It’s time for another round of business idea giveaways, this time with an AI-assisted theme to them!
Pete McPherson from doyouevenblog.com and codeplaybook.com stopped by to help me out with these.
(Side Hustle Show listeners get $100 off Pete’s Code Playbook with our referral link. This is where he teaches non-coders how to build profitable web apps with AI.)
He was last on just a few months ago in Ep. 659 talking about AI-coded apps.
Tune in to Episode 689 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:
- 18 specific AI product ideas you could build
- How to validate demand before you code a single line
- Which ideas have the best exit strategy potential
- Tools and shortcuts to get your app launched fast
Sponsors
- Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month!
- Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post!
- OpenPhone — Get 20% off of your first 6 months!
- Shopify — Sign up for a $1 per month trial!
How to Validate Demand Before You Build
Before you write a single line of code, make sure people actually want what you’re building.
Method 1: Keyword Research:
Use tools like Ahrefs to check what people are already searching for. I looked at FutureTools.io and found:
- AI portrait generator: 4,200 monthly searches
- AI recipe generator: 2,000 monthly searches
- AI symptom checker: 1,500 monthly searches
- AI Minecraft skin generator: 500 searches (keyword difficulty: 7/100)
- AI prayer generator: 400 searches (keyword difficulty: 0/100)
Method 2: Reddit Research
Search for these phrases on Reddit:
- “Is there a tool that…”
- “Is there an app for…”
- “Looking for an app that…”
- “Alternative to [popular tool]”
You’ll find tons of people asking for tools that don’t exist yet.
1. Content Curator Tool
Content creators spend hours each week hunting for interesting stories to share with their audience.
Build an AI tool that scrapes industry news, formats it in your voice, and creates weekly newsletter content automatically.
Every niche has people who subscribe to industry publications — you could create a unique voice around any topic:
- Side hustle story roundups
- Local community event newsletters
- Industry-specific news digests (automotive, real estate, etc.)
2. Content Bank for Creators
Longtime creators have massive libraries of content across multiple platforms but can’t easily search through it all.
Create a searchable database that aggregates all your content — blog posts, YouTube videos, podcasts, social media — with AI summaries.
Bonus: make it work across Google Drive, social accounts, and note-taking apps.
3. Sun Angle Tool for Photographers
My wife does photography as a side hustle, and she wanted to know the angle of the sun for lighting purposes based on Google Maps locations. This is a common problem for photographers.
Build a tool where you enter any location on Google Maps and get the exact sun angle for any time and date. Perfect for planning golden hour shoots. Advanced version could include weather integration suggesting the best shooting days.
4. Voice-to-Calorie Tracker
Pete loves MyFitnessPal until he hates it. It works well, but you spend forever searching for foods and entering serving sizes.
He suggests to create an app where you just talk: “I just had a Culver’s double deluxe butter burger, large fries, and a Coke Zero.” AI transcribes it, structures the data, and looks up calories automatically.
Pete thinks taking a picture of your food is actually harder to build than voice input. Voice feels like the sweet spot between manual entry and photo recognition.
The exit strategy is also obvious — this would be a great acquisition target for Under Armour (MyFitnessPal’s parent company) or other fitness apps.
5. ChoreForge: Gamify Family Chores
Turn household tasks into a Pokemon-style game where kids level up cute creatures by completing chores!
Pete wants to turn household chores into a productivity game for families. Each person gets their own user account and avatar — cute and cartoony. Then parents can customize the chores and rewards system, with points and leveling up.
The visual progression and character evolution would keep them engaged long-term.
Note: Kids vs. parents competition works better than sibling rivalry.
6. Podcast Editing Assistant
For many years, I’ve been manually reviewing transcripts after doing 60-minute podcast interviews.
With Claude AI, I’ve been trying to feed it raw podcast transcripts and get AI suggestions for which 10% to cut for better pacing, natural ad break placement, and episode highlights.
Pete thinks we’re close to solving this as context windows get larger. Within a few months, you’ll be able to upload 500,000 words and get specific editing suggestions.
7. PodPromo: Guest Follow-Up Automation
Pete hates following up with podcast guests to provide marketing materials (so do I).
The idea is to automatically take podcast transcripts and create marketing materials for guests (clips, social media posts, email templates) they can send to their audience.
This could integrate with tools like Riverside that auto-generate clips, then package everything into a professional follow-up email with branded materials guests actually want to share.
8. Scam Detector
I usually receive obvious scam texts about unpaid parking tickets from .ru domains. But sometimes the line is blurred — like an IRS letter about a 4-year-old tax return that looked suspicious but turned out to be legitimate.
I also got a convincing crypto ransomware email that appeared to come from my own email address, demanding $3,000 in Bitcoin.
You could develop an AI app to help people identify suspicious texts, emails, and letters because as AI scams get more convincing, this becomes a billion-dollar problem.
9. Industry Email Templates
Pete’s wife is a teacher and sends almost identical emails every year — the same spring concert announcement every May with just minor details changed.
She could save hours if there’s an app that could create templates that auto-populate dates, times, and current student information.
This works for any profession that sends repetitive emails. Accountants send similar client updates. Yoga instructors send class schedule changes. The key is targeting industries you understand and creating templates that save real time.
10. YouTube Broken Link Checker
There are dozens of WordPress plugins that crawl your site and report broken links. But nothing exists for YouTube creators who might have hundreds of videos with outdated links in descriptions.
Pete’s actually had videos taken down because YouTube flagged broken links as potential spam.
A tool that connects to your YouTube channel, scans video descriptions, and reports broken links would solve a real problem creators face.
11. Travel Points Optimizer
I would love to see a travel rewards points redemption optimizer type of tool where you can punch in, “Hey, I’ve got 200,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, another 100,000 on Delta, and another 100,000 on United.”
And then get AI recommendations for the best redemptions based on your travel dates and preferences.
Current tools like Points Yeah and Points.me work but require very specific searches (exact dates, destinations, and airlines).
What I want is to input my points balances and constraints (family of four, spring break dates, fairly destination agnostic) and get curated recommendations.
12. StickyTask Browser Extension
Pete wants a simple Chrome extension that shows your top 3 to-do items across all browser tabs, like a sticky note that follows you around.
The advanced version could integrate with productivity apps like Apple Reminders, Trello, or Notion to pull your actual task list and display the most important items.
Make it free as a lead generator for productivity coaching or courses.
13. Daily AI Manager
Pete wants an AI that knows his goals, projects, and schedule, then calls or texts him every morning with personalized priorities.
This is inspired by MyBodyTutor, which charges hundreds of dollars monthly just for meal tracking accountability via text.
The same concept could work for business goals and project management.
Related: Boss as a Service.
14. Automated Accountability System
Pete ran a program called “Most Productive Month Ever” where he called participants 3-5 times per week, asking, “How’s it going? Did you do what you said you were going to do?” It had a 100% success rate.
The idea is to automate parts of this process while keeping human elements for real accountability. So AI could handle scheduling, progress tracking, and initial check-ins.
This could work for any goal — fitness, business, creative projects, or personal development.
15. Simple Course Platform
With companies like Teachable raising prices 300%+, there’s huge demand for simple, affordable alternatives.
Recently, they just told me they’re raising my rate from $450/year to $1,600/year — almost quadruple the price.
Pete built his own LMS in 6 hours for basically free using AI coding tools. It’s deployed for free, hosted for free, and only costs him the domain name.
16. “Make It Baseball” Learning Tool
Help kids learn by putting lessons in contexts they love.
World War II explained through Yankees vs. Red Sox. Math problems using Minecraft terminology.
You could punch in something your kid needs to learn and have it spit back the lesson in a context they’ll actually pay attention to.
17. Tiny Syllabus: 30-Day Learning Journeys
Pete’s favorite idea name. Enter any topic (gardening, fishing, starting a YouTube channel, losing 15 pounds) and get a 30-day email course with daily lessons, YouTube video links, and curated resources.
Instead of overwhelming someone with everything at once, you’d get one interesting, actionable tip per day with supporting materials. The AI would search YouTube and Google to find the best current resources for each day’s lesson.
This could be used to sell paid courses, create free lead generation challenges, or build content around your expertise.
18. AI Mastermind Groups
Create virtual masterminds with customizable AI personas. Name them, give them avatars, set their experience levels and specialties.
Many people already use ChatGPT as a therapist or business advisor, so this makes it more structured and social. Pete knows someone who takes 30-minute walks every night just talking to ChatGPT.
This makes that experience more structured and social.
What’s Next for Pete?
Pete’s game plan for 2025:
- Build multiple small apps using his existing audience
- Add some paid advertising once profitable
- Sell the apps within a year
- Use the profits to “retire early”
(Side Hustle Show listeners get $100 off Pete’s Code Playbook with our referral link. This is where he teaches non-coders how to build profitable web apps with AI.)
Episode Links
- Do You Even Blog – Pete’s newsletter
- Code Playbook – Learn to build apps with AI
- FutureTools.io – Matt Wolfe’s AI tool directory
- Ahrefs – Keyword research tool
- MyFitnessPal – Calorie tracking app
- Claude AI – AI tool
- Riverside – Premium video recording software
- Teachable – Course hosting platform
- MyBodyTutor – Accountability coaching service
- Points.me – Travel points optimization
- Cursor – AI coding tool
- Canva – Design templates
- Episode 659: Pete’s previous appearance on building AI apps
Want More Side Hustle Show?
- Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
- Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community. The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
- Download The Side Hustle Show. My free podcast shares how to make extra money with actionable weekly episodes.
The award-winning Side Hustle Show is the #1 side hustle podcast
with over 1,300 5-star ratings!
Listen in your favorite podcast app or directly in your browser.
