Hey Makers!

This issue is going out to 99 of you! Super excited we will be crossing the 100 mark very soon!

I have 2 announcements to make this week:

1. I've written a post about how I struggled with validating product ideas. I was uncomfortable talking to strangers, I didn't know what questions to ask. This all changed when I started treating product validation as relationship building. You can read more about how I'm validating products in my latest blog post.
2. Also in case you missed it, I shared my Notion template for capturing and evaluating ideas. You can grab it at https://gumroad.com/l/ideapad.

Ok, enough with the updates, let's move to this week's idea. 

This week we talk about the much-anticipated Notion API. I suspect a lot of apps will pop up on Product Hunt in the following weeks built on top of Notion. I've started collecting them on notionapps.xyz.  

One area I'm particularly excited about is selling products on Notion. Why is this an opportunity? 

• Creators from all corners of the internet are embracing Notion to be the backbone of their digital business.
• Notion is very hot with young creators, as supported by its explosion on TikTok.
• As a platform, Notion has evolved from being a note-taking tool to a personal database.

This creates the perfect mix of circumstances to build adjacent tools to help creators monetize their work on top of a platform they are already heavily invested in.

🔥 Problem

• Creators are using Notion to write content, create templates, create courses, write books. 
• But to monetize their content they need to move it to another platform. 
• Many people creating on Notion are first-time creators that are new to the creator economy (Notion is a gateway for them). They don't know where and how to sell their products.

🧯 Solution

• Build a monetization layer on top of Notion and let creators monetize their work right from Notion. 
• Educate new creators on how to sell digital products such as their templates right from Notion.

👍 What are the benefits

• Fastest way to monetize work for people creating in Notion
• No need to move content to another platform
• Work in an environment that's familiar

Here's how this could work:

• People create a profile & link their Notion account 
• They see a list of all their Notion pages and can toggle a 'monetize' button
• They set their price and this creates a paywall for their content
• A bonus can it generates a sales page automatically.

🤑 Are people currently spending money on this?

• Creators are using many platforms to sell their digital products (Gumroad, Patreon, OnlyFans). All these platforms take a cut from the revenue generated by creators.

💵 Possible Monetization Stream

• Percentage cut from every sale

✅ What do I need to validate?

• Are people interested in selling their content right from Notion or are they ok with existing methods?
• Can you reach new creators, that are not yet selling on Gumroad and other marketplaces easily? 

🧰 How I'd validate?

• Notion seems to be doing well on TikTok, reach out to creators there (remember to first start building a relationship with them).
• Figure out how they are monetizing their content today? 
• Propose a Notion app that would allow them to monetize content straight from Notion. 

🤔 How will I get first 10 customers?

• If you build relationships with TikTok Notion creators, you should be able to get your first 10 customers there.
• Other places are the r/notion subreddit and Notion Twitter. 

📈 Will it be sustainable?

• I think the biggest potential is in unlocking new creators (people who haven't sold anything online yet) and showing them a way to easily sell what they've built in Notion. This will require education and relationship building. But if you are willing to roll up your sleeves, then this could be a very interesting opportunity. 

👉 My Score

• Usefulness: 💪💪💪 (High)
• Complexity: 👩‍💻👩‍💻 (Complex)
• Excitement: 🔥🔥🔥 (High)

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