Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2013; its user, funding and usage figures for companies such as Snapchat and Ashley Madison are from that time, and the situation of the businesses it describes may have changed. Ashley Madison suffered a data breach in 2015.
Not every idea appeals to everyone, and some products or services can even seem offensive to others. Of the 4 business ideas we are going to look at, I would venture that one of them will have to spend part of its profits on fighting future lawsuits; the second, although it has been successful at raising funding, has some gaps in my view; and the last 2 could spark ethical and moral debates. That shouldn’t worry the entrepreneur too much, though, because I am sure their potential customers don’t have any moral qualms. All these ideas have one thing in common: for now, they are profitable businesses.
1. Lulu (OnLulu) | An app for rating and talking about men.
On Lulu, men are banned. What was once a social network exclusively for women (Luluvise) is now an app you can download from the App Store and Google Play, where women rate men on a scale of one to ten. In other words, if a woman meets a guy on Facebook, she can go into the app and find out what other women, who may be his ex-girlfriends, say about him.
At first, entrepreneur Alexandra Chong came up with the idea so that women would be warned if the guy they had just met was a cheat or an abuser. As usually happens, today the app talks about the size of their feet, and of things other than feet, how they are in bed, and so on. Although it looks set to be one of the apps that will receive the most lawsuits for libel and slander, the fact is that it has raised large amounts of capital from private investors, even winning the support of David Cameron.
2. Snapchat | Share, but don’t give it away.
Snapchat is the latest hit among iPhone and Android apps. The idea is to share any moment you like with one person or a group of people, as a photo or a video, but once you have seen that photo or video you can’t save it, because it simply disappears. This has made Snapchat the favourite app of many people who send racy photos or compromising videos, since they supposedly have the peace of mind that the other person won’t be able to share them with anyone else. More than 250 million photos and videos are currently sent through the app, which has raised 60 million from private investors.
A reminder to users: anything played on a mobile device can be captured. If someone wants to keep your photo or video, they can.
3. Vibease | The vibrator you control from a mobile app.
Vibease is a product designed for the most imaginative couples. From the mobile app, either partner can control the timing or the intensity of the vibration, even when they are not in the same room.
This product has been one of the biggest novelties in adult shops, since it is probably the first product in this sector to be used through mobile apps. Criticism or no criticism, the product has been very profitable for its inventor.
4. Ashley Madison | Help for people who commit adultery.
This business starts with a slogan: “Life is short. Have an affair.” Ashley Madison is probably the world’s biggest dating site for married people. It has more than 19 million registered users. It was created in 2002 and is said to have been profitable from day one, because infidelity is far more common than you might imagine. Of course, infidelity only exists when it is discovered, and this site offers you the solution so that you are never found out. A controversial idea? Absolutely. A profitable business? Of course.
In a previous article we talked about some business ideas taken from the movies, which included a business providing alibis for infidelity, and who knows, maybe one day we will see a company specialising in this sector.
Further reading
- 7 business ideas aimed at millionaires
- 6 profitable businesses in 2013 that were born during the crisis
- 6 profitable business ideas that started in the United States
- Booming markets: 10 businesses with a future
Featured image: Lsjm, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
