I always run across executed versions of ideas I had ages ago. Serious kudos to the founders for getting these businesses off the ground. I’m still sitting on my butt waiting for something that really screams my name; otherwise, the effort isn’t really fun. Nine times out of ten, I just want the product/service – I don’t want to be the one to actually do it.
I was thinking of this when I came across Angie’s List a site where homeowners can rate service companies such as landscapers, painters and roofers in their local areas. What a fabulous concept if I may say so myself. I wanted to develop this almost ten years ago when I heard the ongoing saga a girlfriend in Little Falls, NJ was recounting regarding her plumber. I even contacted my data nerd/website development friends who asked, “How do you plan to make money?” At the time, my response was, “I don’t know. Online advertising?” They laughed at me. Ha. Still funny today? Not so much.
I used to carry a little spiral notebook to capture great concepts but long ago gave up on it. I had a vague inclination to try to find it to see what else is in there so I took the time to dig it out of a box in the basement two weekends ago. I cannot believe the number of ideas it contains – some of which are okay, others very outdated and so many others which have come to fruition that I can hardly believe they didn’t exist at that time. Was I just clueless?
Following are some examples:
- Mystery shopping but for local area retailers, bankers, restaurants who want unbiased, third-party feedback
- Branded, drive through, healthy, fast food franchises (e.g., fresh spring rolls, chicken satay)
- Roamin’ Gecko: an untraditional travel agency specializing in off-the-beaten track vacations
- A music kiosk in the mall where you could select from a huge database of singles and burn them to CD (clearly pre-Napster and iTunes!)
- Spas in the airport (Hello! Very glad this was done.)
- Personal shoppers and errand runners for time-sensitive professionals
- Mug wipes: handy like baby wipes but non-toxic so you can wipe out your office mug if there’s no kitchen nearby
- Tupperwine: in-home parties that sell what women actually want and educate us on grapes, vintages, etc. Hey, we’re drinking wine at these parties anyway, why not focus on it?
- Rentable small movie theaters with comfortable couches/seats and fully stocked bars in which to hold intimate parties
- City-specific, personal tours where you could select gender, age, reason for visiting, etc. and, depending on price range, the site would arrange the typical (e.g., hotel, restaurants, car service) and atypical (e.g., bridal shop tours, trendy bars) tours
- Corporate offsite/day spa with guided meditation, brainstorming sessions, massages, breakout working sessions, etc. designed to relax/inspire yet professionally facilitated to drive results
- A series of children’s books entitled, “So my best friend is . . .” each of which gives engaging, fun facts about a given religion, race, disability, etc.
- SlamDate: an online service a la Angie’s List where you could actually rate, by name and location, your weekend dates, long-term romances and one night stands to warn innocent others (which, in retrospect, goes against my core values but what the hey – my friend Mary and I even went so far as to secure the URL for a year)
- Ann Taylor bridal (brand extension): which in 1993 would have been a fabulous market entry – before Vera Wang became a household name and after I had all of the sequins removed from my gown much to the consternation of the sales lady who said, “You are the most conservative bride I’ve ever encountered.” Yeah, and I don’t have the requisite “big bangs” to be in this shop
- A local wine bar to cater to the after-movie crowd who just wants to chill in a quiet environment, have some cheese and crackers and be with friends (which, when I called on a waterfront property on Schoen Place in my hometown in the mid ‘90s, the developer briskly dismissed me with a “that’s a stupid idea” and hung up on me. Thanks buddy.)
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