Testing service that allows self study students to get BS or BA equivalency certifications in various disciplines or certifications in various specialty subjects. Self study is now more of an option than ever, and at the same time, a 4 year university degree is more inflated and more expensive than ever. The true value of a university education is just the certificate you get in the end, and the only value of the certificate is the ability to prove to your future employer that you are at least somewhat intelligent (and that's dubias nowadays due to grade inflation). As a result, a certification service that allows you to study and take a test in various courses would be an inexpensive alternative. First Steps: pitch this idea to Peter Thiel, he is on a one man crusade against university education.
Cold water generator for the shower. Are you a dedicated follower of the Wim Hof method, but you shower is just not cold enough because you live in SoCal? This device would be for you. A simple bucket where you put a bag of ice, and the water filters through it, turning into ice cold water. The device would have an inlet that could be connected to your tub spout, and a shower attachment. First Steps: make a prototype, post it on eBay, see if anyone wants it.
App for direct donations to local charities. What if you want to help out people who were hit by one of the recent hurricanes, but you want to donate to a local charity, one that's on the ground, and can really help. But at the same time you want to make sure that this charity is not a scam, as so many scams are sadly popping up around these tragedies. An app that pulls data from various charity rating and verification organizations, and then let's you easily read about those charities and donate to them with one click, would be very useful in a situation like this. First Steps: see if this exists, and if not, what kind of charity rating organizations are already out there.
Hybrid electric airplane. One of the main problems with modern day single engine airplanes is the outdated engine technology they use. From what I understand they have to use outdated technology because the engine has to be FAA certified, because it has to be extremely reliable. In a single engine airplane if the motor stops, bad things happen. An alternative would be a hybrid electric airplane with a dual internal combustion diesel engine setup, where 2 small engines are connected to a generator, the generator creates electricity and pumps it into a Super Capacitor storage, and 2 or more electric motors drive the props that propel the airplane. This way, even if one motor stops, you simply have reduced power, and if both stop, you still have 10-15 minutes of power left to find a safe landing spot and call air traffic control. First Steps: research if anything like this exists and what would be the FAA certification process. Pitch this idea on civil aviation groups and see what they say.
Height adjustable toilet stool. This one is just a nice idea for anyone who wants to take a comfortable poop! A platform that can be adjusted from being about an inch tall to about 8 inches tall, using scissor lift design. You adjust it with a button on the side of the device, and it would run on batteries. Perfect for kids too. First Steps: see what innovations are out there in the area of pooping comfort, make a prototype, market it to see if there is demand.
Vitamins in a pouch service that allows you to pick different vitamins and supplements that you would like to take every day and makes a custom pouch with ground up water soluble vitamins for you. For some vitamins it may not be possible to mix them directly together, so a pouch with pills would be another option. This would be a subscription service. First Steps: research competitors, there must be some, and see if it's possible to mix common vitamins together in a powder form.
Portable hard drive with an e-inc screen that constantly shows you the amount of free space you have remaining. It's a pretty simple idea for a crowded portable hard drive space. Would be useful for videographers. First Steps: check patentability, see how hard this would be to implement.
Testing clinic that allows anyone to run all kinds of tests on themselves without a referral from a doctor. Need an MRI or a CT scan, sure, why not, as long as you are paying for it out of pocket, of course. A service that allows you to get an opinion of 2 independent imaging specialists and get all your results and images through an iPad tool. This would be great for me. The only reason I even go to doctors anymore is to run a test of some kind once in awhile. First Steps: is this legal? Must be, but check. See if anyone is already doing this.
Wine drop shipping service that allow you to come up with a label, name, logo, and design for a wine. You market and sell the product, the company makes, bottles, and ships the wine to your customers. All of the labeling reflects your brand as long as you can commit to minimum order of say 1,000 bottles or 100 cases. As long as you have good quality wine, the rest is mostly marketing, much like beer. Oh, this could work with beer as well. First Steps: see if this already exists, if not, talk to a few wine producers to try this out as a concept. Alternative would be wine sold in unlabeled bottles
A comedic sci fi TV show about an extraterrestrial anthropologist who visits different planets and does a documentary like TV show. Basically Anthony Bourdain in space. Make it animated to save on budget. First Steps: outline the pilot, write character treatments.