At OpenCo London 2014, we ran a workshop called 'The 30-minute start-up'. Our participants used quick-fire techniques to develop a start-up concept in just half an hour. Here's what they came up with.

1. Our start-up is like…
Citymapper for buying online from strangers
We help buyers and sellers to fuel the online collaborative
economy by providing a ‘trust button’ that showcases the
latest ratings across other collaborative platforms.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is how do we monetise this service?
To answer this, we will talk to 100 buyers and 100 sellers to see what they
do to check reputation now, and if they would pay for a service like this.
A successful result would be 40% of sellers and buyers saying that they’d
pay £0.40 to use our service

2. Our start-up is like…
Tinder for music discovery
We help casual music listeners to find their next favourite song, by
letting them flick through anonymised snippets of upcoming artists.
We make money by selling the aggregated data to the music business.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is can we get the music?
To answer this, we will talk to a music industry expert.
A successful result would be a viable route to getting the music we need.

3. Our start-up is like…
Uber for flat hunting
We help flat-hunters find a flat with just one click by geo-locating flats in
your proximity, and showing you prices, pictures and reviews.
We make money by charging landlords commission.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is would landlords/lettings agents pay for listings?
To answer this, we will talk to 100 landlords.
A successful result would be 80% of landlords agree to trial the service.

4. Our start-up is like…
Netflix for cycling meet-ups
We help leisure cyclists to meet other cyclists like them to safely cycle together for
leisure and discover new routes, by providing an app/website that enables them to
lead/join events and matches them with to events based on distance, ability and
location. We make money by sponsorshop and collaborations.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is would people use this?
To answer this, we will stop 50 cyclists in the street and interview them.
A successful result would be 50% are excited about the idea.

5. Our start-up is like…
Tinder for remembering people I’ve met
We help people who network a lot to remember contacts and prioritise following
up, by pulling data from other sources and using user-provided criteria to prioritise
people to follow up with. We make money by offering a freemium model.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is when is the most relevant time to use the app:
during, pre or post meeting people?
To answer this, we will conduct user research and run multivariate testing.
A successful result would be 50% or more of people in the one or more of
the pre/post/during tests being interested in the service.

6. Our start-up is like…
Netflix for finding events
We help culture vultures to experience and explore more by giving
them a trusted survey of event ideas we know they’ll like based on their
online profile and behaviour. We make money from subscriptions.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is will enough events buy into the service?
To answer this, we will choosing a single category (eg museums) and asking
if the major London venues are interested.
A successful result would be 75% of museums across the UK sign up.

7. Our start-up is like…
Amazon Prime for learning
We help everyone to be almighty by giving them instant knowledge of
any topic. We make money by charging per ‘knowledge nugget’.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is do nuggets help people learn faster?
To answer this, we will manually curate some nuggets in a domain and
release to half a group of beta users.
A successful result would be better test results in the nugget group than
the control group.

8. Our start-up is like…
Pinterest for choosing holiday destinations
We help travellers turn travel dreams into real-world logistics by
doing the logistical work for them, like a travel agency, and
offering a beautiful, picture-based way to browse destinations.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is do people search for holidays by pictures?
To answer this, we will trial the power of images.
A successful result would be images are graded as one of the most
important factors in a decision
Sorry if this is your idea – I really struggled to read your hand-writing!

9. Our start-up is like…
Tinder for flat-hunting
We help young profesionals find flats by giving them a mobile
app that gives them quick, visual search, sorting and selection.
We make money by taking a commission from estate agents.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is is there a user need for visual-based flat search?
To answer this, we will build a Facebook app to give us quick, quantitative
data.
A successful result would be more people using visual information than
textual information to make a shortlist.

10. Our start-up is like…
Twitter for workflows
We help key business users to update information through their
workflows by allowing them to tweet key workflow updates.
Learn
Build
Measure
Our biggest question is are workflows complicated enough to warrant a tool
like this?
To answer this, we will do desk research.
A successful result would be positive results on ‘streamlining workflows as a
service’
Sorry if this is your idea – I really struggled to read your hand-writing!