11.1 Permanent Gut Truck

Description: during the construction period (months to years) a trailer is on site. Open for breakfast at 6am, can cook by request for the next day with deposit. Will modify menu items to suit the crews working at each site. Coffee and tea and essential.

This trailer would likely have to be stackable to limit space taken up on the site while having enough room to cook.

Preferable placement would be on the edge of the site, one take out window for the street side, one for the jobsite side.

Pros: construction workers like hot food and drink (especially for winter builds), have short breaks and work long hours on many projects. The convenience of this as long as prices are competitive it will corner a market.

Cons: sales may be low on some sites, fluctuate with big crews leaving. You don’t see many gut trucks around, why? Not profitable? Established food truck could do this.

11.2 New Build Home Calculator

Description: a service that estimates the price to build a home on a particular piece of land. You tell them where and what you want, company does the rest. How expensive is it to bring services (water, heat, electricity) here and what are the options, how bad/good is internet? What natural disasters can you expect? What precipitation is there? How much do contractors cost in the area? What building materials are cheap/expensive in this place?

The options have to include types of builds (stick frame, concrete, steel frame, log cabin) as well as ready made options (manufactured homes, trailers)

The program/service prepares a report estimating the total cost of the build and is able to compare to other options in the same region.

This would have to start regionally in an area with demand, deliver the service well for this region then expand to other regions. The data is very local specific.

Pros: helps people, builders, developers and property investors decide on new build options.

Cons: technology may exist already for estimating software; they could enter this market. Contractor rates, construction estimating, city utilities costs, weather effects and changing bylaws/zoning make accuracy difficult, it may cost too much to get the right data.

11.3 Hardware store of the Bush

Description: make a small-scale building materials processing plant for rural places. A tow behind saw mill, quarry machines, smelter, brick kiln, cement kiln, metal crusher, etc. Anything that can be found raw and processed into a building material using machinery that fits on a semi-trailer. Used for processing found materials in remote places to be used for building construction of houses, cabins, ranger stations, work camps, etc.

This could connect small scale and remote processors with each other and customers via an app or website.

The price of the finished goods made on site much be cheaper than the delivery of the same goods from the nearest major town/hardware store.

There is potential for using small scale deposits of minerals/wood that would be otherwise passed over by large processors. These machines could be brought on site as needed to process a deposit and then be towed away again.

Pros: Employs locals and small scale, helps them sell resources they own as finished products.

Cons: big box stores and local independents price this out of the market. The price of the machinery, electricity needed, towing and removal cost may make this unprofitable.

11.4 Hong Kong Hog

Description: There are wild pigs in Hong Kong that sometimes get stuck in shopping malls, elevators, etc. There is a group of cops charged with capturing the pigs, these are cops that are getting disciplined for bad behaviour, likely the most colourful of the Hong Kong police force. What if this became a TV show? Each episode starts with four homeless dudes standing around a burn barrel discussing last weeks episode. Then the cameramen follow the most colourful cops as they round up pigs. At the end of the episode an officer gives a ridiculous monologue. Possible other title Pigs hunting Pigs, boars in stores.

This could be expanded to other nuisance animals running amuck in other cities and the people who have to catch them.

Pros: funny, entertaining about a real-life nuisance.

Cons: could be seen as making fun of Hong Kong people or the country in general.

11.5 Pro Pond Puck

Description: start an outdoor hockey league in cities and towns that are cold enough but don’t have a professional hockey team. Compete with junior leagues but pay the players enough to live off playing. Could localize it into one rink that multiple teams play in (like X games), or one rink that multiple teams from a city play on. Focus is on player wages/salary first, it has to be a job for them.

Cold countries could benefit from this model. Possibly heaters for the stands.

Pros: gives a wage to players who wouldn’t usually get it, fans who don’t normally see professional hockey where they live. The overhead is a lot less for an outdoor rink than an arena.

Cons: global warming wrecking rinks, how do you make enough profit to pay for this, CTE concerns. Fans out in the cold watching games. Weather changes could cancel games, there are tournaments that could take market share away

11.6 Online Flower Exchange

Description: grow your own flowers and plants, buy, sell, exchange or barter them. Use app based delivery drivers, other delivery services or taxis to deliver these. Pick-up is an option as well.

This is a way to give plants as gifts while reducing the price and buying local.

Pros: people love plants and flowers, like to grow their own, monetize this. They need to be delivered fresh and quickly, it is difficult for non-local business to compete in this market. There are a lot of casual growers that can be linked, reduces food waste.

Cons: existing competition, small margins, delivery services may not be the best killing plants by accident.

11.7 Chain gang road & rail

Description: use prison labour to build roads and rail lines in sparsely populated regions of countries that are forgotten for infrastructure funding. The isolation also reduces risk of escape. The focus would be on man labour over machines in order to use as many inmates as possible. Camps for the workers would be set up by inmates, farms/ranching as well.

Has to be an opt-in system, prisoners could reduce their sentences by working by the hour on these roads. If they are caught intentionally wasting time they can be sent back to regular prison. They could also work in self chosen work teams. The teams could work off their sentence time based on production (kilometers of road built, etc)

The goal would be to create roads and bridges by using this labour to help cover the cost of incarcerating them. Also gives them something to do, skills to learn, exercise and fresh air.

Pros: hard work and fresh air could be wanted by prisoners as a distraction, they may like it. Gives roads to places that have been looked over. Could be lower cost to house outside in tents/temporary shelters. The work is meaningful (building something). May have a good psychological effect on prisoners. Saves prison tax dollars, create roads. This also gives prisoners roadbuilding skills to be used for employment on the outside.

Cons: could the voting public stomach this idea? Would it be seen as an attack/slavery of people? Potential for abuse high, like private prisons. May be considered cruel and unusual. Bosses could keep moving the goalposts. Serious criminals who have no chance of parole can’t pay their “debts to society” this way. Prisoners may just refuse to do this type of work. Potential for escape higher?

11.8 Hostel Change Exchange

Description: make coin machines that accept multiple currencies located inside busy hostels, particularly in cities with international airports. Make it so that it will take any kind of currency. Option to donate your money to charity or make that a percentage of profits that the business donates. Possibly used in airports too. Needs real time exchange rate updates, stable internet connection.

Coins and some currencies are hard to change or illegal to take outside the country of origin. Moneychangers at borders can charge overly high fees and could rob the changer.

Pros: quick, easy, and safe way of transferring currency internationally. You can get rid of restricted currencies easily and legally. Backpacking/traveling is becoming more popular with a touchpoint at popular hostels.

Cons: Small market and potential robbery of machines. Local employees stealing the cash for themselves.

11.9 Breakfast of the world

Description: restaurant that sells breakfast dishes from all over the world. Could be set up to resemble the style of restaurant these dishes are found in (waffle house diner, Asian market stall). Name could be “most important meal of the day”

It has to open early (or 24 hours) and closing time depends on the demand. Locations could be near highway offramps to compete with fast food and truck stops. Another location would be a business/financial district of a city or the center of a town.

The menu would need half to three quarters recognizable breakfast food for the local population and the rest more obscure international dishes.

Pros: good breakfast places that are fast have lost out to fast food (old school diners), be a better one of these.

Cons: fast food has a stranglehold on this segment of the market, hard to break in. People eat breakfast at home a lot. Restaurants are very hard to run profitably.