In partnership with

GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a startup idea that finally fixes the internet’s dumbest problem: lost product manuals.

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Here’s what we’ve got for you today.

• Daily Idea - Lost Manuals Solved

• The Group Chat From Hell

Lost Manuals, Found Instantly Online

The One Liner

All your manuals, always findable, instantly understandable.

The 140 character tweet (or X) version

Lose the manual again? Snap a photo, search any product, and this tool pulls the manual, summarizes it, and shows you exactly how to fix anything.

The Longer Story Version

The Problem

Everyone knows this pain.
You buy a thing. It breaks. You need the instructions.
But the manual? Gone forever. The brand’s website? A maze.
Google gives you spam. Customer support gives you “try unplugging it.”
Repair videos assume you already have the manual (lol).
And nobody has built the obvious solution: a universal library for every product on Earth.
Millions of SKUs, zero central database.
All we want are the damn instructions.

The Solution

A single online manual library that actually works.

Search any product by model, barcode, name, or just take a photo of it.
Boom: the manual appears.
But don’t stop there, AI makes it way better than the original:

AI-summarized quickstart
AI-powered troubleshooting trees
Smart repair steps with parts links
Most common failures for each product
User-submitted fixes
Personal library to save every manual in your home

And monetization is stupidly simple:
Ads.
Affiliate links for parts & replacements.
Lead-gen for warranties or repairs.
The internet’s most boring, beautiful cash machine.

The invisible magic:
Most manuals are already digital, just scattered across broken manufacturer websites.
SEO for manuals is massive and underserved.
People repair more than they replace now.
AI can digest a 200-page PDF and spit out the one paragraph you actually need.

This becomes the Google for lost manuals.

How We’d Build It

Phase 1 — Scrappy MVP (Prove People Want This)
• Use Vibe Coding tools like Replit Deployments and Windmill.dev to quickly scaffold ingestion workflows.
• Start with public-domain and user-uploaded manuals to avoid licensing headaches.
• Build a dead-simple uploader using Tiptap + UploadThing for drag-and-drop PDFs.
• Use GPT-4o-mini or Claude Haiku to auto-summarize manuals into “Quickstart,” “Fix,” and “Common Problems.”
• Use Supabase or Neon for instant file storage + metadata search.
• Launch with a tiny front end on Webflow or Framer.
The goal: prove that people search for manuals — and return.

Phase 2 — Serious Product (Start Scaling Supply & Demand)
• Tap into model-number extraction with tools like Roboflow or Memos.ai.
• Build a photo-to-product detector using open-weights models (e.g., LLaVA, Florence-2).
• Build SEO pages at scale using tools like SiteGPT and Typedream’s programmatic CMS.
• Add affiliate routing using lesser-known tools like RevenueHunt and Affilimate for multi-merchant support.
• Add a “Request a Manual” system powered by crowd uploads + AI cleanup.
Goal: grow inventory fast, start winning SEO, and create a moat.

Phase 3 — The Category Winner (Automate the Entire Operation)
• Build a full ingestion engine using Unstructured.io or Glean SDK to parse massive PDF batches.
• Convert every manual into structured data, steps, parts, warnings, troubleshooting flows.
• Add a universal parts marketplace via APIs like PartSelect, Fix.com, and Amazon Associates.
• Use a hybrid RAG/agent pipeline (LlamaIndex + Fireworks) to make manuals interactive:
“Why is my dryer overheating?” → personalized diagnosis
• Create household profiles so users store every manual they own.
Goal: become the default place the world goes for “How do I fix this?”

Why It Needs to Exist
Because losing a manual shouldn’t ruin your Saturday.
Because manufacturers are terrible at storing the most basic information.
Because repair culture is exploding.
Because SEO for manuals is a gold rush with no miners.
Because this is one of those rare “how is this not already built?” ideas hiding in plain sight.

It’s not glamorous.
It’s not sexy.
But it’s useful.
And useful wins.

What do Tom Brady, Alex Hormozi, and Jay Shetty all have in common?

They have a newsletter (like the one you’re reading) because:

• Social posts reach 10% of your audience while 40-50% of emails get opened

• You only have to write 2-4x per month to book calls and launch products

• Creators and founders are getting a 35:1 return selling with email

We’re hosting a free workshop on December 10th to help you launch a newsletter that immediately begins generating revenue.

You’ll learn how to select a niche, grow your list, and convert readers into customers.

Join The Free Workshop

The Group Chat From Hell: Friends Argue While Trying to Fix a Dishwasher

It always starts the same way.

A random Tuesday night.
A dishwasher that sounds like it swallowed a fork.
And a group chat filled with people who definitely should not be trusted with machinery.

THE COMPETENT FRIEND (CF):
“Did you check the manual?”

THE CHAOS GOBLIN (CG):
“Manual? No. I already kicked it twice. It made a different noise so that’s progress.”

THE MOM FRIEND (MF):
“Please don’t break it. I cannot listen to another appliance death. Also does anyone know where to store manuals for 792 kids’ toys?”

THE SKEPTIC (SK):
“You don’t need manuals. They’re just PDF spam wearing a trench coat.”

CF:
“Okay but seriously, where IS the manual?”
(Silence. All four stare into the existential abyss of adulthood.)

MF:
“It was in the junk drawer. But then the junk drawer got too junky so the manual moved to the binder. But then the binder disappeared during the move. Or maybe the toddler ate it? I don't know. Life is chaos.”

CG:
“Just unscrew stuff until you find the problem. Worst case the dishwasher becomes a decorative shelf.”

SK:
“Also this is why I hate these ‘startup ideas’ where someone says, ‘Let’s just build a site for all the manuals.’ Ads everywhere. Affiliates everywhere. You’ll open it and get hit with: ‘Replace your dishwasher? Here’s 14 sponsored reasons.’”

CF:
“Bro. We’re using a GROUP CHAT to troubleshoot a machine that shoots hot water at knives. Maybe we need the ads.”

MF:
“Honestly I’d pay $5 to never lose a manual again.”

CG:
“I’d pay $5 for a button that makes the dishwasher stop screaming at me like a feral raccoon.”

SK:
“You’re all missing the bigger question: why hasn’t someone built this already? Manufacturers have the manuals. They just bury them like cursed treasure.”

CF:
“Exactly why the platform works. One universal library. Search the model number. Boom. Manual appears. AI summarizes it so you don’t read 90 pages explaining ‘What Is a Dishwasher?’ Includes repair steps. Parts links. A personal library so MF stops asking where to store manuals.”

MF:
“Yes. Build this. I’m drowning in toy instructions. My house has more manuals than books.”

CG:
“Does it also come with a button that says ‘Stop Rinsing the Same Plate for 3 Hours’? Asking for the dishwasher.”

SK:
“Still don’t love the ads.”

CF:
“You don’t love ANYTHING.”

CG:
“Let’s vote. Should this thing exist?”

MF:
“YES. Yesterday.”

CF:
“A thousand percent yes.”

SK:
“…Fine. But only if they block the pop-up casinos.”

CG:
“Okay but real talk, can someone help me? The dishwasher made a splash noise and now it smells like burning sadness.”

CF:
“Send a picture of the model number.”

MF:
uploads blurry photo of entire kitchen

MF:
“Is this useful?”

SK:
“This is why AI was invented.”

CG:
“Hold up. This proves the point. If this platform existed, we’d all be in bed right now instead of arguing like four raccoons locked in a shed.”

CF:
“So we agree? This is a billion-dollar idea?”

SK:
“Fine. Yes. Because humans are too dumb to keep track of manuals.”

MF:
“Build it. Please. I’m begging you.”

CG:
“Also build a site that finds missing socks.”

CF:
“One startup at a time.”

And that’s how you know a startup idea is real:

When a broken dishwasher turns four semi-functioning adults into investors, haters, customers, and evangelists, all at once.

Turning Podcasts Into Startup Gold

We built episoderecap.com at NTE because podcasts are the biggest, messiest, least searchable knowledge base on the internet.

So we made a simple tool: the TV Guide for podcasts.
Scroll, skim, jump in. No more guessing whether an episode is worth 90 minutes of your life.

But once you can tear through summaries at speed, something else happens, you start spotting the patterns: complaints, frictions, shifts in behavior.
That’s where the startup ideas hide.

Here’s an example pulled from an Andy Frisella episode:

Most people hear Andy and think “entrepreneurship = grind harder.”
We hear a system glitch.

The Problem
Andy describes today’s rule: customers want you right now.
If you don’t reply instantly, someone else will.
If you do reply instantly forever, you burn out.
There’s no middle gear, just two losing choices.

The Solution
A “Standby OS”: an AI layer between you and your clients.
It learns your tone, your playbooks, your judgment.
When a client messages at 8:47 p.m., it responds as you, handles what it can, and only wakes you up for real fires.
To the client, you look superhuman.
To you, it feels like… finally breathing.

Why Now
AI can now mimic tone + decision-making.
Customer expectations have quietly gone 24/7.
And millions of solo entrepreneurs are drowning under the invisible cost of “being available.”

Example
A freelance designer is out with friends.
Client texts: “Quick asset tweak for tomorrow?”
Standby OS replies instantly, generates the tweak, ships the file.
Client: “You’re unreal.”
Designer: never left the table.

Check out EpisodeRecap (it’s free)

The Idea Lottery (No Ticket Required)

Welcome to the only lottery in the world where every number is a startup idea…
and with NTE Pro, you win every single time.

Tonight’s winning draw:

13 • A tool that turns friendship groups into micro-living clubs
42 • Software that refunds you automatically when you get overcharged
87 • A wearable that tracks your “social battery” before you burn out

Tomorrow’s draw?
Totally different ideas.
And the next day?
More.

Because every ball in this machine is another idea pulled straight from NTE Pro,
6,000+ startup sparks spinning endlessly, waiting for someone to grab one and run.

This isn’t luck.
This is controlled serendipity.
A lottery rigged in your favor.

Your ticket is right here →

Step in, hit the button, and see what you pull next.

With NTE Pro, every draw is another shot at building something real.

One More Meme