Examples

This is the RealCheckMe examples library: real verdicts from the judges behind the site, on ideas, messages and posts written to show how they think. Start with a collection, or scroll down for our original set of 18 business ideas with a detailed explanation of each result.

Collections

• Stupid Business Ideas

  Twenty terrible ideas, ranked from merely stupid to glorious.

• Ideas That Sound Smart for 7 Seconds

  Pitches that survive exactly one sentence, then the scores.

• Texts You Probably Shouldn’t Send

  Twelve risky messages, each with a rewrite that scored better.

• Cringe Captions

  Gym, travel, brunch and new-job captions, scored for cringe.

• Startup Ideas Nobody Asked For

  Sixteen pitch-deck ideas the world did not request.

• Bad Ideas With Surprisingly Good Scores

  Ideas that sound silly but scored not stupid, and why.

• Good Ideas That Somehow Sound Ridiculous

  Established businesses described literally, and how the judge reacted.

• The Cringe Hall of Fame

  Awards for LinkedIn posts, bios and announcements, with real scores.

• The RealCheckMe Hall of Shame

  The worst ideas, texts and posts across all three checks.

• Guess the Verdict

  A 20-question quiz: guess the score, then reveal it.

The original 18

We ran 18 ideas through the live judge on 28 September 2026 (model jev-1.13.0). The verdicts, percentages, scores and “biggest problem” lines below are the real outputs. The explanations are ours. If you try them yourself you may see small differences, because the model can be updated.

They’re grouped by what we expected before running them. In a few cases the machine disagreed, which is part of what makes them interesting.

Obviously bad

Ideas that fail on the basics: nobody needs them, or they undo their own purpose.

• A restaurant that only serves tap water and charges $50 per glass. GLORIOUSLY STUPID. 88% stupid

  Biggest problem: Weak customer need. · Need 0/10 · Clarity 4/10 · Money 1/10 · Originality 7/10 · Difficulty 1/10

  Need scored zero: tap water is free almost everywhere, and a $50 price tag doesn’t create a reason to buy it. The idea is easy to understand, which only makes the problem more obvious.

• An app that sends users a notification every 10 seconds reminding them to breathe. PRETTY STUPID. 71% stupid

  Biggest problem: Weak customer need. · Need 3/10 · Clarity 9/10 · Money 3/10 · Originality 5/10 · Difficulty 0/10

  Mindful breathing is a real interest, so need isn’t zero, but a ping every ten seconds would be more annoying than helpful. Clear (9/10), yet weak on need and money.

• A subscription service that mails you a single ice cube every month. PRETTY STUPID. 84% stupid

  Biggest problem: Weak customer need. · Need 0/10 · Clarity 3/10 · Money 2/10 · Originality 8/10 · Difficulty 3/10

  Nobody has a problem that one ice cube solves, and it would not survive the post anyway. High originality can’t rescue an idea nobody needs.

• A social network where every post is automatically deleted before anyone can see it. PRETTY STUPID. 84% stupid

  Biggest problem: Weak customer need. · Need 1/10 · Clarity 3/10 · Money 1/10 · Originality 9/10 · Difficulty 1/10

  Being seen is the whole point of a social network, so this removes the one thing people come for. Very original (9/10), just not in a useful direction.

Surprisingly plausible

Unglamorous ideas that solve a real, paid-for problem.

• A marketplace where homeowners can book local cleaners for one-time house cleaning jobs. SURPRISINGLY NOT STUPID. 80% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 10/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 10/10 · Originality 3/10 · Difficulty 2/10

  A common need with an obvious way to charge, so need, clarity and money all max out. The catch is originality (3/10): similar marketplaces already exist, so it would need a sharper angle.

• A service that helps small businesses automatically follow up with customers who abandoned an online shopping cart. SURPRISINGLY NOT STUPID. 82% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 10/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 10/10 · Originality 3/10 · Difficulty 0/10

  Businesses already pay to recover lost sales, which is why need and money potential are 10/10. That also makes it a crowded category, hence the “already exists” risk.

• A tool that reminds landlords when required rental safety inspections are due. SURPRISINGLY NOT STUPID. 77% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 8/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 10/10 · Originality 3/10 · Difficulty 0/10

  A narrow but real compliance headache where a missed deadline costs money, and that makes people willing to pay. Property-management software is the obvious competition.

• An app that shows dog owners nearby off-leash parks with live crowd levels. PROBABLY NOT STUPID. 70% not stupid

  No obvious dealbreaker. Now do the hard part. · Need 8/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 6/10 · Originality 7/10 · Difficulty 3/10

  Dog owners clearly care about this, and live crowd levels are a genuine twist (originality 7/10). No single dealbreaker stood out; money (6/10) is the softest spot.

Weird but viable

Ideas that sound odd at first. The tool is designed not to punish “unusual” when the need and money are real.

• An app where people pay strangers to stand in line for them. PROBABLY NOT STUPID. 57% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 7/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 8/10 · Originality 5/10 · Difficulty 2/10

  It sounds like a joke, but people really do pay line-sitters for product launches and busy offices. Solid need and money potential keep it on the right side of the line.

• Renting out goats to clear overgrown land instead of using lawnmowers. PROBABLY NOT STUPID. 65% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 8/10 · Clarity 9/10 · Money 9/10 · Originality 4/10 · Difficulty 2/10

  Sounds absurd, is a real business: landowners and cities hire goat herds to clear brush. That is also why originality is only 4/10.

• A social network where users can only post one sentence per day. QUESTIONABLE. 50% stupid

  Biggest problem: Weak customer need. · Need 4/10 · Clarity 8/10 · Money 5/10 · Originality 8/10 · Difficulty 0/10

  Clear and fairly original, but the model doubts anyone needs it (need 4/10). A fun constraint is a good hook, but it’s harder to make it a reason to keep coming back.

• A service where retirees teach kids board games and cooking over video calls. PROBABLY NOT STUPID. 72% not stupid

  No obvious dealbreaker. Now do the hard part. · Need 7/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 7/10 · Originality 7/10 · Difficulty 1/10

  Two groups with a plausible mutual benefit and an offer that is easy to picture. No single weakness stood out, which is rarer than you might think.

Already exists

Strong ideas that someone else has already built at scale.

• A ride-hailing app that connects passengers with nearby drivers. SURPRISINGLY NOT STUPID. 75% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 10/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 10/10 · Originality 2/10 · Difficulty 5/10

  A textbook “great idea, already taken”. Need, clarity and money all max out; originality (2/10) and difficulty (5/10) hold it back.

• A website where people can list and book short-term vacation rentals. SURPRISINGLY NOT STUPID. 76% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 10/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 10/10 · Originality 2/10 · Difficulty 4/10

  Obvious demand and an obvious business model, with several very large companies doing it already. Not stupid, just late.

• A video platform where anyone can upload videos and earn ad revenue. PROBABLY NOT STUPID. 56% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 5/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 8/10 · Originality 2/10 · Difficulty 6/10

  Scores lower than the other “already exists” ideas: a new platform meets less need (5/10) and is hard to run (6/10). A good idea is not always a good idea for you to start.

Hard to monetize

Ideas people might like but that are hard to charge for.

• A free app that reminds you to drink water. PROBABLY NOT STUPID. 62% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Already exists, with little to set it apart. · Need 7/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 5/10 · Originality 2/10 · Difficulty 0/10

  Useful and instantly clear (10/10), which keeps it out of stupid territory. It is also one of the most common app ideas there is, and “free” leaves money potential at 5/10.

• A community website where neighbors lend each other tools for free. SURPRISINGLY NOT STUPID. 72% not stupid

  Biggest risk: Weak path to making money. · Need 8/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 4/10 · Originality 6/10 · Difficulty 0/10

  Scored well on need and clarity, with money (4/10) flagged as the biggest risk. A good reminder that “not stupid” and “profitable” are different questions.

• A browser extension that replaces every photo of your ex with a picture of a potato. PRETTY STUPID. 73% stupid

  Biggest problem: Weak customer need. · Need 2/10 · Clarity 10/10 · Money 2/10 · Originality 8/10 · Difficulty 1/10

  Perfectly clear (10/10) and original, but the need is tiny (2/10) and it’s hard to see who would pay. Funny is not the same as useful.

What these examples show

• Clarity alone doesn’t save an idea. The potato extension and the breathing app are both instantly understandable and still judged stupid, because the need is small.
• Weird isn’t the same as stupid. Goat grazing and paid line-sitting sound like jokes but have real customers, and they land on the not-stupid side.
• “Already exists” is the most common risk for good ideas. Almost every strong idea here was held back by originality, not by need.
• Money is one factor, not the whole story. The free tool-lending site passes despite weak money potential, and the verdict flags that as its biggest risk.