5 really quirky startup ideas that are reigning in the big bucks

Social events these days will have a minimum of three different entrepreneurs selling their bold ideas and getting the customary ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ in response, as expected. Sometime their ideas will make your eyes hurt from trying not to roll them too much. Other times, they’ll make you run to the bathroom so you can let out that laughter you’ve been holding for the past half-hour. But sometimes, they’ll tell you an out-of-the-box, ridiculously interesting idea and you can’t help thinking, “Is this guy for real? How on earth is he going to market that?”

But that’s the thing about startups – they give such crazy ideas a chance and somehow manage to make it really big. We’d like to give you a list of some highly successful startups that began with one crazy idea that ended up bringing them the big bucks.

ThinkScream

ThinkScream toed the charts when its founders, Pratik Agarwal and Raj Desai travelled to Europe and hit upon the billion dollar idea of creating a garbage bin that would double up as a Wifi hotspot after it’s filled with trash. Since this game-changer product, ThinkScream has come up with a quirky variety of innovative Wifi and RFID solutions for events, festivals and retail setups.

Bark N Bond

Tired of your dog pooping all over the house or, literally, eating your homework (or nth shoe) all the time? Bark N Bond is a startup that focuses on positive training for dogs, side-stepping the traditional method of cane-and-thrash. The Founder, Pranita Balar, quit a high-paying media job to look after her four-legged furry best friends and many like them by becoming a ‘Canine Consultant and Dognition Evaluator’. Her mission – to strengthen the bonds that people have with their pets by helping enhance the behaviour of these pets and teaching them a trick or two along the way!

The Dress bank

We’ve all salivated at that one untouchably expensive dress we know we can never have, because that would be an everlastingly huge hole in the pocket. But, what if we told you that it could be yours for a day? That’s right Co-founder Deepa Kalro gives you the chance to wear the branded dress of your dreams for a day on rent, following which you can return it – stain and tear free. It’s almost like this startup is the Fairy Godmother to our Cinderella!

OyeHappy

The name itself promises a positive outcome, and this is exactly what this Hyderabad-based startup aims to achieve. In your busy schedule of working a hard-hitting nine to five job with no respite but the weekends, it’s hard to muster up the energy to plan something big for special days with your loved ones. This startup, founded by Harsh Khemani and Varun Todi, thus sweeps in to save your day by providing you with some great gifting and surprising ideas – from Harley bike rides, candlelit dinners or even surprise pick-ups from the airport.

HowToTellYourChild

This is possibly the quirkiest and most relevant startup of our times. The startup’s Founder, Deepa, is a mom to two curiously excited little girls. She works as a life saver to parents of all ages when it comes to answering severely awkward questions pushed out to them by their young ones. The startup creates fun videos and content to educate children about serious but awkward topics in a fun and informative way, be it on matters of sex, periods and puberty in general.

So next time you meet someone with a quirky idea that seems ridiculous, don’t blow it off as ‘ridiculous’, because, for all you know, they’d be on the front cover to your newspaper tomorrow.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)