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Idea Of The Day - Turn TikTok Art Trends Into Cash, One Messy, Glitter-Covered Kit at a Time

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Needs To Exist
June 17, 2025

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GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a startup idea that’ll make creativity viral and shippable.

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Here’s what we’ve got for you today.

  • Daily Idea - Viral Art Kits

  • Follow the Algorthim

Viral art kits, delivered monthly.

The One Liner

TikTok-worthy art kits that ship straight to your door.

The 140 character tweet (or X) version

Turn viral art trends into paint-splattered masterpieces at home. Every month, get a kit inspired by TikTok hits, materials, instructions, and bragging rights included.

The Longer Story Version

The Problem
You scroll TikTok, see someone pour paint on a spinning canvas, and think: “That looks fun.”

Then reality hits:

  • What kind of paint?

  • What tools do I need?

  • Will this ruin my carpet?

So you don’t do it. You save the post, tell yourself maybe one day, and move on.

That sucks. Creativity shouldn’t die in the scroll.

The Solution
Make it stupid easy to bring viral art to life.

We turn trending TikTok/IG art techniques into ready-to-go kits. Spin painting, hydro dips, viral glue-and-glitter explosions, we track the trend, source the materials, and ship the magic.

Each kit comes with:
✅ All the materials you need
✅ Simple, no-BS instructions
✅ A built-in excuse to get messy

Bonus: when customers post their creations, they help fuel the next wave of virality. One share = 10 new potential customers. It’s content and commerce, in one beautiful, paint-covered package.

How We’d Build It

Level 1 — Solo Hustle Mode

  • Trendspotting: Use tools like Collab or Exolyt to track breakout TikTok art trends early.

  • Kits: Source materials on Faire or Alibaba. Keep SKUs tight.

  • Store: Launch with a simple Shopify store + Motion for TikTok ad creative.

  • GTM: Partner with 5 micro-creators. Give them free kits and a rev share. Lean on Billo for quick UGC videos.

Level 2 — Small Team / Early Momentum

  • Launch a “Monthly Viral Art Drop” subscription using Stay.ai (retention-focused subscription tools).

  • Build FOMO via SMS drops with Postscript.

  • Host art contests with Gleam to amplify shares + referrals.

  • Consider bundling with brands (e.g. Sharpie, Posca) for collabs.

Level 3 — Brand Machine

  • Build a dedicated content engine: in-house studio + TikTok live demos weekly.

  • Use Disco to cross-promote with other DTC brands.

  • Launch a mobile app: short tutorials, art community, and reward points for sharing.

Eventually: you’re not just selling paint kits. You’re the go-to creative brand for Gen Z’s digital-first, dopamine-hungry DIY culture.

Why It Needs to Exist
Because social media made us all spectators and this turns us into creators. It’s messy. It’s fun. It’s viral by design.

This isn’t a business. It’s a movement... with glitter.

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Shipping What the Algorithm Wants

Startups that follow virality instead of chasing vision.

Here’s a secret most founders don’t want to admit:

The best product doesn’t always win.
The most viral one does.

We’ve all been sold this romantic story about vision. “See the future, build for it, and they will come.” That’s cute. But most of the time? They don’t come. And you’re left sitting in a quiet Slack channel wondering where all the users went.

Now flip it.

What if, instead of guessing what the market might want, you just looked at what people are already freaking out over… and shipped that?

That’s the game:
Don’t chase vision. Follow the algorithm. Ship what it wants.

The Algorithm Is the New Co-Founder

TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, they’re the new focus groups.
Every day, they hand-deliver hundreds of product insights disguised as memes, trends, aesthetics, and viral moments.

People are literally telling you what they want… with likes, saves, and reposts.

So why are you still whiteboarding ideas like it’s 2011?

What This Looks Like in Practice

You spot something going viral, a niche cooking trick, an oddly satisfying tool, a crazy productivity hack.

Instead of liking it and moving on, you pause and ask:

“What’s the physical or digital product version of this?”

Then you move fast.

  • Don’t overthink branding.

  • Don’t write a deck.

  • Don’t interview 47 people on LinkedIn.

Just ship the thing people are already losing their minds over.

Tools That Make This Stupid Easy

If you want to ride the algorithm, you need tools to read it:

  • Trendpop – Real-time TikTok trend tracker. Tells you what’s popping and with who.

  • Exolyt – Deep analytics on creators and hashtags. Think: trend radar with x-ray goggles.

  • GummySearch – Scans Reddit for unsolved problems, giving you real conversations to build from.

  • Shopify + PageFly – Set up a landing page in an hour. Sell first, stress later.

  • Billo.app – UGC videos at scale. Turn your MVP into scroll-stopping content.

  • Loox or Endorsal – Fake it 'til you make it (just kidding… kind of). Great for early social proof.

The Fastest Way to Product-Market Fit?

Build in reverse.

  1. Start with attention (find the viral moment).

  2. Build the product (turn it into something ownable).

  3. Sell it before someone else does.

You're not trying to out-innovate Apple. You’re trying to outrun everyone else to the checkout button.

Don’t Be Too Early. Be Right Now.

Being early used to be a flex. “I built X before it was cool!”

Cool. But did anyone care?

Timing > Originality.
Speed > Vision.
Distribution > Everything.

If you’re building something right now and it feels a little obvious or dumb or simple… good. That probably means the market already wants it.

If you’re stuck, just go to TikTok and ask:
“What’s something blowing up right now that doesn’t have a product behind it yet?”

Then build it.
Fast.

Ship what the algorithm wants.

The rest is noise.

One More Meme