My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
AI-Powered Academic Writing Assistant
For: College students writing essays and research papers
The Problem
Students struggle with writer's block, proper citations, and ensuring originality in academic writing
The Solution
AI writing assistant that helps complete sentences, suggests citations, checks plagiarism, while keeping student as primary author (70% student, 30% AI)
Why Now?
AI writing tools becoming mainstream, increased focus on academic integrity, students comfortable with AI assistance
Build MVP in 7 Days
Simple text editor with AI sentence completion
Basic citation formatting tool
Simple plagiarism checker
Landing page with essay writing focus
How to Validate
Revenue Model
Monthly subscription ($20-50/month for students)
Competitive Moat
Academic-specific features (citations, plagiarism checking), student community network effects
Risks to Consider
Related Knowledge
Vertical-specific AI tools outperforming horizontal AI platforms
Generic AI writing tools are being displaced by specialized tools built for specific use cases and workflows
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A strategic pivot where you narrow focus from a broad, mediocre product for everyone to an excellent product for a specific niche that already shows traction within your existing user base.
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A customer acquisition strategy focused on winning over community leaders and moderators first, who then authentically promote your product to their communities.
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100+ paying customers acquired organically with strong retention, community leaders actively recommending your product