So you wrote a blog in 15 minutes. What next?
You could write Yet Another Twitter/Instagram/Groupon Clone™. Or you could launch a small business. In your spare time.
Here are two small business ideas that can be launched with less than a week’s development time and charge money from day one.
Although both of these businesses would sell very different products, the skills required to start serving paying customers are pretty much the same: Rails, Omniauth, the Stripe API, and the know-how to bridge the online and the physical worlds.
A little while ago Patrick McKenzie wrote:
Is there a website that I can say “Here’s $15 on CC.I’m at the hotel and want good food.Surprise me.” Would seriously do it 25x / yr
Most online food ordering sites overwhelm the customer with choice. 100 menu items is great when you have the time and the desire to review all of them. But when you’re on the go, or just plain busy, a single button would be ideal.
A simple Rails app with omniauth-twitter, Stripe, and a good cron system could easily handle the backend. To take care of the actual food, find restaurants that accept fax orders. Use a fax api to generate an order page with your credit card number. When the order goes through, use Stripe to charge your customer $2 + the order price. You can determine viability of the business without any time spent hustling restaurant owners.
Why can’t I copy my camera’s sd card to a “Print this” folder? Once the files are synced, I’d get an email confirming the order. When the prints are ordered, the printed files’ names are changed to reflect the order status: “File Name (ordered)”, “File Name (shipped)”, “File Name (printed)”, etc.
Just like with the first idea, a basic Rails app that uses Omniauth, Stripe, and a cron system can easily handle backend tasks. For actually ordering prints, there are a few options: roll your own print shop, find a photo printing REST API, or strike a deal with a local print shop.
If I don’t end up building these myself, I’d line up to be the first customer. Drop me an email or tweet if you make either of these.
Alan 06 April 2012