Estimated Read Time: 3- 4 minutes

Today’s Docket

• News Stories:

  • North American VC Funding Hits $145B in H1 2025 (Crunchbase)

  • Q2 Sees AI Mega-Rounds Driving Global Venture Growth (Crunchbase)

• Startup Insight:

  • The Scroll Wars: The Science of Idle Engagement

• Startup Idea:

  •  VR Boredom Buster Platform

• Social Spotlight:

  • Marketing with AI

• Resources:

  • Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products with Nir Eyal

  • Multitasking or Continuous Partial Attention: A Critical Bottleneck for Digital Natives

Latest News from the World of Business

• (1) North American VC Funding Hits $145B in H1 2025 (Crunchbase)

  Venture investment in U.S. and Canadian startups surged to $145 billion in the first half of 2025, marking a 43% year-over-year increase and the strongest six-month total in three years

• (2) Q2 Sees AI Mega-Rounds Driving Global Venture Growth (Crunchbase)

  Global venture funding in Q2 reached $205 billion year-to-date, with over a third attributed to mega‑rounds (e.g., OpenAI’s $40 b, Scale AI’s $14.3 b). Investors continue pouring capital into AI, health-tech, and biotech sectors

Some of the most successful products of the last decade weren’t  built for productivity. They were built for the opposite.

TikTok doesn’t help you get things done. Neither does Wordle. Reddit actively prevents you from being productive. Yet these platforms have captured billions of users and reshaped entire industries. What gives?

Here’s the thing: The real opportunity isn't in the 20 minutes when someone is frantically trying to finish a project. It's in the 200 minutes when they're sitting on the couch, waiting for a meeting to start, or mindlessly scrolling during a commercial break.

The Attention Economy Got It Backwards

Traditional marketing wisdom says to target people when they're ready to buy. When they're actively searching. When they have intent.

But the biggest wins come from capturing people when they have no intent at all. When they're bored out of their minds.

Think about it. When was the last time you discovered something genuinely new while you were busy? When you were rushing to meet a deadline or racing to catch a flight? Probably never.

Discovery happens during downtime. In the gaps between planned activities. In those weird 7-minute windows when you've finished one thing but haven't started the next.

The Boredom Market Is Massive

Let's break down what boredom actually looks like in 2025:

Micro-boredom: 30 seconds to 2 minutes

• Waiting for an elevator

• Standing in line at coffee shops

• The gap between finishing one task and starting another

Transitional boredom: 5-15 minutes

• Commuting (as a passenger)

• Waiting for appointments

• Commercial breaks

Deep boredom: 30+ minutes

• Weekend afternoons with nothing planned

• Sick days when you're not sick enough to sleep

• That weird time between dinner and bedtime

Each category represents a different opportunity. Micro-boredom is perfect for quick hits of dopamine. Transitional boredom can handle more complex engagement. Deep boredom is where people fall down rabbit holes.

What Makes Boredom Products Work

The best boredom products share three characteristics:

Instant gratification No setup time. No learning curve. You can engage within seconds of opening the app. TikTok understood this perfectly. The content starts playing before you even finish loading the app.

Infinite variability You never know what's coming next. Reddit's front page changes constantly. Wordle gives you a new puzzle every day. The unpredictability keeps people coming back.

Easy exit ramps Paradoxically, the best boredom products make it easy to leave. You don't feel trapped. There's no pressure to engage for a specific amount of time. This reduces friction and guilt, making people more likely to return.

The Distribution Advantage

Here's what this really means for business: boredom is a distribution channel.

Most companies spend enormous amounts trying to interrupt people who are focused on something else. They buy ads that appear when people are searching for competitors. They sponsor content that people are actively trying to consume.

But boredom products get distributed through sharing, word-of-mouth, and habit formation. When someone discovers something during their downtime, they're more likely to tell friends about it. They're not in task-completion mode. They're in exploration mode.

The viral coefficient is higher because the discovery experience is more pleasant. Nobody likes being interrupted when they're trying to accomplish something. But finding something interesting when you're bored? That feels like a gift.

Practical Applications

So how do you build for boredom instead of busyness?

Start with the context, not the solution: Instead of asking "How can we make this faster?" ask "When would someone have 5 minutes to kill?" Instead of "How do we save time?" ask "How do we make time more interesting?"

Design for serendipity: Build in randomness. Create unexpected connections. Let people stumble onto things they weren't looking for. The best boredom products feel like exploration, not optimization.

Lower the stakes: Make it okay to engage casually. Don't require commitment. Don't make people feel like they need to use all the features or understand everything before they can get value.

Embrace the scroll: Infinite scroll gets a bad rap, but it's incredibly effective for boredom products. It matches the mental state of someone who doesn't have a specific goal. They're not trying to find something particular. They're trying to find something interesting.

You Might Want to Read:

• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products with Nir Eyal

• Multitasking or Continuous Partial Attention: A Critical Bottleneck for Digital Natives

Startup Idea: VR Boredom Buster Platform

Virtual reality (VR) has become more popular in entertainment and gaming, but there is still a gap in utilizing it to combat boredom during daily tasks or waiting times. A startup could develop a platform that offers a variety of immersive VR experiences designed to entertain and engage users while waiting in line, commuting, or during other typically mundane moments. By partnering with VR content creators and incorporating features like interactive games, 360-degree videos, and virtual tours, this platform can cater to a wide audience seeking novel ways to pass time. The potential applications extend beyond personal entertainment to waiting rooms in offices, hospitals, airports, and more, transforming these spaces into engaging environments. With the growing interest in VR technology and the need for innovative boredom solutions, this startup idea could tap into a lucrative market.

Startup Analysis and Report

Worth Your Attention:

Put Your Brand in Front of 15,000+ Entrepreneurs, Operators & Investors.

Sponsor our newsletter and reach decision-makers who matter. Contact us at [email protected]

_{Image by Cottonbro on Pexels.}

_{Disclaimer: The startup ideas shared in this forum are non-rigorously curated and offered for general consideration and discussion only. Individuals utilizing these concepts are encouraged to exercise independent judgment and undertake due diligence per legal and regulatory requirements. It is recommended to consult with legal, financial, and other relevant professionals before proceeding with any business ventures or decisions.}

_{Sponsored content in this newsletter contains investment opportunity brought to you by our partner ad network. Even though our due-diligence revealed no concerns to us to promote it, we are in no way recommending the investment opportunity to anyone. We are not responsible for any financial losses or damages that may result from the use of the information provided in this newsletter. Readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions and any consequences that may arise from those decisions. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost data, or other intangible losses, arising out of or in connection with the use of the information provided in this newsletter.}