Startup idea

High-Conversion Funnel Building & Consulting

A service or agency specializing in designing, building, and optimizing sales funnels (e.g., VSL funnels, lead gen funnels) that convert strangers into paying customers at high rates (10-25%), focusing on direct response marketing, compelling copywriting, and conversion optimization rather than traditional website aesthetics.

Opportunity8.1

Why now

Increasing ad costs, widespread inefficiency of traditional websites for direct sales, and a growing need for direct, measurable ROI from marketing spend. Funnels offer 10x conversion rates compared to websites.

Market gap

A significant gap in expertise for businesses to build effective, conversion-focused funnels. Many businesses mistakenly invest heavily in aesthetic websites for direct sales, failing to achieve measurable ROI. There's a disconnect between web design and direct response marketing principles.

Business fit

Type: Service/Agency/Consulting
Target: Bootstrapped businesses, individuals selling high-ticket training (in-person or online), agencies seeking high-ticket projects, companies where extreme prestige is not the primary focus (e.g., not Michelin restaurants, large corporates).
Revenue: High-ticket (e.g., $5,000 to open-ended for training, agency fees for builds and optimization, with potential for 7-figure revenue per funnel).
Founder: Experts in direct response marketing, copywriting, conversion optimization, with a willingness to prioritize results over aesthetics and continuous A/B testing.

Scores

Problem: 9.0
Feasibility: 7.0
Why now: 8.0
Go-to-market: 8.0
Confidence: 10.0

Proof signals

Jonathan's own 20M revenue VSL funnel.
Conversion rates of 10-25% for funnels vs. 1-3% for websites.
Companies like AG1, Eight Sleep, Magic Mind use direct response marketing tactics.
Observation that 'most people don't really understand what funnels are.'
'People who make really nice websites are generally not good at making funnels at all.'
'The shittiest looking funnels we have tend to be the seven figure funnels.'
A single funnel has run since 2020 without significant changes, generating substantial revenue.
One funnel lead resulted in a 300K internal training session for a corporate client.

Keyword demand

Keyword	Volume	Growth
sales funnel	6,600/mo	-45% YoY
conversion optimization	301,000/mo	-63% YoY
direct response marketing	1,300/mo	-46% YoY
VSL funnel	210/mo	+24% YoY

US English Google Ads volume from DataForSEO; growth uses returned monthly search history.

Source episode

How to make $20,000,000 with a landing pageEpisode source

Jonathan Courtney walked through his $20 million funnel and exactly how you could do the same

View episode ideas Watch source episode

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