Sending a message in a potato? 5 weirdest startups!
From shipping snow bottles to a parking for dogs, there are not crazy ideas to start a company
If ever, you or your friends have come up with an idea to solve a problem and did not make it happen fearing it was too far-fetched, perhaps you should reconsider. In the world of startups, no idea is too crazy.
Leer en español: ¿Quieres importar nieve? Conoce los 5 startups más extreños
The accessibility offered by technology and the variety of ways in which you can finance your project has facilitated the creation of entire companies dedicated to providing products and services that you did not even know you wanted.
These are some of the strangest startups we found:
- Ship Snow, Yo!
Kyle Waring, a young man from Boston, and his girlfriend were tired of sweeping the snow that filled their yard every year. Frustrated with stacking snow, they made jokes by imagining how rich they would be if they could sell it to someone.
From this joke was born Ship Snow, Yo! , a funny initiative that sells polystyrene containers filled with snow to customers throughout the United States. Waring assures that the business has been successful, so much so, that they have had to expand since they no longer only sell snow from Boston, but they opened a second packing point in Denver, Colorado.
Ship Snow, Yo! sells containers of 10, 20 and 50 pounds of snow, reaching a cost of USD $229 for the largest presentation.
- Dirty Rotten Flowers
How seriously do you take the lack of love? If the answer is a lot, then you should consider Dirty Rotten Flowers, a service that allows you to send withered and rotten flower arrangements to whoever you want. This business, which has been running since 2010 in Los Angeles, California, ensures that your feelings of revenge and disappointment reach those who deserve it.
In addition, Dirty Rotten Flowers allows you to attach a letter that says what you want, so there are no doubts about what this dismal gift means.
The most popular arrangement of Dirty Rotten Flowers, is called Morticia: a cluster of rotten and decapitated flowers would cost you only $30, a fair price to vent with your former lover.
Dirty Rotten Flowers, my new fav website for singles on #Valentinesday Dead flowers! Genius idea @dirtrotnflowers pic.twitter.com/tXaNdMzv4g
— Eve Jaso (@EvePresenter) 4 de febrero de 2016
You may also be interested: How to measure the economy with Waffles and Coca-Cola? 6 curious economic indices
- DogSpot
Formerly called DogParker, DogSpot, is a service of houses for dogs, distributed around the city of New York, to leave your dog comfortable and safe while you do your shopping. The DogSpot houses have climate control, to adjust to the seasons, and have a video camera so that you, as the owner, can check how your dog is doing in his rented room.
According to the owner of this initiative, Chelsea Brownridge, in her interview with the Fortune portal, the visits of the dogs last on average about 15 minutes, and each house receives six to 10 visits per day.
DogSpot costs, 20 cents per minute, which for some owners is a reasonable price to have the peace of mind to leave your pet in a safe and comfortable place.
- Potato Parcel
Perhaps the most notorious and successful startup on this list is Potato Parcel, the business that is dedicated to the distribution of personalized potatoes by mail. You can write messages of up to 130 characters and print photographs on a potato and send it to whoever you want as a gift, with only one disadvantage, Potato Parcel recommends not eating the potatoes they send.
This startup gained recognition in 2016, when its creator, Riad Bekhit, from San Francisco, took the idea to the Shark Tank program, where it received the backing of investor Kevin O'Leary.
According to CNBC, since Potato Parcel appeared in Shark Tank, it has sold more than 700,000 units, each one for 12 dollars, which made this startup a million-dollar idea.
- DiedInHouse.com
Do you believe in ghosts? Does the idea of living in a house where someone has died scare you? If your answer is yes, then DiedInHouse.com is for you. This website allows you to instantly find out if someone has died in the house you plan to buy, but also can inform you if in that house have been involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine, two data that may affect the decision of buyers more demanding
Searching DiedInHouse.com is not free and only works within the United States. Each report costs $ 12, and in addition to the aforementioned, it lets you know about past fires and nearby sexual abusers.
The Manson murder house. Before Buying or Renting Your Next Home, Use https://t.co/mMFVMRCL3L
to Learn the House History. https://t.co/u6oym8WC8d via @CurbedLA— Diedinhouse (@Diedinhouse) 30 de septiembre de 2018
LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Bernal
Translated from: '¿Quieres importar nieve? Conoce los 5 startups más extreños'
Listen this article