In light of the current economic situation, and many of the conversations I have been in with friends and strangers alike, it seems that a recent list I came across may encourage discussion. Many people are racking their brains trying to come up with a way to generate a little more income. I heard about the following list on a Dan Miller podcast and was curious to see what was on it. While I definitely do not agree with some of the ideas presented; I feel the list, since I did not write it, should be presented in its entirety. So, here it is. Comment on your favorites, ones that you need (for me #553), or add your own to the list - Let's get started!

Hamster Burial Kits & 998 Other Business Ideas:


1. Prepackaged school supplies based on the lists from the school districts
2. Incubator site providing office space, hosting, etc. for startups that are seed funded.
3. 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)
4. A website that you can submit your design and work with vendors to manufacture your own clothes line.
5. Online discount brokerage that has no closing hours and provides access to all exchanges throughout the world and handles currency and legal issues automatically.
6. Stamphead, where stamps can be custom made in the likeness of an avatar the user creates.
7. 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.
8. A gadget to cook beans/lentils/vegetables/rice for the same amount of time (quicker than what can be done in a slow cooker.)
9. Herbal Flavored Gum. MMM...rosemary.
10. Church issued credit card with automatic 10% for religious tithing
11. Brainstorm Consulting - Teach companies how to brainstorm
12. 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.
13. Tutorial videos for technological skills (word processing, internet applications, email) for people who don't know how to navigate technology but need it.
14. Website where musicians can collaborate on tracks
15. Signs in restaurants on menus that list all the ingredients.
16. Network of chefs that rotate being personal chefs
17. Nuclear waste storage facilities completely removed from society.
18. Hedge fund that makes bridge loans to homeowners facing foreclosure.
19. Small-town / city - websites (through city and Chamber of Commerce) - most small town websites are terrible
20. whistle It.com: download audio of people whistling popular songs.
21. 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.
22. Multiple camera angles on live television (especially for sports) or online viewing
23. Replicate reality TV shows for foreign countries.
24. SIM card swap service
25. 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.
26. Create the double snuggie.
27. A company that installs a monitor at a building entry and hosts virtual door attendants.
28. Web-based language tutors leveraging Skype and Google Docs for curriculum.
29. Meal delivery in hospitals
30. Web package for a school system that allows parents to see their kids' school schedules, grades, lunches, sports activities
31. Santa Delivery Service - A dressed Santa will come to your home during the holidays and deliver your gifts as Santa
32. Presentation Consulting - Teach companies how to improve their presentations
33. 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.
34. Tribe Consulting - Help individuals (not companies) discover what Tribes they should lead and help them do it
35. 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.
36. Customer feedback software for mobile phones sold to marketers.
37. Web-based rent-a-CFO.
38. Application to sell to universities that allows students to access their transcripts online
39. Exchange clothing (like PaperBackSwap.com) for men's & women's clothing
40. Monthly subscription service for unlimited ebooks on your ebook reader device. Rhapsody/Netflix model for ebooks.
41. Cell phone made of biodegradable materials
42. iPhone app that tells you odds for a poker hand
43. 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
44. 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.
45. Nonprofit that takes old CD electronics to developing countries
46. A unified affiliate marketing program for every store on the web.
47. Contest company for small local businesses
48. Website mock-ups for people seeking VC funding
49. Grocery delivery service for college campuses: Fresh direct for dorm rooms.
50. Independent calorie testing company - A company that actually does testing on food for consumers to determine calorie content
51. Earplugs that go deeper into your ears but don’t hurt them.
52. Online transcription service for conference calls - leveraging Amazon Mechanical Turk.
53. Google for video & audio - Dragonspeak -> voice to text -> with searchable tags
54. A service that just vacuums and dust your apartment.
55. A way to ensure that each person can only create one account on a website, without having to sacrifice anonymity.
56. 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.)
57. 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.
58. 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
59. Landscaping business specializing only on LEED rooftop gardens.
60. 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.
61. 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.)
62. "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.
63. Someone/service that keeps inventory in a household (products, cleaning, etc.)
64. A drink company that brings the Shirley Temple back – the best drink ever!
65. Online Firewood Sales - Sell firewood online directly to consumers and business
66. 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.
67. Cupcake Shop (fresh and creative cupcakes)
68. 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.
69. Online Professional Wrestling Memorabilia Store - Sell pro wrestling memorabilia online directly to consumers
70. Software to manage energy sales back to the grid generated by home systems.
71. Analytics software for customer profiling, not just click analysis.
72. Disposable mittens made from biodegradable materials in vending machines at supermarkets.
73. OnlineConfessions.com. read other confessions and share the you own anonymously.
74. Instant Flash builder, providing motion templates with easy upload graphic and text to fit template animation.
75. Technology licensing agency.
76. 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.
77. Hire voice actors to read popular blogs to create podcasts where they don't yet exist ("Best of the Blogosphere Podcast")
78. Personalized cereal boxes (to celebrate child's achievements)
79. Local business-sponsored community bike program
80. 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.
81. Surgery-specific recovery packs in hospital (if Sucrets and a can of cranberry juice is better than water & crackers, that pack exists)
82. Personal lessons for using your cell phone features
83. Venture capital consulting for startups.
84. A company that makes hybrid fruits. Instead of drinking a lime pomegranate drink you can eat a lime granite.
85. Photography studio that casts you as characters from movies
86. Centralized web portal for university technology transfer offices.
87. 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.
88. A technology/service that Preachers/Rabbi’s/Clergy can use that creates a way to gather feedback during the service from the attendees.
89. Online flower shop with one-hour delivery
90. A non-profit that provides credit consulting for youth and impoverished.
91. Local fresh restaurant that opens off-peak hours to hold cooking classes to locals.
92. Fractional Ownership of Technological Conference Room in Office Complex
93. Rent-a-wife – a woman who cleans, cooks, does laundry, picks up dry cleaning, mail, etc but without the emotional relationship.
94. Project management website for volunteer shift scheduling – church nurseries, hospital auxiliary members, protest marches, etc.
95. Pencil sharpener type device to grind down dog toenails
96. An iPhone app that allows you to search a database of unique and obscure beers and drinks
97. 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.
98. A party planner for kids birthday parties, but with educational and fun activities.
99. Instant Ad builder where sexy templates are linked with creative common photos.
100. 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
101. GPS / location based meetup based on pre-selected preferences (i.e. - Manchester United)
102. A paperless hospital.
103. Whack-a-Mole style game with political figures
104. 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.
105. National Restaurant Customer Service Association - traveling customer service training system
106. 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.
107. 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.
108. 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.
109. Street Bar - bar inside a huge vehicle that drives you around
110. Feng Shui website where you upload your floor plan and other details and get a recommendation on how to construct your space.
111. Web-based rapid prototyping service that allows amateur product designers to test their designs and have our RP machines "print" their products in 3D.
112. Training company that teaches people to be brave.
113. Retractable spikes for boots to walk on the ice on sidewalks
114. Recipe Subscription Business - Subscribe to the website and pay for premium recipes
115. Online eulogies (recorded by your friends before you die)
116. Software that automates Search Engine Optimization without registering as black hat.
117. 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.
118. Publisher of web-based children's games.
119. Horoscope porn site that provides the user with a personalized video stream based on preconceived notions assigned to your “sign”.
120. A travel company that arranges people to stay at others houses.
121. Slow cooker meals in a bag - drop it in and forget it
122. 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.
123. 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.
124. Tattoo parlor for pets
125. Story Consulting - Help companies define and refine their story and teach them how to tell it
126. 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.
127. 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.
128. Internet and webcam set up for seniors to communicate with grandkids
129. Theme restaurant - Karaoke in front of a live band
130. Graph consultants - Company that specializes in making effective graphs from any data you give them.
131. A conflict negotiation service (online or regular) where you submit a problem and we provide an answer
132. School real estate rental company - Company that specializes in renting out underutilized school rooms during the summer
133. Tuning rooms for entry level home theaters
134. Build Your Own Perfume Shop.
135. Front door cleaning service – get rid of all the stuff that gets left on your door every day before you get home
136. A company that sells framed book covers, so that you can hang the covers of your favorite books on the wall of your office.
137. Standing in line for people
138. Brainstorming.com - put in an idea and gives you 10 ideas
139. Chewing gum that is good for braces and dentures.
140. Glass repair company - Company that specializes in repairing scratches or slightly broken glass
141. Twitter third party app to help drivers find vacant parking spaces in crowded metro areas; sponsored by local merchants and advertising.
142. Make your own batch of whiskey - takes 12 years, you pick flavors and types of oak barrels at the distillery, pickup in 12 years
143. Franchise business consulting that helps large franchisees improve their businesses.
144. Repossession agency for the most dangerous jobs in foreign lands.
145. Digital tombstones that serve rich multimedia messages and memories of the deceased.
146. Marketing and Advertising agency that excels at telling stories.
147. 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.
148. 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)
149. Web portal to help large corporations source physical building contractors for specialized facilities.
150. A company that digs your car out of the snow and removes snow from your driveway and starts car in the morning.
151. 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.
152. Come to your house alterations
153. Custom adventures using Virtual Reality goggles and a windfan (i.e. - basejumping a waterfall or the Grand Canyon)
154. Performance art as advertising - i.e. Cirqu de Soleil actors selling an item / brand
155. Service to teach doctors how to use technology to reach out to patients
156. Company working with magazines to help them develop a social networking presences
157. A pill that gradually dies body hair.
158. Technology scout for large corporations that looks for acquisitions.
159. Create book trailers for small publishers/authors to place on YouTube
160. IP Scanner. Scans images straight to flickr or similar service. Great for archiving family pictures or kids drawings.
161. Independent account fraud company - A company does regular checkups of your online accounts (like social networking sites) to check for fraudulent activity
162. 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.
163. 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.
164. Pandora for spin bikes
165. A non-profit that documents the stories told by elderly in nursing homes.
166. A company that will apply your logo in glow-in-the dark removable paint around a town so it appears at night.
167. Replication service for clothing items – make you a new pair just like the old pair
168. Improve soft contacts so you can wear for 1 year at a time.
169. An online counseling program via webcam (for therapists, inmates)
170. Not-for-profit that works with people to help cure their acne.
171. Service that takes your text messages from your phone to your computer
172. Fast food restaurants with healthy, organic and tasty foods. Similarly, healthy foods in cafeterias and grocery stores in low-socioeconomic areas.
173. Software company that builds marketing dashboards sold to CMOs, brand officers, etc.
174. A Build Your Own Robot Shop.
175. 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.
176. Offshore software development company based in China.
177. 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.
178. Desk mounted lighting systems for video chat
179. The Black Cow (least innovative product)
180. 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.
181. Online petition forms with compliant signature verification software.
182. 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
183. Networked home alarm systems so that neighbors can check on each other's homes during break-ins.
184. 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)
185. Eyeglasses that you can adjust to the light. Not that they adjust on their own.
186. Worst, etc.
187. Clipping service for high school athletes parents
188. EZPass for humans on public transportation (key fob?)
189. A company that creates baseball trading card style packets for restaurant chains.
190. A cleaning service using only eco friendly products
191. Custom Hypnosis CD Business - Customers go to a studio and record their own voice reading self-hypnosis scripts
192. Online Suspenders store - Company sells nothing but suspenders
193. A non-profit that supports poor on using technology in classes taught by young freelance artists.
194. Online Antique Appraisal Service - Send pictures of your antiques online to have them appraised
195. Microbrewery with high-octane beers with boutique labels that cost as much as good wines
196. Technology consulting for venture firms.
197. Harmonica It.com: download audio of people playing popular songs on the harmonica.
198. 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.
199. 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.
200. Anti-drug education program for inner city schools. In conjunction with a touring program that sends a message to parents across the country.
201. 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.
202. Mushroom/compost farm that uses the Matter of Trust “lasagna” to eat cleaned up oil spills
203. Company working with small local newspapers helping them develop a social network presence
204. Giant Magnadoodle for teachers
205. Computer Remote Technician - Fixes your computer by remotely connecting to your PC or Mac
206. Conference organizing company that handles all the logistics of creating and running conferences for other organizations.
207. Retro-fitting older school buses with seats with seatbelts
208. Online Town Hall
209. Speed dating online.
210. Adopt a prisoner "charity" that allows people to adopt an inmate and assure that they are visited and receive cards/letters on important dates.
211. Prius Cab Fleet (www.greenfares.com)
212. Buzz-monitoring of brands with software tools sold to enterprises and brand managers.
213. The Purple Cow (most innovative product)
214. Feng Shui experts that tells you the best way to put your stuff/furniture in your house.
215. Expert roommate negotiator - Expert negotiator specializing in solving roommate disagreements
216. Rent a scout that gives you a good idea of your child's sports potential
217. Book packaging for great college writing and emerging writers.
218. Online Palm Readings - Readings done via Skype
219. Self-righting picture hanger
220. Website for online job searching with IM capabilities so you can ask questions to other people searching or people who are advertising.
221. 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.
222. A digital coloring book.
223. SMS messaging for television tickers scrolling at the bottom of popular shows.
224. 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.
225. Garanimals for adult men
226. Dating Consulting - individualized service on how to find, meet and date quality people
227. Boat or Yacht share program.
228. 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.
229. Girls Getaway - a company that sets up 'girls week / weekend' vacations (shopping, Broadway shows, hiking, wine tasting, etc.)
230. Toilet seat covers for public toilets that don’t fall off the seats.
231. 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.
232. 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.
233. A service that manages the risk of house swapping.
234. Build the you own Barbie.com. Pay $100 to dress and color the you own doll.
235. Twitter or SMS restaurant reservations
236. Digital family whiteboard on fridge (like an iTablet for the family)
237. 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.
238. Dissolvable contacts that deliver medicine to the eye overnight
239. 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.
240. TV Show Summary Service - Brief summaries of your favorite shows are e-mailed to you in case you missed them.
241. Globalization consultancy.
242. 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
243. Build Your Own Back Pack Shop.
244. Group dating website.
245. Online mentoring program for students of all ages (Pen pals that teach each other skills online.)
246. Citizen journalism website.
247. 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.
248. Designer bibs for patients during their teeth cleaning. This could be a cartoon design for kids or pattern for adults.
249. RingTone this.com: upload audio and have computer-like versions automatically generated and sent to the you cell phone as a ringtone.
250. A book about the history of the internet made from recycled phone books.
251. A cutting-edge fashion company that tells the story of wearable computing.
252. A virtual interior decorator that will make suggestions via digital photographs.
253. 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.
254. 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.
255. IP Camera security company - software solution - offsite remotely recording
256. Military Peak Performance Consulting - Consult the military on matters of peak performance (nutrition/stress management/etc.)
257. 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.
258. Educational youth iPhone games
259. An automatic dimming light bulb coated in that same stuff that is on glasses that the user wear on the you face.
260. Frozen venison shipping store - Company that specializes in shipping the best venison across the country
261. A safe vice for your head when you have a headache (made from strong fabric maybe)
262. Apprenticeship management company for high profile business personalities.
263. Celebrity voice wake up calls
264. Obama TARP consulting for financial institutions.
265. 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
266. A consulting company that works with aerobic instructors to trademark their exercise routine.
267. Webcam security set up to watch kids, dogs, older parents
268. A recipe holding cell online for all your recipes to edit, print, and send to friends.
269. A small handheld set up to video chat only via satellite.
270. 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.
271. 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
272. Network of restaurants where chefs rotate
273. Agency that trains people for doctor’s offices. Doctor’s offices need etiquette training for their employees desperately.
274. A service that transfers CDs -> LPs (not the other way around)
275. Organic grapes and wine brokerage.
276. 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.
277. Collectibles investment club.
278. After Party Art where the user send in bottles collected from special gatherings to a factory that melts and shapes glass into guest gifts.
279. Stickers for backpacks (stick well to nylon, etc.)
280. Roomba type toy for dog to chase around house. Should move faster, be fairly indestructible and make appropriate noises.
281. 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!
282. 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.
283. Dashboard painting of car interiors
284. Amusement park based on video games
285. 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.
286. After party cleaning crew
287. Fence store - Sells nothing but designer fences with custom designs
288. Investment bank that helps non-profits tap the public market with stock listings.
289. An invite only site that allows friends to create video playlists from Hulu, the userTube and third party programming.
290. Online Astrology Readings - Readings done via Skype
291. Gym review company - Company that reviews gyms and creates a guide like ZAGAT that we sell
292. Netflix for freshwater aquariums. If you get bored of some of your old fish you can swap them out for new ones.
293. Phone booth style device that you walk into and it steam presses your clothes
294. A website that you can put in a characteristics of a person and it will come up with an avatar.
295. 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.
296. Religious Karaoke Bar - Bar where only religious songs allowed to be sung, and no alcohol
297. Soda Pop flavored mochi balls.
298. A sophisticated website that uses an eHarmony-like algorithm to match nannies and families
299. 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"
300. A dating service where only your friends can set you up on dates.
301. Fractional Ownership of Season Tickets / Box Seats
302. Affordable home matting and framing kit
303. Consumer fingerprinting business - Company provides trained experts to apply fingerprints tests for household events
304. A relocation service for Americans looking to permanently move to a new location for global opportunities.
305. Website where musicians can collaborate on lyrics
306. 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.
307. Fish Burial Kit.
308. Mail in your old mixtapes and get a playlist sent to you via email with a digital version of that mix.
309. A not-for-profit that pairs experts with eager and willing pupils for an apprenticeship program.
310. Actor research consulting service - Consulting service for actors to be setup with people who can mentor them in research for their roles
311. 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.
312. Executive Power nap business - Locations where executives can take a 20 minute energizer nap during the day
313. Graphic novels based on video games
314. Professional protesters agency.
315. Lip reading school - School that teaches students how to read lips
316. Digital Workflow Consulting - "We'll get your precious memories (files) into the cloud"
317. Brand of energy ice cream.
318. Cereal Bar (cereal the way you like it with "extras" - open late)
319. Sell web stats back to website owners who are computer illiterate (Google Analytics)
320. Anti-inflammatory Hot Sauce
321. Firefox Plugin for Autosave Clipboard
322. Undercover Teenager - hire a teenager to spy on your kid
323. iPhone app that uses the GPS to measure amount of accumulated gains in altitude for climbers, hikers, skiers.
324. Pay at the pump carbon offsets
325. 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.
326. Netflix for conversation pieces. Get bored of your coffee table book and send it back for another.
327. Box removal after people move – green message of recycling
328. Relationship Hotline - Relationship experts answer phone calls 24/7
329. Age verification company - A company that solely does research to verify someone's age (little league baseball would be a big client)
330. Campaign Suite -> Political Suite - set of web apps - all the good things Obama did in a "package"
331. A seminar business that trains people to be tribe leaders.
332. 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.
333. An Urban Dictionary for texting.
334. Salon for blind people
335. Picture book series for adults explaining technology topics
336. Closet organization for adult men – Garanimalize their clothing for them after the fact
337. Vision board builder site that provides a virtual design for users to focus on their goals daily.
338. 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.
339. 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.
340. Organic vitamin pills and supplements for vegetarians sold through health stores.
341. Teach companies how improv comedy can help them in their business (comfort zone, setup your partner)
342. Herb garden planting – plan, plant and basically get your herb garden going.
343. Legal Advice Hotline - Legal staff and call center charges consumers to call in for advice charge per hour
344. A website for elementary and middle school kids that helps them build a portfolio of their best artwork, writing, sports accomplishments, etc.
345. 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
346. Jelly Belly for gum
347. Team in Training - supporting a family or village instead of a cause
348. 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.
349. Website that allows people to share clothes and shoes (fractional closet ownership)
350. 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.
351. 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.
352. Affordable set top box with video chat (less functionality and cheaper than Media Center)
353. Robotics sports entertainment company - Create robotic athletes that play sports using AI, charge for admission
354. A storytelling site that markets to families who want easy ways to archive the voices of their elders.
355. Interactive billboard advertisements with codes for coupons sent to mobile phones (mobile-location-based-presence advertising).
356. One stop shop custom photo labs - bring in digital pictures and you have access to Photoshop expert, printing matting, framing,
357. A village in china that paints portraits of pop culture icons as various dog breeds. Look, Obama as a GreyHound!
358. Fish babies. Specifically market a female and a male fish capable of mating to customers interested in seeing the miracle happen at home.
359. A consumer hotline to advise people on electronic purchases and installation on a $ per minute basis.
360. BestOf.com [http://BestOf.com] A website that only sells one specific type of each product...but you know its the best.
361. Create YouTube channel with local restaurant reviews (or any kind of local business)
362. 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)
363. Public bathrooms that you pay to use. There is a room attendant for your bags.
364. 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.
365. A free live music concert video site streaming a huge archive with limited commercial breaks.
366. Portable safety landing zone for emergency extractions sold to government first responders.
367. A mentoring program (website) that connects entrepreneurs with specific mentors they seek.
368. 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.
369. Senior friend – hire people to come by to spend 30 minutes just hanging with your older relative who live away from you.
370. Website that generates naming and branding ideas
371. Travel agency that shows you dying civilizations
372. 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.
373. Private investigation company for restaurant employees - Restaurant companies pay to have PI's investigate whether employees are washing their hands in the bathroom
374. A service that takes your records and digitizes them into MP3's.
375. Unique Bachelor & Bachelorette Parties - we work with you to design a fun, unique bachelor or bachelorette party experience
376. 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.
377. Outsourced sales staff for high-ticket items.
378. Manufacturer of flying cars (courtesy of Tim Draper).
379. Mobile app with hospital floor plans, maps, info about area restaurants, etc.
380. 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.
381. A service of highly trained babysitters specialized in all ages that you could call upon last minute any night of the week
382. 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.)
383. Live Tutor (online tutoring via webcam, chat)
384. The "C-Games" - like the X-games, but real people and celebrities compete in wacky (think Japanese game show) events & all $$ goes to charity
385. 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.
386. A consulting company that creates tribes for your business.
387. USB stick into a cell phone
388. 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.
389. Positive news TV channel (PNN) - TV news network that only plays positive TV programming, nothing negative
390. Grocery checkout efficiency consulting service - Company consults grocery stores on their checkout process to increase efficiency
391. 10% for the world - an association of businesses who add 10% to their prices and donate the 10% to charity.
392. Traveling Poker school - weekend intensive poker school - get some pros
393. Assist business people (authors, bloggers, executives) organize speeches and presentations - establish relationships with many venues & marketing channels
394. Baby fitness class company - Organize fitness classes for babies and their parents
395. iPhone app that is a recorder (like the ocarina app, but more familiar).
396. Globalization import-export trading company.
397. 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.
398. English speaking, US educated virtual assistant
399. Restaurant where you cook alongside the chef , choose your ingredients and learn a new technique.
400. 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.
401. 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.
402. Web cam at school events so you can see your kid when you can’t make it
403. Use Google Earth to determine green improvements to a given residence
404. 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.
405. 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.)
406. 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.
407. All electronic gadgets in one. Phone charger, mp3 player, computer, radio, watch) should all be able to be charged by the computer. (Travelsize/lightweight.)
408. Gold reclamation service from old electronics
409. A guitar pedals that make exotic animal noises.
410. Kids choose a week's worth of lunches online with their parents and a van delivers them everyday at lunchtime.
411. 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.)
412. Fractional Ownership of Segway
413. 3D personalized bubblehead dolls ordered over the Internet based on submitted photos and scans.
414. Art for the blind - Company that translates art into some type of Braille system where blind people can appreciate it.
415. 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.
416. Vanity audiobook company for Lulu.com authors
417. 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.
418. 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.
419. Build Your own Mardi Gras mask site.
420. 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)
421. Philanthropic tourism - pay a huge fee with part of it going to help the people you visit
422. Grocery store with only junk food
423. Headphone buds that look like headphones but that are really powerful earplugs so people can’t tell the difference.
424. A store completely filled with weird vending machines.
425. 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.
426. Marketing Awards (like the Oscars, potentially online)
427. 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.
428. Online judge dispute resolution - Submit your disagreements onliine and for a fee a judge will email you back the verdict on who is right
429. Steroid scandal consultant - Firm specializes in advising baseball players that are in the midst of a steroid scandal
430. Casino Airlines - Airline that has casino games on the plane as soon as the plane gets over the sea
431. Trade Ya.com where users trade their personal goods for other user’s crap.
432. A drive through fast food place that has healthy sandwiches.
433. A laundromat/video arcade - Play video games with your kids as you wait for your clothes to be done
434. 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.
435. Instead of cryogenic freezing of bodies, store genetic signatures and compile multimedia memories.
436. Change Consulting - Teach companies how to change - "stories of change" workshops
437. Website that is an aggregator of all the charities that celebrities support and how you can get involved.
438. To-go food materials that are 100% recyclable such as a straw.
439. 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.
440. Delivery service of food from local restaurants that don’t offer delivery
441. Restaurant of the month club - diners pay $100 - get $200 gift certificates for a rotating set of restaurants
442. Police texting alerts-in case of an emergency you can text the police instead of calling them.
443. An application that is a Thesaurus for your phone.
444. Will you marry me.com, that allows viewers to share video of wedding proposals and live stream real ones.
445. Neighborhood phone book
446. Travel agency for the rich and famous.
447. Improv comedy coach comes to dinner parties or can order "Improv Party" DVD set
448. Mobile pet neuter vans.
449. A software that will allow you to change the channel and adjust the lights in the room through you computer.
450. Etiquette guides for various social media
451. Start a multi-level marketing company that specializes in sex toy parties for men.
452. Snow Man kit: a packaged snow man parts, encouraging fun times building a Snowman with family and friends. Biodegradable.
453. A digital book reader that provides an OED, so that readers can look up words as they come across them.
454. 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.
455. FamousNoses.com, pick the you favorite hollywood star and get a rubber version of their beak for the you own!
456. Online Executive Betting System - Online trading system that allows you to trade CEOs like securities to make money
457. Create your own ice cream flavors
458. 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.
459. A PhD site where students and teachers post thesis.
460. Casual escrow service - Escrow service for more casual transactions, like between family or friends
461. A software program that functions like Pandora for television programs.
462. A company that creates baseball trading card style packets for fashion designer lines.
463. Government sign business consultant - Company finds infrastructure signs (roads, bridges, etc.) that are ineffective or misleading that by fixing will save the government money
464. Stacked Twitter iPhone App (like TweetDeck or PeopleBrowsr for the iPhone)
465. 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.
466. A car sharing service that manages the risk and coordination of sharing a car in major cities.
467. 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.
468. 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.
469. 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.
470. AngryClickers.com: a streaming site that allows users to cue live face punches in an online fight. This is sick.
471. Job swap board for stay at home moms – I’ll do your laundry if you do my grocery shopping.
472. 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.
473. Bicycle that generates electricity to run the club
474. Interview practice company - A company that will do mock interviews with you and give you feedback on your performance.
475. 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.
476. In store sales (for the next 60 minutes - x is 50% off - sent via SMS to customers who have signed up)
477. Design agency for Second Life and other digital worlds.
478. Private Security Insurance - promise trained "Blackwater-esque" security in the event of civil disturbance.
479. Green Architecture Best Practices Community
480. Nap stations throughout the city. To integrate it into our culture, we can introduce them through napping stations similar to coffee houses.
481. Video creation for local businesses to put on YouTube
482. 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.
483. Company that creates widgets that advertise high-end jobs on the most influential and specialized bloggers in the areas of tech, medical, finance, etc.
484. Pillow case store - Store that only sells customers a large variety of custom pillow cases
485. Tactical fire arms training for urban environments.
486. Be a sports team mascot for day
487. A digital medicine cabinet where patients upload their latest prescriptions and receive automatic feeds that relevant Google alerts.
488. Dedicated sms/twitter service responding to shopping people about "greenness"/ethics of products.
489. Software to build social graphs based by comprehensively integrating all the different online and offline social networks.
490. Fractional Ownership Site showing what people want to share - Cars, Trucks, Homes, Boats, Limo Service
491. 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.
492. Build Your own rock video, using templates that are provided on the site.
493. Fantasy Camp - Mobile Air Force Flight Simulator (traveling semi)
494. Bedtime story company - Company that you call who reads you a bedtime story if you can't fall asleep
495. ThatsAThing.com - tells you if things already exists
496. Golf balls with low powered GPS signals in them so you can always find your ball
497. Argument module for Twitter
498. Advertising platform for customer service phone systems where callers willing to listen to a commercial get bumped up in the queue.
499. 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?
500. 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
501. Ability to tag certain parts of online videos so users and friends can find videos and certain parts of videos easily
502. Sensitive seats for trains so the instructor known when someone sits in a new seat.
503. Mobile app that notes the GPS location of your car when you park it so you can find it again
504. Refurbishing old photo equipment and giving it to kids.
505. Netflix for home exercise equipment. Swap out your ergometer for an elliptical and then swap that for a treadmill.
506. 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!
507. Sell pre-paid wireless access to the internet. Like pre paid cell phone but for USB internet card.
508. 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.
509. A superpowerful exhaust for South-Asian homes.
510. Tivo for the radio
511. 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.
512. 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.
513. Device to brew wine in your own home
514. One Xbox per child
515. Consulting firm to help financial institutions fix bad mortgages portfolio.
516. 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.
517. Something that doesn't make blinds so hard to pull (a lever or switch.)
518. Personalized Macbooks - Provide custom laser engraved artwork on the new all metal Macbooks.
519. Student loans collections agency that tracks ability to pay through online sleuthing.
520. Ask an African.com, where users ask African locals about cultural issues, news, and consumer interests.
521. Home delivery of pet food/snacks/toys on a set schedule
522. 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.
523. A slide projector the size of a cell phone with a usb input for flash drives.
524. A flower shop that is actually a restaurant, delivering pizzas that are shaped to look like various floral varieties.
525. Online Pictionary Game Website - Play Pictionary online with people all over the world
526. Brainstorm support – call in service with someone to talk with you to help get your brain going
527. Virtual Stylist - On call stylist will look at what you're wearing via webcam and give advice
528. 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.
529. 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.
530. Build Your Own Anime site.
531. 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.
532. A company that makes specialized dog food geared toward different breeds.
533. American Idol online where the user judge the you own peers and strangers, built on a karaoke format.
534. Bluetooth + quality microphone (like a combination of a Jawbone and a Snowball)
535. Glow in the dark contacts
536. Ammunition disposal - offer to collect unwanted and old ammo for a fee and sell it to collectors or recycle
537. Commercial sales of ostrich eggs to gourmets... don't think this has ever been done
538. Users vote online which specials get on the restaurant menu every week
539. Rent a kitchen. Comes with all that you need plus a great dining room table.
540. A non-profit that works with town governments on writing laws that create