Hey,
I'm Jakob. I regularly do research on unique business opportunities and you can find all of my posts here.
Let's dive in.
š” The idea
- It's much easier to piggyback on someone else's success than to start something from scratch.
- Examples include building a plugin for a new piece of software, launching a browser extension that automates and simplifies workflows on a new platform, creating a course that explains how to effectively use a new technology, or building a user-friendly wrapper around a newly launched API.
- As the rocket you've attached yourself to takes off, so does your business.
- The earlier you strap yourself to the back of a fast-growing business, the higher your chance of success. When a software or platform is already huge, it's much harder to stand out and make a name for yourself. But during early days founders are often very approachable and happy to support plugins, extensions, or really anything that enhances the ecosystem around their product.
- There is of course platform risk. When the rocket crashes or simply decides to "shake you off", you're screwed. However, as many successful examples demonstrate the upside in many cases outweighs the downside.
š„ Highlights
š Roam Research
- Roam ResearchĀ is a note-taking tool that supportsĀ bi-directional links. It quickly developed a cult-like following on Twitter and just recentlyĀ raisedĀ $9M at a $200M valuation.
- Nat Eliason made $300,000+ from hisĀ Roam Research course.
- Athens Research, an open-source clone of Roam, recently gotĀ funded by Y Combinator.
š GPT-3
- GPT-3Ā is a machine learning model developed byĀ Open AIĀ that made big news because many of the texts generated by it are indistinguishable from something written by a human.
- Copy.aiĀ started as a simple, user-friendly wrapper around the GPT-3 API, quickly grew to $100k MRR and recentlyĀ raisedĀ $2.9M. (They now started to develop their own machine learning models.)
- Many tools with similar features are doing really well, includingĀ Conversion.aiĀ andĀ Copysmith.ai.
- OthersideAIĀ uses the GPT-3 API to generate emails based on a short summary and recentlyĀ raisedĀ $2.6M.
š Figma
- FigmaĀ is an online collaborative design tool that's nowĀ valuedĀ at around $2 billion. Think Adobe Illustrator but in the cloud and multiplayer. It is a popular choice for design teams and individual designers to use to create high-quality interactive prototypes and graphics for web and mobile.
- Set ProductĀ offers custom templates for the software and currently makes around $20k/month.
- Pitchdeck by FigmaticĀ is a Figma plugin that allows users to turn designs into a presentable slide deck, or export them to PowerPoint that's currently generating $10k+/month. The same company also owns another plugin calledĀ Tiny ImageĀ which is equally successful.
š Next.js
- Next.jsĀ is a minimalistic open-source framework for server-rendered JavaScript apps that's developed by Vercel.
- Gabe Ragland made more than $20,000 in revenue from his Next.js boilerplate toolĀ Divjoy.
- Nytro, another Next.js boilerplate, is generating around $1k in monthly revenue.
- The Next.js courseĀ by Maximilian SchwarzmĆ¼ller sold more than 15,000 copies so far, meaning he netted at least $150,000 in revenue (assuming that most students only paid the discounted price of $9.99).
š Discord
- DiscordĀ started as a chatting app for gamers to communicate while they're playing, but is now used by all kinds of teams. According to news reports they recently walked away from a $12 billion acquisition offer by Microsoft.
- MEE6Ā is, despite its strange name, one of the most popular Discord moderation bots. Given that MEE6 is installed on more than 3 million servers and is used by more than 12 million users, it seems obvious that they're doingĀ veryĀ well.
- Emoji.ggĀ is a bot that makes it easier to add custom emojis to a server. It currently generates $8k+ in monthly revenue and is installed on more than 100,000 Discord servers.
š Apple Watch
- The Apple Watch is a personal device that is worn on the wrist and can be used to do a variety of tasks, such as making phone calls, reading and sending text messages, listening to music, playing games, and providing information about the wearer's physical activity.
- In Q4 2020 Apple sold around 100 watches per minute which boils down to 1.5 watches per second.
- Nate SchmidtĀ was able to grow a store selling third-party Apple Watch straps to $1.5M in sales in less than 12 months.
- TheĀ WaterMinderĀ app for the Apple Watch is netting $40k in revenue per month.
- TheĀ OutcastĀ podcast app for the Apple Watch is generating around $1k in monthly revenue (all from $0.99 one-time payments).
š Opportunities
- TheĀ Facebook MarketplaceĀ is still growing like crazy.
- There are almost no Chrome extensions that streamline processes for Facebook Marketplace sellers. What would aĀ Closet ToolsĀ ($40k/month Poshmark automation tool) for the Facebook Marketplace look like?
- Facebook Marketplace dropshipping looks like an interesting new type of side hustle that's just starting to get some traction. Targeting theseĀ semi-professional side hustlersĀ and thinking about their needs is certainly a great place to start.
- PreplyĀ is a live teaching platform with over 40,000 tutors where anyone can become a teacher that recentlyĀ raisedĀ $35 million in funding.
- Online language tutoring is definitely another type of side hustle that's becoming increasingly popular. To understand what problems tutors are struggling with you could simply book a call with a few of them on a platform like Preply.
- One interesting related data point is thatĀ Arvid KahlĀ was able to grow Feedback Panda (an organizational app that allows online English teachers to manage their courses, students, and feedback) to $55k MRR in two years.
- BitcloutĀ is a platform somewhat similar to Twitter where every user has its own cryptocurrency. While the first hype wave is already over, given that they got funding vom Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, it seems likely that the theĀ slope of enlightenmentĀ is yet to come.
- TheĀ whitepaperĀ is worth a read as it lays out nicely the features they have on their roadmap.
- Since the platforms are so similar, it makes sense to study the Twitter ecosystem to understand what opportunities might open up around Bitclout. Highly successful are automation tools likeĀ HypefuryĀ andĀ Zlappo, but also Dan Rowden's analytics toolĀ IloĀ is growing nicely (currently at $2k MRR).
- Another new social network worth keeping an eye on isĀ Racket. It's a social audio app where users can share short sound bites akin to mini podcasts.
- Apple's latest smart device is theĀ AirTag, a small, puck-shaped tracker that can help you locate misplaced or stolen items.
- Similar to how there was and still is insane demand for Apple Watch straps, it seems likely that there will be at least some market for AirTag accessories like protection cases.
I hope you enjoyed this report. If you have a minute, please respond and let me know what you think.
Top comments (1)
A friend of mine built an extension for ZoHo that generates a decent monthly income. So I can attest to this as an effective strategy!
I think this is an ideal strategy for "side hustles" where the effort is (relatively) low in creating the product and you don't have to be a marketing genius to gain traction, just find out who is using the product and introduce your solution to a problem.
I think the only limitation of this is how far you can scale it, ultimately you are very lucky if you can scale to a decent size as most companies would rather take any plugin you designed and add it themselves if the revenue starts getting tasty.
So I think the final tip is "do you trust the company you are hanging onto?" - or are they going to swallow up your idea if it gets enough traction? (you did address this, I am just reiterating)
Either way, a great post ā¤š¦š¦