10 Outrageous Startup Ideas That Actually Worked

When people think “startup,” they imagine some hoodie-wearing genius building AI in a garage, or inventing the next impossible piece of tech that’ll “change the world.” But innovation doesn’t always come wrapped in code or complexity.

Sometimes, it comes in the form of…a potato. Or a glitter bomb. Or a bag of air. And that’s the thing most people miss. The reason most startup ideas fail is that they’re poorly executed. How an idea is brought to life, packaged, marketed, and monetised can make all the difference.

This same applies to wild ideas. Even the strangest concepts can work when they’re packaged and marketed properly purpose.

And yes, some startups have taken off like that. The products were weird on purpose, but the founders behind them understood their audience and were smart in execution. They leaned into what made their idea unforgettable, doubled down on the absurdity, nailed the pitch and got the right people to buy in.

Although not all started with this intent to reach a broader audience, the success behind some of these startups shows that if you package a product well, you can reach a much wider audience that is willing to go “Take my money,” however weird the idea might be.

Here are ten of the most wonderfully weird, delightfully unexpected startup ideas that took off, even got funded, and in some cases, made a killing.

1. Potato Parcel

Potato Parcel lets you send a message to someone on a real potato. That’s the entire product.

You go to the site, type your message, and they print it on a spud and mail it. It could be a birthday note, a breakup line, or just a picture of your face. It’s absurd on purpose, and people love it for that.

Started in 2015 by Alex Craig, the business grew quickly. In just over a year, they generated over USD 215 K in revenue. When the founder pitched it on Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary invested USD 50 K for 10% equity. Since then, it’s shipped over 70,000 potatoes worldwide.

Potato Parcel works because it’s a perfect mix of novelty and surprise. It’s a one-time gift that people can’t help but talk about. In a world of boring e-cards and recycled memes, this was just strange enough to break through.

2. Ship Your Enemies Glitter

The concept here is blunt. Pay a small fee and they’ll send your nemesis an envelope filled with loose glitter. It explodes when opened, getting everywhere. You stay anonymous. They get sparkled. Everybody wins. Or loses. Depends on who you ask.

When this site launched in 2015, it went viral overnight. The founder, Mathew Carpenter, received over 2,000 orders in the first 24 hours. He panicked, hated the attention, and sold the site for USD 85 K just days later. The buyer turned it into a long-term business and added new services like confetti bombs and spring-loaded glitter tubes.

This wasn’t about utility. It was about giving people a way to act out their feelings—anonymously, playfully, and with no real consequences. People aren’t buying glitter. They’re buying petty satisfaction.

3. Vitality Air

In the early days, Vitality Air started as a prank. Two Canadian entrepreneurs began bottling fresh air from Banff National Park and selling it online. The packaging looked like something from a health spa, but the product was air.

But in parts of the world where clean air isn’t guaranteed, it hit a nerve. When they launched in China, their first shipment of 500 bottles sold out in under a week. Since then, they’ve expanded to India, South Korea, the Middle East, and the UK.

Each can of air costs around USD 20 to USD 30, with some high-end versions going for more. The brand has grown far beyond novelty. It’s now marketed as a health and wellness item for urban professionals living in polluted cities.

4. Dinner in the Sky

Dinner in the Sky offers a fine dining experience, but suspended 150 feet in the air. A crane lifts a platform where guests are seated, belted into chairs around a table, with a chef and waitstaff in the middle. The menu is high-end. So is the adrenaline.

This started in Belgium in 2006. It sounded like a stunt. But the demand kept coming. It now operates in over 60 countries, hosting everything from private dinners to corporate events and tourism experiences. They’ve partnered with brands like Ferrari and Forbes. The company has since spun off into multiple franchises, licensing the concept around the world.

5. Unagi Travel

Unagi Travel is a Japanese company that runs tours for stuffed animals. Customers ship their plush toy to Tokyo, and it’s taken on guided “tours” of local sights. Along the way, it’s photographed at temples, shops, restaurants, and even trains. The toy comes back with photos and souvenirs.

This isn’t marketed to kids. It’s often used by adults, many of them dealing with anxiety, disability, or grief. The stuffed animals represent emotional comfort, and sending them on a journey becomes symbolic. Some say it helps them feel like they’re part of the trip, even if they can’t go themselves.

Unagi Travel has been covered by CNN, NPR, and the BBC. While exact revenue numbers aren’t public, they’ve handled thousands of plush travellers from over 30 countries.

6. Rent-A-Friend

Rent-A-Friend is exactly what it sounds like. You pay someone to hang out with you. That could mean going to a movie, grabbing lunch, attending a wedding, or just walking around the city. It’s strictly platonic, so no dating or romance. Just time and company.

Founder Scott Rosenbaum originally built it off the back of another business (a dating site), but Rent-A-Friend stood on its own. It launched quietly but picked up traction as loneliness became a more public issue. Not everyone has a circle of friends on standby, and sometimes people just want someone to talk to who won’t judge them or ghost them.

The idea was easy to dismiss at first. But since launching in 2009, the site has grown to hundreds of thousands of registered “friends” worldwide. Some earn up to USD 2 K a week, depending on availability and location. When you look at the way people crave connection, especially in cities where millions live side by side without speaking to each other, it makes sense. Rent-A-Friend stepped into that gap and built a business on something we usually take for granted.

7. Entomo Farms

Entomo Farms raises crickets and turns them into food. As in real food for real people. They grind them into flour, press them into bars, and use them in protein-rich recipes meant to replace traditional meat or dairy sources.

In Western countries, this still turns heads. But in other parts of the world, insects have been on the menu for centuries. What makes Entomo Farms different is that they’ve found a way to present it to new markets as clean, nutritious, and sustainable.

The company started in Canada and quickly positioned itself as a leader in the edible insect movement. It has since raised millions in funding, including a USD 3.7 M investment from investors like Maple Leaf Foods to expand production and distribution. Its cricket protein is now used in over 50 product lines across North America.

8. DoodyCalls

DoodyCalls is a pet waste removal service. You call them, and they show up to clean the dog poop from your yard. That’s the entire business.

It was founded in 2000 by Jacob D’Aniello and his wife after they realised people would pay to have someone else deal with their dog’s mess.

It’s grown steadily for over two decades, expanding across the U.S. and becoming the largest pet waste franchise in the country as pet ownership has exploded, and not everyone wants to deal with the mess. DoodyCalls took an everyday annoyance and turned it into a professional, reliable service.

DoodyCalls handles tens of thousands of service calls per week and was acquired in 2021 by Authority Brands, a major home services conglomerate.

9. Pavlok

Pavlok is a wearable device that shocks you when you engage in a habit you want to stop. If you bite your nails, hit snooze, or scroll too long on your phone, you get a jolt. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make your brain take notice.

Inventor Maneesh Sethi first built a prototype with duct tape and an Arduino. After blogging about hiring someone to slap him every time he used Facebook, the idea blew up. Pavlok raised over USD 284 K on Indiegogo, launched to strong press coverage, and eventually gained over 100,000 users worldwide. They later went on Shark Tank, where Sethi famously turned down Kevin O’Leary’s offer, calling him “Mr. Know-Nothing.” The moment went viral, and so did Pavlok.

It’s based on behavioural conditioning. Do the thing, get the shock. Repeat it enough times, and your brain starts to associate the habit with discomfort.

The concept sounds harsh, but it appealed to people who’ve tried and failed with softer methods.

10. And Vinyly

And Vinyly offers a way to press a loved one’s ashes into a vinyl record. You choose the music or audio. They handle the production. What comes back is a playable record infused with the physical remains of someone you lost.

The founder, Jason Leach, had worked in the music industry and saw a gap for something more meaningful than a standard urn or grave. The idea took off in niche death-positive circles and art communities. They’ve since been featured in VICE, The Guardian, and BBC, and the service costs around USD 4 K–USD 5 K per record, depending on customisation.

It’s not a mass-market service. It doesn’t need to be. And Vinyly found a small group of people looking for a different kind of closure, and it gave them a way to hold onto it.

If you look at every business here, they were born from an idea that sounded uninvestable, unscalable, or just plain weird. Yet each one carved out a customer base and made real money. Some went viral. Some flew under the radar. But they all proved one thing: There’s room in the market for strange ideas, as long as they’re built with care and delivered with intent.