3 Online Startup Ideas I’d Like to See People Take a Stab At

Just for kicks, I thought it would be fun and interesting to throw out a few startup ideas that I think would be beneficial in the coming years. No worries, I won’t be upset at all if you see one and decide to run with it. But if you do, please get me in on the ground floor of your service, just as soon as you come up with your solution to the problem.

Personalized Life Stats

Okay, so we have all of this data that presents different aspects of our lives sitting around waiting for someone to plug into. Think about it. What are all of the data sources that you feed on an ongoing basis? Just of the top of my head, there are: bills, email accounts, bank accounts, financial statements, medical records, calendars, cell phone records, social networks, blog posts, virtual check ins, etc.

How long will it take before we really start to take advantage of all of this data and move towards aggregated life stats? In other words, when will we be savvy enough to start comparing through time the effects of the choices that we make? Would this not give us a leg up in making better choices in the future?

After all, if we had a way of tracking the number of Starbucks lattes, hours spent reading / replying to emails and trips to the grocery store, would that not lead us to make more sensible decisions?

Universal Identity

Since the conception of the Internet, we have had to deal with security-related repercussions, spanning from fraudulent activities, to information security, to theft. Through all of this time, we have yet to identify and adopt a standardized method of web identity. While some may argue that this is a good thing that protects the anonymity of individuals, others have come to believe that that it simply perpetuates fraud and information security gaps.

Interestingly, the big potential players in web security (Google, Facebook, etc.) have taken a backseat and not entered the arena as of yet. To me, it is only a matter of time before a startup comes and tackles web identity issues with a simplistic, robust, solution that earns them millions and affords individuals assurance that there is little user fraud going on in the background.

Universal Browser Login

Within the past five years we have really started to move into the world of customizable browsers. Bringing forward plugin options for practically everything that you can imagine. While this has definitely been a big improvement, there are still many problems that haven’t been addressed.

First and foremost is the lack of user-friendly customized browser setup. While there are a million plugins, it is a pain in the butt to have to sift through everything to find the right options and plugins that give you the perfect experience. Further, your effort is lost when you use a friend’s computer or plugg into the web from another point.

My solution: Design the first fully customizable, open-source web browser. Login to it and your world is at your fingertips no matter if in New York, or Australia.

Now, I’d like to get a glimpse of what you are thinking. What are your thoughts? Do these startup ideas sound like services you would take advantage of, or just more useless junk on the web?

Are there any other ideas that you think could make for meaningful, potentially profitable startups?