Idea Bench #1: Random facts

A while back, I put together a public idea ledger called Idea Bench, where every idea that comes into my head gets logged from now on and rated for how stupid, how genius, and how boring it is.

This is the first real entry from it that I want to walk through properly, because writing it down forces me to think it through instead of letting it die in my notes.

This idea isn't new. I had it a few years back, and it fits neatly with the kind of stuff I've built before.

The idea

A random facts website. Something that just pulls in random facts from all over and displays them, one at a time, no context needed. I wanted to tie it to a newsletter too, where people get one random fact dropped in their inbox.

Back then I tried to build it with ConvertKit, now called Kit, and I had to manually add every fact into a newsletter format by hand. I did it for a while. Then I stopped, because the manual work was more than the idea was worth. I shelved it.

What's different now?

I'm coming back to the same low-friction idea, but the way I build has changed completely. Back then all I had was WordPress and boilerplate templates. Now I'm doing AI-assisted coding, vibe coding, and I've built a career out of being a content creator and builder around it. The game is different.

Read also: Leaving WordPress After Twenty Years, in About a Day

About a month ago, I built a site called Stupid Hit. I snagged a 19-year-old domain and had it live in less than 24 hours. I built it with Claude Code and deployed it on Vercel and GitHub.

The stack is stupid simple: a layout, a JSON file with a list of stupid hits, and a page that loads and displays them. That's it.

Stupid Hit is officially one of the dumbest things I've built. That's by design. I want my portfolio to have room for serious SaaS, absurd side projects under OnPoint VC, and now, Random Facts.

Since I already have the stack figured out and I don't need a newsletter tool to make it work, the cost to build and maintain something like this is close to zero.

I'd take the same setup I used for Stupid Hit, point it at Random Facts, and load it up with thousands of facts pulled from search engines and AI tools. The workload is basically the same.

I just add one more low-friction thing to the absurd side of the portfolio.

So, why?

Traffic isn't really the point, though it matters a little. I commented on a Reddit post four times, shared Stupid Hit, and got 1,000 visitors out of it.

That's not a real benchmark since traffic has dropped off since then, down to maybe 40 visitors this month. But it compounds. I could build Random Facts, promote Stupid Hit alongside it, post both on Reddit, and add one more thing to the trophy case.

The bigger reason is I look up to the old fail.vc model. They invested in absurd ideas, and most of them failed. Mine isn't on that level. It's a 10 dollar domain and close to zero extra cost.

But it's the same instinct: build something fun on top of the serious stuff. I don't want to only be known for SaaS. I want to leave a mark in stupid ideas too, ones that might never become popular, or might turn into superstars. Fuck, I don't know..

The newsletter, maybe?

I might build an automated version of the newsletter idea this time, using Resend, where facts get uploaded, and one gets sent out at random each day to whoever wants it.

Nobody has to subscribe to see the facts on the site. That's still the Stupid Hit model first. The newsletter is optional.

Monetization, or not?

There isn't really a business model here. Maybe some ads down the line, maybe a couple of affiliate links, but it's such a small part of the idea that I probably won't even bother.

What fits better is a donate or support link, something like Buy Me a Coffee. I'll probably do what I did with Stupid Hit and slap a ridiculous 2 BTC price tag on it too, just to signal it's technically for sale, even though I have no real interest in selling it.

The whole thing depends on people sharing it and facts going a little viral on their own. I still need to figure out if there's a way to lean into that on purpose instead of just hoping it happens.

Where does it sit now?

Random Facts is logged in Idea Bench now, rated 5 out of 5 stupid, 1 out of 5 genius, 2 out of 5 boring, sitting in progress. It's right there next to Stupid Hit. Doesn't take much brainpower, costs almost nothing, and the only real work left is loading a big JSON file with facts and pointing the same stack at it again.

Will update once it's live and if there's any significant difference compared to SH.