Watch out for tarpit startup ideas

Non-unique ideas that have been done to death

Last week, I came across this tweet:

What is a tarpit idea?

• Lots of people try this startup idea

• They don’t succeed in doing it

• Don’t pivot out of it quickly enough and kill themselves

What is a tarpit?

A tarpit is like a quicksand oil pit you can drown in. From a distance, due to the light hydrocarbon, it looks like water. This attracts animals, and they drown in it.

Story goes that dinosaurs died in tarpits too.

Examples of tarpit ideas and reasons

Tarpit ideas I’ve seen.

• Matching platform of students to internships

  • Finding an internship can be hard

  • We want to make it easier

  • Execution problem: chicken-egg problem of supply, lack of money in industry

• Recommendation tool for partners to find creative dates

  • Most couples don’t do enough creative dates

  • Our app helps with finding stuff you like

  • Execution problem: content creation beyond the usual Google search is hard. If couples don’t do a Google search, why would they download your app?

• Most matching platforms I saw fail

  • Expat students to engage with local students

  • Students to find cheap restaurants with daily deals

  • Finding affordable housing is hard during a housing crisis

  • Execution problem: The supply side is harder than demand side. Is it a matching problem or a lack of supply problem in that particular market?

• Digital legacy tool (my own startup, I encounter a ‘competitor’ at least once per year)

  • Handing over all your stuff and arranging your funeral when you die is cumbersome

  • In our app, you can do it all

  • Execution problem: people don’t like to think about the fact that they die.

• Travel planning tool

  • Spreadsheets + google docs suck for planning long trips

  • We want to make it easier

  • Execution problem: making the UX actually work pleasantly is very hard. Most young designers struggle with this

• Healthy snack food alternative

  • Most snacks are unhealthy

  • We want to make a healthy snack

  • Execution problem: most unhealthy snacks have this quick-fill experience that healthy alternatives don’t have. Different JTBD

• Mental health awareness app

  • Most people don’t focus on their mental health

  • We want to increase awareness

  • Execution problem: Latent problems are very hard to sell in, marketing skills should be top notch (often not the case in first-time founder startups)

• Foodboxes

  • New innovative foodbox with snacks and foods that haven’t been marketed yet

    • Execution problem: Fun for once, too expensive for subscription

  • Food box with instructions to make meals for your babies

    • Execution problem: Fun for once, too much hassle in the end

• Blablacar for packages

  • Going anywhere anyway? Take my package with you!

  • Simple platform to match drivers and people with packages.

  • Execution problem: matching supply and demand is really hard, because trips are very specific and detours are not very desirable. Also credibility and drugs anxiety.

• Brand loyalty card on your smartphone

  • Now you have 10 stamp cards

  • With our app, yada yada yada

  • Execution problem: signing up enough venues is hard. Problem of paper stamp cards is not that big for a store.

Y!C (video below) points out that most tarpit ideas are B2C. Watch out!

What to do?

• Don’t assume your idea is unique

• Try to find your idea online. Ask around fellow founders.

  • Don’t zoom in on what makes your idea unique: “Yes, but we are different in this tiny detail way” - (our login is via Google rather than a phone number)

• Try to understand what made others fail. Try to reach out to these founders and land a (Zoom) call

  • Go on Twitter, LinkedIn, and approach the founders of these now-death companies

• Or, get on a call with me, I will roast your startup idea 😏

How was this?