4 Boring Startup Ideas Screaming to Be Built (and How to Build Them)

Let’s cut the bs.

While VCs drool over AI chatbots and quantum computing, I’m seeing real founders quietly building empires in the most boring, obvious corners of the market.

And right now, there are four massive gaps that smart founders should be building for.

If you’re struggling to find a new business idea, let me make this simple for you.

Here’s where the money’s actually flowing in 2025:

#1. IRL Social Networks for Life Transitions (Biggest B2C Play)

Loneliness spikes during major life changes, such as moving cities, divorce, or sobriety, but existing apps treat connection like a dating game.

A startup called TimeLeft recognized this gap and is proving that IRL (in real life) connection at transition points is an effective business model. They bring strangers together for dinner every Wednesday in major cities.

Cute idea? Maybe.

But they scaled from €1 million ARR to €10 million ARR in 14 months.

Why?

→ Target transition moments (divorce, parenthood, sobriety)

→ Solve the “I need friends, but Tinder feels desperate” paradox

The Problem

People crave authentic community during vulnerable transitions, but face limited options beyond dating apps and generic social platforms.

These users need friends who understand their specific circumstances, not random connections or professional networking.

The Opportunity

Build services that intentionally move humans offline during vulnerable life transitions.

Build services that connect people when they need it most.

Dinner clubs for new parents

Activity groups for recent divorcees

IRL social networks for city newcomers

Digital detox apps that get people off social media and into real life

The sweet spot lies in creating structured environments where relationships form naturally, without the awkwardness of forced networking.

Market Landscape

Pain Point: Life transitions create a 3–6 month window where people crave community but hate “networking” apps.

Market Size: About 2 in 5 American adults (40%) report dealing with loneliness sometimes, usually, or all the time.

White Space: Zero dominant players in “transition tech.” Most solutions are either too broad (Facebook Groups) or too stigmatized (dating apps).

Revenue Potential: Charge a monthly membership ($25-$50/month) or event-based fee. Sponsorships from brands targeting new parents, divorcees, or career changers create a second revenue stream.

How to Build This

Select a specific transition moment to focus on (e.g., new parents, career changers, sober living). Interview 50+ people experiencing your chosen transition.

Start with a high-touch, IRL-first model. Focus on 2-hour structured events with clear conversation prompts, trained facilitators, and a consistent rhythm (e.g., “First Wednesday Dinners”)

Use WhatsApp/Telegram groups to build community before launching an app. Track member engagement rates and set a minimum threshold of 40% weekly active participants.

Test three price points simultaneously: freemium (basic events), premium ($49/month for unlimited events), and white-glove ($199/month for personal matchmaking).

Human connection is the most valuable currency. We’ve never been more alone, and that’s your unfair advantage.

#2. AI Agents for Highly Regulated Industries (Biggest B2B Play)

The AI hype is slowing down. More specifically, generative AI.

While it initially grabbed headlines, the real move forward is happening in specialized vertical AI tools. The ChatGPT prompt you use to write your Twitter posts is like MS Paint compared to Photoshop.

Functional but far from specialized.

The next wave belongs to domain-specific AI that understands the nuances, regulations, and workflows of complex industries.

The Problem

Lawyers, nurses, and contractors waste hours on paperwork.

Generic AI tools like ChatGPT can’t solve these problems because they lack the industry-specific knowledge and regulatory frameworks to provide accurate insights.

Professionals continue paying $200+/hour for consultants to handle work that could be automated.

The Opportunity

Replace $200/hr consultants with AI that speaks OSHA, HIPAA, SEC regulations, or other complex rule sets fluently and delivers the confidence high-stakes industries require.

Market Landscape

Pain Point: Many compliance tasks are repetitive but require “expert” oversight that generic AI can’t provide.

Market Size: Global legal tech expected to reach $55B by 2029 market growing at a 12.8% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).

White Space: AI assistants today are too generic. There’s a gap for hyper-specialized AI agents that deeply understand niche regulations (OSHA, HIPAA, tax law, etc.).

Revenue Potential: Charge per automated workflow ($10-$50 per task) or annual enterprise licenses ($5K-$100K/year) for law firms, hospitals, and financial institutions.

How to Build This

Pick a regulated hellscape (tax law, nursing homes, FDA compliance) and rack regulatory changes. For example, nursing home licensing, where a single violation can cost $10,000+ per day.

Scrape every PDF, industry guide, and regulation manual available. Utilize document analysis platforms like Kira Systems to extract patterns from industry documentation.

Fine-tune an AI model only on that niche (not general-purpose GPT junk). Fine-tune foundation models using frameworks like Hugging Face Transformers or OpenAI’s fine-tuning API.

Automate 5 specific workflows that save at least 3+ hours each. Build API connections to existing industry software using Zapier or Make.

Charge 20% of the human alternative cost (eg, lawyers, accountants, medical compliance officers) with clear ROI calculators built into your sales materials.

Horizontal AI is dead. The future belongs to niche bots that speak OSHA regulations fluently.

#3. Outcome-Based SaaS (Pay for Results Only)

After years of subscription saturation, businesses are questioning the value of paying monthly fees for software that may or may not deliver results.

The future belongs to a new model:

Outcome-based SaaS that aligns vendor success directly with customer results.

Companies are increasingly demanding proof before payment, creating the perfect environment for an outcome-first model.

The Problem

CEOs and procurement teams are tired of paying $10K/month for software platforms that don’t demonstrably move business metrics.

Traditional SaaS operates on hope.

Hope that features will be used, hope that they’ll drive results, and hope that renewal conversations will focus on potential rather than proven ROI.

This misalignment creates frustration, churn, and distrust.

The Opportunity

Create SaaS products where pricing directly aligns with measurable customer outcomes.

By charging only when your software delivers actual results, you create perfect incentive alignment, reduce sales friction, and build lasting customer relationships based on proven value rather than promises.

Market Landscape

Pain Point: Companies are sick of SaaS subscription fatigue. They don’t trust tools that don’t guarantee results.

Market Size: The global SaaS industry is worth $266 billion, but the shift toward outcome-based pricing is expected to double adoption rates.

White Space: No major SaaS players have fully committed to a pay-per-result model, leaving an opening for startups to disrupt lead generation, hiring, and analytics software.

Revenue Potential: Charge per successful result ($5-$500 per lead, hire, or closed deal) with a 3x cap on traditional SaaS pricing to ensure predictability for customers.

How to Build This

Identify a problem where results can be clearly measured (e.g., lead gen, recruiting, sales automation). Use attribution modeling through tools like HockeyStack to directly connect software usage to business outcomes.

Create a free tool that provides 80% of the solution’s value. Use platform builders like Retool or Bubble to develop an MVP.

Charge only when customers see actual results

Monetize by taking a cut of revenue or outcomes (e.g., 10% per closed deal). Cap monthly costs at 3x traditional SaaS alternatives to provide predictability while maintaining upside for you.

Free CRM + $99 per sales-qualified lead is a pricing model and a statement of confidence. When you align your revenue directly with customer outcomes, you’re forced to build what works, not what sells well in demos.

#4. Friend-First Social Apps (Not Creator-Focused)

Instagram replaced friends with influencers. The next wave of social media will do the opposite, focusing on small, tight-knit communities.

The most engaged social apps today aren’t about strangers.

They’re about micro-communities of 5–15 people who know each other, share similar values, and speak openly to ne another.

So, what wins now?

Social apps that deepen existing relationships

IRL event tools that connect close friends

Community-driven platforms that cut out the noise

The Problem

Gen Z spends an average of 4.5 hours daily on social media, yet over half report feeling lonely, a rate significantly higher than older generations.

Today’s dominant platforms prioritize discovery algorithms, creator monetization, and engagement metrics over meaningful connections between actual friends.

The result is passive consumption rather than active relationships.

The Opportunity

Build social applications designed exclusively for small groups of 5–15 people who already know each other offline.

Focus on deepening existing relationships through structured digital interactions rather than expanding networks or discovering content.

The winning apps will prioritize intimacy and quality of interaction over reach and virality.

Market Landscape

Pain Point: No dominant platform effectively serves as a “family Slack” or “friend hub” despite clear demand.

Market Size: Gen Z users prefer small-group sharing over public posting, but most platforms still optimize for broadcast.

White Space: Micro-community apps see 2x higher retention rates than traditional social platforms.

Revenue Potential: Users demonstrate 4x higher willingness to pay for features that strengthen existing relationships versus discovering new connections.

How to Build This

Identify a high-trust group (college friends, family groups, niche hobbyists).

Create structured interactions (weekly check-ins, shared playlists, recurring events). For example, make “IRL Streaks” using achievement systems like Firebase’s Cloud Firestore to reward consistent face-to-face meetups.

Keep it small by design — 5–15 people max per group.

Monetize through premium features, event coordination, or private communities.

BeReal “failed” (if you call a $500M acquisition a failure). But that idea? It’s not dead. Someone is going to get it right.

We have AI that can write novels, but recruiting still takes 30 days. We can create photorealistic art, but seniors can’t find exercise classes. We can generate code instantly, but students still learn at the same pace.

That’s the opportunity.

While everyone chases the next shiny thing, build what people need.

The next unicorns aren’t in AI labs. They’re in the gaps everyone ignores.

→ Build for transitions, not trends.

→ Charge for outcomes, not optimism.

→ Solve obvious problems, not hypothetical ones.

Now stop reading. Start building.

Which of these gaps excites you the most? Drop a comment — I want to hear what you’d build.