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Our ultra-fast Daily: Three takes on new products. Yesterday’s top ten launches. That’s it.
The business of keto, the diet that banishes carbs and embraces fat, is heating up. 🔥
Chances are you know someone who’s given the keto craze a try, or you’ve gone keto yourself. Doctors have been prescribing ketogenic diets to treat epilepsy for nearly a century and it may offer a solution for Type 2 diabetes.
Keto as a trend popped up in the last year or so, a reincarnation of the low carb Atkins diet that became popular in the 1970s. 👀
Keto has even extended to Product Hunt. First there was HVMN Ketone ($2.6M raised), a nootropic startup that came up with the a ketone ester. It's like keto in a bottle.
“The research behind ketosis is very compelling, and I'm really excited to see how HVMN Ketone will impact people's productivity and health.” - Hiten
In the past six months, there's been three product launches around keto meal planning, including Keto Meal Plans, Keto Food Search Engine and Keto Daily Recipes.
Earlier this year, Magic Spoon landed on Product Hunt with a beautifully branded, healthy cereal offering at $39/case (4 boxes). The cereal quickly went on backorder, seemingly hitting a nostalgic nerve for health-conscious consumers.
“I grew up loving cereal, like most people, and when I started to pay more attention to health and nutrition, I stopped eating cereal as often as it’s not the healthiest option. It came together by combining this food from my youth and recognizing that there’s this massive aisle in the grocery story that’s about an $11 billion market domestically, and it looks the same as it did a decade ago,” - Magic Spoon co-founder Gabi Lewis
Lewis told us why Magic Spoon could be the next pressed juice, and why selling healthy cereal direct-to-consumer is working.
“People deeply love cereal and are trying to avoid unhealthy food in general. People with restrictive diets like Keto even love it.”
Read the full story here.
Peloton, the exercise bike startup that lets you stream indoor cycling classes from your home, just filed for an IPO. 🚲
And now for a quick trip down Product Hunt memory lane...
Peloton was founded by former Barnes & Noble e-commerce executive John Foley in 2012, when he realized that his instructor-led workouts were much more rewarding than his solo gym sessions.
With a $3.5 million Series A in the bank and a Kickstarter campaign for its internet-connected bike, the company garnered popularity by tapping celebrity fitness instructors to lead remote classes.
A few first impressions on Product Hunt:
“Prioritizing healthy habits while working long hours at a startup DEFINITELY took a toll on me. Like any fitness and healthy eating routine, you need to find what works for you and your schedule. Peloton definitely accomplished that for me. Since purchasing the bike in November, I've cleaned up my act and have lost close to 30 pounds.” - Giselle
“I've become a metrics junky; the bikes ability to record everything and show progress is great.” - Mario
A bike costs $2,200, in addition to Peloton’s digital library of fitness classes (which can be streamed live or on-demand), which cost $39 per month.
In 2018, Peloton launched Tread, a connected treadmill that will run you $4,295. For context, you can typically buy a new treadmill for under $1,000, or one off Craigslist for a few hundred dollars.
“Very ambitious and lots of challenges to overcome convincing people to drop $$$. But I could see this cutting into the market of high intensity interval training gyms like Orangetheory. Being able to take those types of classes on demand/on your own time and getting a similar experience could be its biggest selling point.” - Brad
To date, Peloton has 1.4 million community members (people who have a Peloton account). Last year, the company raised a $550 million Series F at a $4.15 billion valuation. Peloton reported $915 million in total revenue this fiscal year, an increase of 110% from 2018. It’s losses, however, were significantly higher than last year, at $245.7 million up from $47.9 million.
The company also gave rise to more at-home fitness startups, like Mirror (an interactive home gym that’s a mirror), Tonal (a digital strength training system), ClassPass Live (live-streaming at-home workout classes) and Studio (digital running coaching), to name a few. 💪
Peloton plans to raise $500 million in its Nasdaq offering will trader under the ticker PTON.
Podcasting is heating up, they said.
According to recent reports, more than half of Americans have now listened to a podcast, and ~32% of Americans listen to podcasts monthly, a 26% increase from last year. In a staggering statistic, there’s now more than 700,000 podcasts out in the world and over 29 million episodes. And let’s not forget that big tech companies are competing for a piece of the podcast pie — with Spotify acquiring two major podcasting startups earlier this year.
The TLDR: We’ve seen 11 new podcasting products launch on Product Hunt in the last 30 days and 22 new tools in the past three months. We’re breaking down some of the standouts here.
🗒 Spext is a podcast editor that looks more like a document than an audio editor
“The goal is to create something that works like a doc but is a powerful podcast editor - delete “ums”, “uhhs” mix in intro music, add background music and splice in ads - all WITHOUT looking at waveforms.“ - Spext Maker Ashutosh Trivedi
Note: It’s similar to former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason’s startup Descript
👀Podcast List is a database of over 200 podcasts to help you find and pitch podcasts to either interview you, feature your business or run your ads
“Most podcast lists are designed for people trying to find new podcasts to listen to, which is only marginally helpful for marketers. For Podcast List we’ve designed the ideal list for entrepreneurs and marketers trying to find the right podcast to pitch their story to––either as an organic story/interview or as an advertisement.” - Podcast List Maker Matter Henderson
🎙SquadCast lets your record professional sounding audio remotely
“Our mission is to empower & encourage creatives to engage in meaningful conversations without barriers.” - SquadCast Maker Zachariah Moreno
For more on the latest podcasting tools, go here.
Recently, Product Hunt member Andrew Lutsyna brought up a hot-button topic in Discussions — meditation.
“What do you think about meditation?”
Though simple, it’s a loaded question, touching on a habitual practice that conjures up self-reflection, focus, self-control, silence and creativity — aka a lot of things that can help Makers. 👀
Responses varied.
“It sounds so cliche but it has changed my life, it's given me control over my emotions and instincts and impulses in a way that I feel makes me a better human.” - Abadesi
“I prefer a quiet or slightly quiet environment and I try to meditate every day. The best thing I learned so far is if you get distracted during meditation it doesn't mean you are doing it wrong.” - Rahul
Do you meditate? Share your process here.
While some of the market leaders in meditation apps — Calm and Headspace — may be pricey as a starting point ($59-95/year), there are other options out there. If you’re not an avid meditation practitioner, these products (that have launched in the last three months) might help you start:
📱Declutter the Mind is guided meditation for iOS
🎵Wave Meditation is music-guided meditation that you physically feel
😌Unwind is a distraction-free breathing companion
😯Breathing Training is an app focused on... breathing training
And if you want something more tangible, try Worry Dolls. They’re physical dolls that reduce anxiety.
We’ve hit peak 2019.
Yesterday, a Friend NDA Generator (aka “frieNDA”) launched on Product Hunt and it’s...exactly what it sounds like. Next time you want to share a confidential secret, you can procure legal protection first.
How it works: You and your friend enter your full name, email address, secret, and sign. A non-disclosure agreement will then be emailed to you both. 🤫
The friend-to-friend NDA agreement goes as follows:
“I, friend 1, agree to not disclose any sensitive information from friend 2 about secret.“
The product — which is sure to ruin friendships everywhere — got some mixed reactions.
“Where has this been all my life?” - Aba
“I know some people who could use this” - Julie
Sign your first frieNDA here. 👈
Today’s Daily Digest was crafted by Product Hunt and sponsored by our friends at Skyroam.
The world’s first global “Smartspot” launched on Product Hunt this week.
The Solis X WiFi Smartspot, made by Skyroam, combines a global 4G WiFi hotspot, a power bank, a remote camera and a smart assistant into one, pocket-sized device.
How it works 👇
The Solis X’s secure WiFi works in over 130 countries, and can connect to up to 10 devices at onces. It’s ideal for remote workers or digital nomads, and helps you avoid connecting to risky public WiFi or waiting to upload that Insta back at your hotel.
Another perk: your phone won’t die. The Solis X’s built-in power bank charges your phone on-the-go and has over 16 hours of battery life.
You can control the Smartspot’s remote camera from the Solis App on your phone, so you can sit/stand anywhere — like a ledge near the Grand Canyon, for example — to get the perfect shot when no one’s around.
Skyroam also partnered with IFTTT to bundle in a smart assistant into the Smartspot because what can’t it do!? The assistant lets you connect to and control thousands of apps, so you can do things like track your travels in a Google Sheet, or automate a text to a loved one while you’re on the move.
As we wrote earlier this week, Y Combinator’s bi-annual Demo Day took place on Monday and Tuesday in San Francisco, where 166 startups pitched their startups in front of investors and the press. 🚀
Pitching your startup in front of hundreds of people — or any any amount of people — can be intimidating. But it’s part of being an entrepreneur, and there’s some solace in knowing that almost every founder has had to pitch their vision (that is, if they want money) at some point in their startup’s journey.
Today, Startup Decks launched on Product Hunt to show us just that. The database consists of hundreds of startup pitch decks, including Coinbase, Intercom, LinkedIn, Airbnb (aka AirBed & Breakfast), Magic Leap, Oscar and dozens of others. In particular, Startup Decks Maker Andrew Gazdecki wants to expose more pitch decks from bootstrapped companies.
What we like most about this project is that it serves as a healthy reminder that there’s zero correlation between a startup’s success and how nice their deck looks (see Coinbase’s deck above...no offense, Coinbase).
Pro tip: You can also submit your own deck into the collection. 💯
“Cameo is lit!! Got my friend a video from Toddy Smith for her birthday and she screamed so loud i can't hear anymore” - Victoria
“This is one of the coolest apps I have a seen in a very long time. We use Cameo to reward our team members with their work anniversaries and it has been a epic success.” - Charlie
“If you want life advice, a shoutout, or just a word of encouragement from your favorite celeb, look no more.”- Jaren
Cameo, the startup that lets you book celebrities to send your friends and family personalized video shoutouts, is on a roll. The company launched in 2017, when co-founders Steven Galanis, Martin Blencowe and Devon Townsend originally set out to build the new “autograph from professional athletes,” betting on the rise of influencers on social media and selfies upon every celebrity sighting. 🤳
Today, the company has 18,000 celebrities in its arsenal —from Caitlyn Jenner to Charlie Sheen to Snoop Dogg — and has delivered more than 300,000 video requests. It’s also raised more than $65 million in venture backing. Yesterday, Cameo announced that Stefan Heinrich Henriquez, the former head of marketing for TikTok, is joining the team as CMO. 🚀
Product Hunt recently spoke with Steven (Cameo’s CEO) about their startup story, where we covered how the team first won over “talent" (celebrities), their keys to viral marketing and their crazy launch story that was *almost* a failure.
A sampling:
“We launched with one person and the first Cameo ever resulted in a reaction video. Marketplaces are always tough because it’s the chicken and the egg — how do we get fans to come if we don’t have the people they want and how do we get the talent to come if the fans aren’t here? The second we had that first reaction video, it really put the wheels in motion for acquiring more and more talent and customers.
In the summer of 2017, we hired 15 college interns and had them DM people on Instagram and Twitter all day to get talent to come on the platform. And that ended up being the secret sauce. We have 120 employees now, and probably 70-80 of them are dealing with talent. Most talent is still being sourced through Instagram or Twitter DM. It was huge because it enabled us to not go through agents or managers. Anyone in the world can DM anyone in the world. You could DM Justin Bieber and he may read it.“
Two of the co-founders give you, the Product Hunt community, a shout out on Cameo. Watch.
Today (and tomorrow) investors and press will descend upon Pier 48 in San Francisco, where founders in Y Combinator’s Summer 2019 batch will present their startups. The bi-annual pitch day is well-known for providing a pulse on the current state of emerging tech. For those not attending Demo Day, we’ve put together a preview of 10 YC-backed companies that recently launched on Product Hunt.
🏠 Rent the Backyard (San Francisco, CA) builds a studio apartment in your backyard
This is going to help provide quality rental property in areas that really need it! It will also help keep folks in their homes by monetizing the asset.“ - Ivan
💯 Actiondesk (Paris, France) lets you build powerful automations with spreadsheets
“As an investor and entrepreneur, I've seen dozens of companies constantly doing the same manual processes to use data to run their operations. Extracting it, combining it, crunching it. Actiondesk can automate that and as such is addressing a strong need in the market.“ - Gabriel
🖥 Tandem (San Francisco, CA) is a virtual office for distributed teams
“With remote work on the rise, there's a growing need for more flexible, spontaneous, real-time communication. Tandem has put a lot of time into delivering a beautiful app that makes it dead-simple to talk with your team.“ - Gustaf
📊 Narrator (New York, NY) provides a full-service data team for startups of any size
“This could save so much time for startups, allowing them to focus on expanding the product.” - Aaron
💬 Dex (San Francisco, CA) is a personal CRM that reminds you to keep in touch with people
“Dex is really dope! Reminds me to keep up with people I care about even with my hectic schedule. Would recommend to anyone in a similar position (probably all of us, tbh)” - Robert
💸 GreenTiger (Sunnyvale, CA) lets you trade U.S. stocks from India with zero commission
“It's impressive that you guys figured out the regulatory hurdles. My mom's a financial advisor and she's ecstatic about this! Can confirm its the new talk around the Valley.” - Tanay
🌏 Wren (San Jose, CA) calculates your carbon footprint to fund rainforest-saving projects
“My carbon footprint is pretty low. I don’t own a car, I bike to work and live in an apartment with no air conditioning. However, I like to travel abroad. Project Wren gives me a verified way to offset my flights. It’s great that they allow you to direct your money to specific projects.” - Ryan
⛽️ MyPetrolPump (Bangalore, India) lets you order fuel directly from your phone
“We've been a customer for over 2 years now and they've played a big role is solving our fleet fueling needs.” - Jitesh
👋 Waves (Sunnyvale, CA) is a dating app for sexual fantasies
“It basically works like this: If you're into ropes, you put that in Waves, and all your potential matches are also people who are into ropes.” - Emerson
🙌 Carry (San Francisco, CA) is an executive assistant for travel on Slack
“Having an on-demand personal assistant for travel is a game-changer for both individuals and teams who fly a lot.” - Gustaf
You can dig into the full Y Combinator database with this tool. You’ll find leaderboards of the most valuable, most trafficked, and most upvoted startups from YC.
More and more of us are starting to work from home, so we may as well deck out our houses/apartments/dwellings with some ~unusual~ items.
We’ve been seeing a lot of home products launch on Product Hunt lately, and they’re anything but conventional. A sampling of new household items we dug up in the PH rabbit hole:
😻 Vonk is furniture your cat is allowed to scratch
👀 Mahinarium Selfie Dolls are...exactly what they sound like
🛋 Couchmates turns your roommate into a "couch concierge"
🖥 Norm is a solid-stone desk with built-in tech
😌 GoRelax is a relaxation mat for stress
🙌 Welly are stackable, customizable first-aid kits
🛏 The Drift is a flexible subscription for modern furniture
🔌 Wyze Plug are compact wi-fi smart plugs
👏 Minut is a camera-less home security devices
🌿 Horti is a plant subscription to develop your green thumb
What would you add to this list? Share it with us on Twitter and we’ll RT the most useful or ridiculous recommendations.














