Requests for Startups:
Nikhil Basu Trivedi (Shasta Ventures)
As a senior associate at Shasta Ventures and advisor to The Thiel Fellowship’s 20 Under 20 program, Nikhil focuses on discovering and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. He is a board observer at Bloc and ClassDojo in San Francisco, and Hinge and Timehop in New York City and was named to Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list for Venture Capital in 2015.
What startup verticals interest you most right now?
Mobile services that deliver better real-world consumer experiences; Consumer hardware that gets better over time because of software; Companies that are pushing boundaries of tech to define the “next” platform (eg. Virtual Reality, Robots/Drones, Wearables).
Are there any specific company ideas that you really want someone to build and would potentially fund?
- Mobile app that tells me where I stand with my healthcare — both the health and financial aspects — something like Mint.com for health.
- SoulCycle, or a similar fitness class movement, focused on India.
Already working on a company that matches Nikhil’s RFS? Want to pursue one of his requests? Feel free to email us directly and we will send him your note.
Other inspiring ideas:
Digital money accounting
The problem is these digital money services are a “black hole” when it comes to accounting for all the transactions. I know that I put $500 into my Venmo account last month and I know its all gone. But where did it all go. How much came in and why? And how much went out and why? I want Mint.com for digital money services, starting with the Venmo and Coinbase mobile apps. That would be super helpful for me and, I suspect, for everyone using these digital money services. I bet it exists or that it is being built. I just haven’t see it yet. And I want it. Badly.
Fred Wilson, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures
Combined ebook/audiobook product
I read most of my books on my iPhone 6 plus now. Before that was an iPad. I also listen to audio books in the car and on walks. But sometimes it takes me months to finish a book in the car @ 13–20 hours of audio, and whatever book I’m listening to there in the car is of course a different book than the one I’m reading on my iPhone. I’d pay a big premium for a combined book format that had both text and audio and allowed me to switch back and forth while reading/listening. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Michael Arrington, Partner at CrunchFund
Requests for Startups is a hand-curated daily newsletter of ideas that investors, companies, and influencers would like to fund. If you like it, we’d love for you to forward it along to friends & colleagues. New readers can subscribe here.
Created by Isaac Madan, Jeff Morris Jr, and Shaurya Saluja.
