Every company in the world once began with an idea. Some might have seemed crazy or impossible. But anything is possible with drive and determination. At the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, we encourage all students to follow their dreams and entrepreneur something because you never know where it will lead you.
If you’re looking for inspiration — or just curious what ideas others are pursuing — find a list of startup ideas from our community below.
We collected these during a social media challenge on Instagram. Participants shared their startup idea to win $100 cash to help them get a start on their venture. Congrats to @aaryamistry_ on winning this competition. We selected her through a random drawing. Her idea is Angel, a company that rents scooters with a built-in GPS system to help drivers navigate.
Learn more about this social media challenge and other current challenges here.
Startup Ideas
“I’d like to create a platform that outlines how to start your own succulent business… I am in the process of building a website that has a program with information on the entire process of harvesting succulents, creating stock, pricing products, finding customers, using social media to grow a loyal following, and overall, gaining entrepreneurial skills. I began my own succulent business a few years ago, and believe individuals of all ages, demographics, etc, could largely benefit from this type of program. The program enables access to extremely informative tips, helpful aids in growing a business and caring for succulents, and will only cost $5. My initial goal is to sell the program to 1,000 people and yield $5000 of revenue, hopefully generating this into mostly profit due to limited margins). I would use the $100 to promote posts on social media to gain access to a larger audience (advertising).” — @hamachaiharvest
“The business I want to launch is called Angel and it is basically a scooter company like spin or lime, the BIG & extremely UNIQUE thing about angel is that it allows you to access an inbuilt GPS system that is the size of a tesla screen in order to help teens, students, parents, grandparents, or anyone else you could think of to navigate through the community & campus! This could largely benefit students by saving gas money on a daily basis! Angel charges about 2 cents more than other competitive companies out in business & also provide 10% of their profit to the cancer foundation at intermountain healthcare! Angel is designed to allow students or any other community member to utilize an eco-friendly scooter than can take u places within minutes and not worry about parking or gas costs! I would use the $100 to manufacture these scooters and invest in the making of a website.” — @aaryamistry_
“I would like to start a clothing/Streetwear company that is focused on creatives, primarily photographers and videographers. Because it is easy to feel alone sometimes in those fields I want to create a sense of community that we all belong to and inspire each other to create along with connecting creators across the world.” — @syd.ostendorf
“I want to build an app that connects employers and job seekers in a whole new way! I’ve already mapped out the functionality details, done research on discrimination laws and markets, and contacted an app developer. I’m still trying to finalize the method of profit for the idea, but other than that it is coming along.” — @jared_collett
“I want to start a home decor business! — @kyndra06
“I wanted to start a website for NYC charities that filters them according to location and type (kind of like a MenuPages model, but for charities instead of restaurants) would love to expand to other cities as I go along. profit would have to be derived from ad-based revenue. This was sparked more because I was looking for charities to volunteer at and couldn’t find a comprehensive database. would definitely be nice to have one.” — @kumarshivani285
“I’m working on building out a system to small businesses within niche sectors and communities launch their brand effective within podcasting. Audio create lends its way better for small brands because your listeners will engage with your message long than any other form of social media and you’re able to share brand in a more natural way. We would use the $100 to experiment with ads on some more niche platforms.” — @epicstack
“I currently own a cosmetic brand that focuses on natural and fresh ingredients to help your skin be the best it can be without the use of chemicals. We separate ourselves from other companies by only making the product once it is ordered to ensure the freshest quality. once we open stores we will have a see-through kitchen where you can actually watch the chefs prepare your future Cosmetics! With the $100 we would improve packaging and labeling on our products which would allow our customers to respect and love the brand even more!” — @spoilednaturallycosmetics
“I want to make custom wood table tops for home offices and put them on electric standing desk bases to sell to professionals currently working from home due to COVID.” — @_coltonhall
“I want to grow my shoe business. I customize Vans, Converse, and Airforce 1’s all by hand, and sell them to customers. I would like to create a strong website where people are able to order online and I am able to look more professional.” — @b_e_a_u_
“I want to create a consulting company where I build advanced spreadsheets for smaller companies who don’t have the knowledge base or resources to build their own.” — @brad.wilcox4
“I want to create a career consulting non-profit for ex-cons to help them transition into the workforce. I can do this by helping with basic career dev (job exportation, resume creation, interview prep), creating a partnership pipeline to edu orgs like Lamdba School, and creating a pipeline directly to jobs actively hiring ex-cons.” — @jaxon_stuart
“I want to create a custom shoe design company. It’s semi in the works but is at a standstill currently. Would love to see it come to fruition one of these days though!” — @pleiades_girl
