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GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a startup idea that replaces dip without asking you to quit.

NTE Pro unlocks 6,500 startup ideas you can’t stop thinking about → click in

WhoFiled shows you who’s raising, who’s backing them, and why it matters → see the signals

Check out all the past newsletters here

Here’s what we’ve got for you today.

• Daily Idea - Replace the ritual

• Locker Room Trial

Replace the habit, not nicotine

The One Liner

Replace the habit, not the person

The 140 character tweet (or X) version

Quit dip? Or replace it. Protein powder you pack, not chew. Same ritual. Better outcome. No nicotine. No tobacco. High protein. Zero shame.

The Longer Story Version

The Problem

Chewing tobacco isn’t just nicotine. It’s a ritual.

The pinch.
The pack.
The hold.
The locker room normalcy.
The job site pause.

Most “quit dip” products miss this entirely. Gum and patches treat chemistry. Nicotine pouches keep the addiction alive. Medical framing feels clinical, shamey, and unrealistic.

People don’t actually want to quit.
They want something that feels normal.

Right now, there’s a behavioral gap:
The habit exists.
The replacement doesn’t.

The Solution

Imagine a dip-style product that looks familiar, feels familiar, and fits naturally into fitness culture.

Powdered peanut butter as a dip-style substitute.

You pinch it.
You pack it.
You hold it.

But instead of nicotine and tobacco, it’s protein-forward, low-calorie, and clean. Optional caffeine or nootropic versions for energy. Same motion. Different outcome.

This isn’t cessation.
It’s substitution.

Fitness culture already overlaps heavily with dip culture: lifting, wrestling, construction, military. Powdered foods are already normalized. Gen Z is more open to ironic, slightly unhinged health products.

The behavior is already there.
The category isn’t.

How We’d Build It

Phase 1: Proof (Low Expertise, Fast)
Source existing powdered peanut butter suppliers
Simple packaging that feels familiar but not tobacco-adjacent
Position as “oral protein packs”
Sell DTC via Shopify
Use Stripe + ShipBob
Early GTM through gym influencers, Reddit, and locker-room humor
No scale, just signal

Phase 2: Product + Brand (Medium Expertise)
Dial in texture and flavor
Add functional variants (caffeine, focus, zero-flavor)
Custom containers
Content-led growth on TikTok and X
Lean into controversy and curiosity
Use tools like Gumloop or Replit Agents to automate influencer outreach and content testing

Phase 3: Scale (Higher Expertise)
Expand flavors and SKUs
Wholesale into gyms, supplement stores, military PXs
Subscription refills
Data-driven GTM using tools like Triple Whale + Northbeam
Broader distribution once the behavior is proven

Why It Needs to Exist
Health products usually ask people to change who they are.

This one doesn’t.

It swaps restriction for replacement.
Shame for humor.
Quitting for upgrading.

It’s weird enough to talk about.
Obvious enough to try.
Cheap enough to test.

The kind of idea that makes people say:
“This sounds stupid… but I know exactly who would use it.”

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The Locker Room Trial

The idea walks into the locker room and immediately everyone stops talking.

On trial today: a dip-style product made from powdered peanut butter. No nicotine. No tobacco. Same ritual. Different outcome.

The jury is already skeptical.

First up: the lifter who dips between sets.
He doesn’t care about health claims. He cares about whether this feels stupid mid-workout. His take: “If it packs clean, doesn’t taste like chalk, and doesn’t make me look like I’m eating dessert between squats… I’d try it.” For him, this isn’t a health product. It’s a social compatibility test.

Then the coach who hates nicotine.
He likes the intent but hates the framing. “The second you market this as ‘dip,’ you invite the wrong comparisons.” He wants it to be a recovery product, not a rebellion product. He worries the joke overshadows the behavior change. But he admits: nothing else has worked.

The nutrition nerd leans forward.
This is where it gets uncomfortable. “Calling it protein might actually hurt you.” Protein is supposed to be consumed, not held. He likes the macros. He likes the substitution logic. He hates the semantics. His concern isn’t safety, it’s credibility. If people don’t know where to file this mentally, they won’t adopt it seriously.

Then the guy who refuses to change anything.
He’s still dipping. He’s not quitting. He laughs first. Then pauses. “If everyone else tried it, I’d mess with it.” That’s the real signal. Not belief. Social permission.

The debate splits.

Is this a health product?
Or is it a cultural product pretending to be one?

Does making it protein legitimize it?
Or does it confuse people who just want a replacement, not a nutrition lesson?

Is this parody?
Or is parody the Trojan horse that gets behavior change through the door?

Everyone agrees on one thing:
This won’t spread through studies or claims.

It’ll spread through jokes first.
Then results.

The verdict isn’t unanimous.
But it doesn’t need to be.

Because locker rooms don’t adopt products by consensus.
They adopt them when enough people stop getting roasted for using them.

And once that happens, the trial’s over.

Quick test

If you had to build something this month, which would you choose?
– A product that only works when people procrastinate
– A service for people who hate subscriptions
– A marketplace that makes more money by saying “no”

There is a right answer.
It just depends on how you think.

That’s the point of NTE Pro.

NTE Pro doesn’t tell you what to build.
NTE Pro shows you which ideas you can’t stop thinking about.

6,500+ ideas inside NTE Pro.
One click. See which one grabs you.

Here’s what the world looks like if yesterday’s companies that raised all work.

Energy gets practical.
Nuvve turns EVs into grid infrastructure. Not exciting, just necessary. The grid strains, EV adoption rises, and Vehicle-to-Grid quietly becomes a requirement, not a concept.

Efficiency keeps winning.
FinOpsly doesn’t reinvent cloud computing. It just makes the bill stop growing. AI shows up as a cost-control layer, not a revolution, because enterprises want predictability more than novelty.

Scarcity becomes the lever.
MOLG makes e-waste a mineral source. The risk isn’t demand. It’s whether robotics can survive real-world messiness long enough to scale.

Compliance creates categories.
SRQCGX and Stoxtel Global exist because regulation is finally a forcing function. Structure beats speed when markets mature.

The pattern is clear.
Capital isn’t betting on invention. It’s backing replacement, execution, and buyers with urgent pain.

WhoFiled is where these signals appear before they turn “obvious.”

Sign up for personalized digests.
WhoFiled will be $29/month.
It’s free if you sign up now.

One More Meme

Dalio: “Stocks Only Look Strong in Dollar Terms.” Here’s a Globally Priced Alternative for Diversification.

Ray Dalio recently reported that much of the S&P 500’s 2025 gains came not from real growth, but from the dollar quietly losing value. Reportedly down 10% last year!

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_{*Based on Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.}