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#189April 26, 20211:15:45

#175 - Brainstorming Million Dollar Ideas with Elaine Zelby

Data-driven venture capitalStartup SaaS consolidationEducational technology and SynthesisPersonal wellness and sleep technology

About This Episode

Hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri are joined by Elaine Zelby, a partner at Signal Fire and creator of the 'Three Things' Substack. The group discusses how Signal Fire uses proprietary data to rank founders and source deals, the explosive growth of Elon Musk’s educational spin-off Synthesis, and a variety of brainstormed business ideas ranging from smart beds to consolidated software bundles.

Episode Description

Shaan (@ShaanVP) and Sam (@TheSamParr) are joined by Elaine Zelby (@ezelby) for this brainstorm. Elaine brings the heat with ideas for starting a Saas bundle company (Sam says this is easily a $10m business), creating the "adult manual", the SNOO for adults, subscription running shoes, and a bunch of alternative health business ideas. Not only do they bring ideas, but they also break down how to pull off these businesses. --------- * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. ---------

Show Notes

  • * (1:35) Introducing Elaine Zelby and Signal Fire
  • * (8:31) Shaan's first unicorn!
  • * (14:15) How Signal Fire finds deals
  • * (25:35) Investing in an Elon Musk idea
  • * (33:12) Startup SaaS bundle is a $10m idea
  • * (41:10) Creating the "adult manual"?
  • * (49:55) The SNOO for adult
  • * (53:25) Subscription running shoes
  • * (56:45) Brainstorming alternative health ideas

Key Takeaways

1

Longer consumer quizzes (20-30+ questions) can actually have higher completion and conversion rates than short ones because users feel the results will be more personalized and they are committed by the third question.

2

B2B startups should focus on 'insertion points' like incorporation or first payroll to become the system of record before a company's software stack becomes too entrenched to 'rip and replace'.

3

Entrepreneurs can leverage high-traffic ecosystems like Roblox or Fortnite to build educational or training games, using existing distribution and engines rather than building from scratch.

Business Ideas Mentioned

The Startup SaaS Bundle

SaaS

The Adulting Vault

SaaS

SNOO for Adults

E-commerce

Data-Driven Subscription Running Shoes

E-commerce

TheraPunch Rage and Zen Rooms

Boring Business

View all ideas

Featuring

EZ

Elaine Zelby

2 episodes

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Quick Stats

Duration1:15:45
Guests1
Ideas Discussed5
Topics4