by the masses. The experience would be designed by merging the latest research and theory on dating with the latest research and theory on digital identity.
A website that is an aggregator of coffee shops with their prices and amenities in your area.
iPhone app that shows what green businesses are nearby
Beer steins in the shape of internal organs. Big in med school.
Glass floor company - Specializes in installing luxury glass floors into residential buildings
Pull the Trigger.com: a streaming site that allows users to aim and fire real bullets at junk.
Rent a wingman
A stove that can sense when there’s nothing in it and turns itself off after a set time
Movie scene - come play your favorite character in your favorite movie scene
A water testing kit to see if your water has minerals and crap in it and is making you sick
Online forum for women’s ministry leaders
A non-profit that works to rid of consumer holidays such as valentines day.
iPhone - ExtremeLocator - finds something near you to push you out of your comfort zone (bungee, skydiving, improv)
An instrument manufacturer who uses recycled materials and boldly displays what the consumer’s instrument used to be, i.e. a pick-up truck.
A penny collectors shop. Specialize in charging hourly fee + face value for people to search large piles of pennies to fill out their collection
A restaurant that specializes in exotic flavored tortillas and call it Torts. “Give me a Tabasco tort, please. Thank you.”
A service that trains socially awkward people about how to interact in situations and will answer specific questions about how to overcome their issues. Will even provide tailored situations to help the person overcome their fears.
Custom Jelly Bean Store that allows consumer to pick from exotic flavors, like cilantro or bacon.
iPhone app that is a web browser with an instant "black screen" button. This allows you to browse the internet while taxiing in an airplane and make the screen go black instantly if a flight attendant walks by.
Only Gloves store - Online store that sells only gloves, every type you can imagine but only gloves
A TED conference for people the age of 10-18. Kids can make a difference this conference will inspire other kids that they can too.
Package pickup service - Specializes in picking up packages at the post office that you weren't home to receive.
Children's language schools that immerses children in foreign countries with the goal of world citizens able to speak at least four languages fluently.
A consulting firm that does a roll-up of social science professors. So, for example, a new dating site wants to learn about the 20 most counteruitive scientific findings on internet dating that will help them be more successful than their competitors. Or a grocery store wants a quick way to find someone who can optimize their layout around the way that people make purchasing decisions. There are plenty of social science profs who would consult for 500 bucks an hour if they didn't have to find the clients or do the paperwork, and there are plenty of organizations who want to do stuff like this, except for that there is currently no easy way to go about finding the right person.
I don’t get it – website to explain jokes to people
School where teachers are hired to be directors for their programs and are in charge of setting standards and hiring for their departments. (Think like an athletic director is to the athletic program.) They’re then held accountable for how the entire team of people does. Principal just hires the director just like the GM only hires the coach, who then hires and manages the assistant coaches.
Most people order only one or two different things each time they go to the same restaurant. They only do that because they haven't tried the other ones and know that they like the plate they got last time How about a restaurant that only has 7 dishes. But, each one of those dishes is the best dish you have ever tasted in that category. Nothing in the restaurant is just okay. After the waiter takes their order, and before the food is served, he could bring them a sample of the food that they didn't order. Then, after the bill is delivered, the waiter can say, "So, you tried # 4, but it's nothing compared to #6. See your tomorrow".
Lie detector company - Company that sells lie detectors to organizations other than law enforcement, such as businesses
Economic Collapse Insurance Company - Insurance company that protects consumers against a financial collapse
BMW Adventure Tours based on Long Way Down and Long Way Round www.longwaydown.com
Hamper/washer/dryer in one that runs quietly.
A day planner that plans my day for me; based on my to-do list, what my friends are doing, and also what's going on in the local area. Also, populate the bulk of my to-do list automatically based on what my friends in the same classes are adding to theirs. Plan social dates for me based on when my friends and I are free. Introduce me to people I don't know but should know.
An area in airports that is similar to the Crown Room and other airline lounges but does not require an annual fee.
E-book versions of auto repair manuals that could be downloaded from a website rather than waiting to get them in the mail or hope that the store had the one for your car.
Design your own scarves business - Submit scarf designs online, and company will print and ship t-shirts
Custom Bible Printing - Company that prints unique, "one-off" Bibles.
Real estate development focused on small scale LEED projects since most LEED projects are large scale projects right now.
Watch or device that shows air quality or other green attributes
A restaurant with a digital menu where users can vote on and create menu items - "The Julie Lewisburger"
Ethical Hotline - Ethics experts answer questions related to ethics for fee per hour
Prediction market website for major sports
Ability to pay for items with phone
A “Pandora” like site that streams topic related news video from competing broadcasters.
Using the same model for Toms, a company will do the same with a jackets. If you buy a jacket (think Patagonia fleece) they will donate a similar jacket to someone who needs it in a cold country.
A service that connects the homeless with someone who is regularly integrated into society. This person will become friends with the homeless person and talk with them, help them to believe in themselves again.
Docking stations for coffee shops, airports, any public place
Mobile tool sharpening service
Website to trade shot glasses
Power brick that you can pickup at one gate and drop off when you leave - enough to power your devices for the entire flight
When all the book stores go out of a business a company that buys all the books and groups them together so you can buy a library of books for a discounted price.
Designated driver service - Company will send someone to drive you and your car back home if intoxicated
Local real estate site-organizes ALL lots, deed rest. prices, etc-for developers, realtors, builders
Create forums to match small biz's with college student projects (biz's save $, stu's get real apps)
Someone who teaches other people how to blog. This person could go to enthusiasts who want to share their ideas and teach them about blogging as a platform to spread those ideas.
Boot Camp - bodyweight arenas in smaller cities - NAVY Seal as spokesman - "Curves" version of a bootcamp - get one national brand
A chips and salsa restaurant across the street from universities. Serve only the 5 most addictive salsas known to mankind (not just any salsa). Offer corn or flour tortilla chips, two kinds of meat and one kind of cheese. Then, after the first plate, bottomless chips and salsa (meat and cheese not included). Make it fairly cheap so college students can go regularly, but make the money on drinks. Chips and salsa are super cheap to make and they make people thirsty.
A technology/service that takes role at religious services so you can tell who attends each week.
Weight Gain support group business - Weight watchers for people who want to gain weight, hold meetings and sell products
Photo website that tells photographers (online bootcamp) how to act/not act on first days, what to do on shoots, basic photo info, where the jobs are for a particular niche.
Archive service that stores and disposes of all records in accordance with various business and tax laws. (physical and digital)
Services that teaches doctors about escripts, technology, paperless charts, dictations. Doctors should be able to take their charts home and read them if they want to.
A service that specifically helps professionals transition from one job to another (give them a plan B with all the financial, scheduling, and new job worries taken care of; tell them how it works for them.)
Emergency preparedness packages sold through retail.
A free documentary video site streaming a huge archive with limited commercial breaks.
A not-for-profit that works with minority students in their schools. They go in and help include information about their culture and/or religion in the school curriculum.
Brain analysis company - In detail brain analysis direct to consumers so they can understand if their brain is healthy and suggest improvements
Sell environmental offsets based upon other "green house" emissions (other than carbon) - plant trees and reclaim land at stupid profits while "certifying" business as "zero-emission" and "fully sustainable"
Audio resource to text transcription service (using Indian transcribers). Used by any organization that has a lot of audio (spoken word) resources. Church sermons, educators of all kinds. Put into searchable database driven website so that their constituents can search and find content. Same concept but synced up to the audio file for search purposes. Makes podcasts searchable. User searches for term. Can see transcript and then listen to excerpt.
Fake letterman jackets with letters for things like class clown or ollie creator or probably something obscene that someone would want.
Web-based Health Savings Accounts management software.
Advertising network for third party apps on platforms like Facebook, iPhone, Google Android, etc.
A split-screen dance instruction video that shows multiple views of the same instruction. Perhaps a foot-print animation that matches the dancers foot placement.
Eco-consulting - showing companies or consumers how they can become more green and energy efficient
A not for profit that rids gas guzzling cars and trades cars in for eco-friendly model and recycle the parts.
Marrying dating and fashion. Have a full day makeover service bringing in all the best beauty and fashion providers end the day with a big party for guys and gals to meet at a party.
Make a Triple Snuggy.
Nicotine ice cream--Nicocream - comfort food that helps you quit smoking (or addicts you to ice cream)
Driving Drummer. Steering wheel cover/drum synthesizer. Drum sounds come out of your speakers.
A cosmetics line for guys sold in specialty stores and gay boutiques.
Consulting service that teaches companies how to improve their data visualization (use the right graphs and charts)
Private equity fund that invests in growth equities in the consumer product space with the filter of marketing products that tell great stories.
Buy a bike - give a bike (like Tom's Shoes but for bikes)
A service that digitizes all your photos.
Goth Coffee Shop, built to look like a dungeon and designed to welcome the darker side of teen community.
A wallpaper that is made entirely of small speakers. Sound Paper.
Personal research service – you tell me what you want, I go find information on the top three things you should choose from.
Higher quality snack boxes sold inside the airport (since on-plane snack boxes are bad)
4 Hour Work Week style consulting - helping people determine what their time is worth and outsource the rest - establish long-term relationships with outsourcing vendors, etc.
A service that provides internships for college students that are geared toward their interests; comprehensive list of jobs/internships available updated in realtime (like craigslist but specifically for high quality jobs) with an arts section, business, leadership, medicine, etc.
Fingernail clippers and other household items shaped like sea creatures.
Custom gum flavors
Purple Cow Products - Help companies "remarkable-ize" their products and improve usability
Patent and Trademark online Business - Consumers can download forms, submit, and process patent/trademark all online
Mental sports combine - Bootcamp to use mental conditioning sports psychology techniques for sports athlete
Service to purchase collectibles for you while I'm on trip
Rental shop with sports team mascots costumes
Connect the unemployed with skill/network building volunteer work.
Website to allow people to rate the sports announcers and try their hand at it to prove they can do better. (Surely I’m not the only person who says exactly what the announcers say before they do? It’s annoying that they can’t provide more insight than I can. Why am I listening to them then?)
Garage sale marketing and promotion service
Website service coordinating “parent swaps” – you be a point person to provide limited care for someone’s parents locally, someone else cares for your parents in their location
A website that only sells water bottle and water bottle accessories. The message and call-to-action is to encourage drinking tap water.
Wall paper company where you pick the image and they create the wallpaper.
Open a recreation shop that is really a type of day care. Parents drop their kids off to do supervised crafts while they shop for an hourly fee + materials
Jot for your car
Enterprise software web portal supported by advertising.
City-sponsored citywide Wi-Fi
Fractional Ownership for Charity - like a SuperKiva - all pitch in and buy a new clean water supply for a village