Idea TBD — Issue #1

Hi 👋

This is for anyone who’s ever had a business idea (or has one every day in the shower). We started this newsletter for two simple reasons:

1. We love thinking about ideas and building cool things.

2. We genuinely believe humans thrive in community.

   
   No greed. No competition. Just sharing, joy, and collaboration.

This is our first edition and like any good MVP, it’s going to change, grow, and probably fail a few times along the way. Then it’ll get better. Because that’s the point, right?
Fail. Iterate. Repeat.

This thing is going to be alive. Breathing. Changing every week.
No fixed structure - we’ll shape it around your feedback as we go.

You’ll get this weekly… or daily… or monthly - depending on how stimulated we’re feeling. But here’s what we can promise:
No BS. Just helpful, honest stuff.

Embarrassing founder fact:

One of us spent a year building a mobile app. A whole month drafting Terms of Service. Burned cash on stuff that didn’t matter.

Never shared it. Never talked to users. Built it alone. Quit before it launched.

Here’s what that taught us:

• A business is more than just an app

• Obsession is good, but a good team is better

• MVP = Minimum Viable Product, not Most Valuable Product

• Fail fast. Learn faster.

Idea dump - make it happen

MVPs for Mayors

Fixing broken cities, one founder at a time

1. The Problem

It’s hard to build better cities.

• Founders with great civic ideas can’t get past government red tape.

• Citizens feel ignored. Town halls and online petitions rarely lead to action.

• City officials want innovation but are stuck with slow processes and limited bandwidth.

The result? Good ideas die before they ever reach the streets.

2. The Solution

MVPs for Mayors is a platform where startup founders pitch real solutions to local problems - think safer streets, better transit, affordable housing.

Each idea comes with:

• A 2-minute video

• Cost breakdown

• Community feedback

• Optional prototype or Notion doc

People don’t vote for politicians, they back prototypes. If a project gets enough momentum, it can get piloted with city support.

It’s like YC Demo Day meets a mayoral campaign, but no election needed.

3. How It Works

• Founders post civic MVPs

• Residents vote, comment, and share

• Popular proposals get visibility and traction

• City partners step in to support pilots

• Progress is tracked transparently

4. Target Users

• Founders who want to build for the public good

• Policy thinkers testing local ideas

• Communities ready to rally around change

• City labs looking for ready-to-go pilots

• Civic nerds who want to shape the future

5. Business Model

• Gov SaaS: Cities pay for dashboards and tools

• Sponsored challenges: Foundations + brands fund top ideas

• Pilot support: Rev-share from scaling funded projects

MVPs for Mayors = Fast, open, and built for momentum. It’s how civic startups go from idea to impact, backed by the people who actually live there.

What we’ve done so far

1. Posted the first issue of the newsletter

2. Set up the landing page

3. Onboarded 43 subscribers through friends and friends of friends

Social media strategy

We're asking early-stage startups to promote Idea TBD in exchange for a guaranteed feature in the From the Community section (below). Win-Win. Or so we think, we’ll let you know how it goes.

Tools we’re vibing with

Beehiiv.com is great for setting up newsletters. free for up to 2,500 subs and comes with a built-in landing page. Got us live fast.

Napkin.ai lets you drop in a prompt and instantly get a bunch of editable, AI-made infographics you can customize in seconds.

Tally.so is what we used in this newsletter (check out Alex’s idea). It’s a free tool for creating input forms that you can publish or embed anywhere, like on this page.

Godaddy.com is not a place to find a replacement father.

Money spent

11 dollars and change, to buy the domain Ideatbd.com 

From the Community

Alex, a solo founder based in Philly, is building something called Watercooler - a lightweight tool designed to bring back the vibe of casual office interactions for remote teams.

Here’s the problem:
Most remote tools focus on productivity, but teams are losing the random, human moments - the “you good?” check-ins, hallway chats, shared laughs, awkward eye contact at the coffee machine. That stuff matters.

Watercooler tackles that with things like:

• Random 2-minute Slack call prompts

• “Mood check” sliders before meetings

• Shared music or meme boards

• Micro-challenges like “send someone a compliment in under 10 seconds”

Alex is currently figuring out:

• Whether people want this as a Slack plugin or a standalone app

• How often these interactions should happen before they feel annoying

• If team leads will actually care enough to install it

If this resonates or you have thoughts on making remote work feel less robotic, fill out the form below - we’ll pass it along to Alex.

Want to be featured here?
Whether you’re looking for feedback, a collaborator, or just want to show what you’re building, reply to this email or fill the form below and tell us what you’re up to.

Feel free to drop:

• Any startup ideas you’ve had

• Stuff you’re building and want feedback on (we’ll feature it in the newsletter)

• Questions you want the community to weigh in on

• Or just general thoughts on the newsletter and how we can make it better

Fin.