Updated
January 8, 2026 6:33 PM
A group of entrepreneurs coming up with different ideas. PHOTO: FREEPIK
If startup success stories usually make you picture cutting-edge tech, you might be missing a big part of the picture. Sometimes, the weirdest ideas shine the brightest, making real money and delighting both founders and customers. From ordinary rocks turned into pets to renting live chickens, these unusual startups show how far creativity and a pinch of humor can go.
If you think the business world is all suits and serious pitches, think again—welcome to the wonderfully weird side of entrepreneurship.
Owning a pet is a joy, but let’s be honest—it’s also a handful. Between shedding fur, endless feeding schedules, surprise messes and finding a sitter when you’re away, pet parenting is not exactly effortless.
Back in 1975, an advertising executive named Gary Dahl found himself joking about this very problem over drinks with friends. His solution for the “perfect” pet: a rock. No feeding, no walking, no grooming and absolutely no accidents on the carpet.
What started as a joke quickly snowballed into a real business. Smooth stones were sourced from Rosarito Beach in Mexico, then packed in playful cardboard “pet carrier” boxes with little air holes and a bed of straw. To make the experience even more cheeky, every Pet Rock came with a care manual that instructed owners to give their new companion sunlight, affection and, of course, a name.
It was absurd and hilarious, but it worked. Selling at US$3.95 apiece in the ’70s, Pet Rocks became a cultural phenomenon. Today, you can still find them on Amazon, but they will now set you back around US$29.99 or more. Would you bring home a Pet Rock? People in the ’70s sure did.
Back in 2013, Phil and Jenn Tompkins a couple duo, launched the company "Rent The Chicken" with one straightforward goal: give people a chance to try raising backyard hens and enjoy fresh eggs without the long-term commitment.
Through partnerships with local farmers across the U.S. and Canada, this backyard chicken rental startup brings egg-laying hens straight to people’s yards. It offers different rental packages, but a standard six-month rental costs around US$500. This usually includes two hens ready to lay within days, a portable coop, feed, food and water dishes and expert support for any chicken-related questions.
The chickens arrive in spring and stay until fall. When the season ends, families can choose to return the hens, extend the rental or even buy them for about US$40 each at the end of the contract.
Today, the company works with partners in 29 states, from Oregon to Texas, and in parts of Canadain p. For people outside those areas, an out-of-area purchase package that comes with three hens can be shipped anywhere in the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. for about US$1,550.
In a way, it’s a fun and hands-on path to food security — giving families the joy of collecting their own eggs and knowing exactly where their breakfast comes from.
By day, Gadlin worked as a full-time web developer for a television broadcasting company. Outside of work, he poured his energy into comedy and writing. That creative streak took him back to high school days, when he had drawn silly cats for a comic series called Silly Cats Comic.
With those doodles as his foundation and a bit of basic design know-how, Gadlin launched his website, “I Want to Draw a Cat For You” in 2011. The concept was as simple as it was funny: visitors would describe the cat of their dreams and Gadlin would personally hand-draw it, then send it their way.
This quirky startup idea landed him on Shark Tank, where he secured an offer of US$25,000 from investor Mark Cuban for a 33% stake in the business. Not bad for stick-figure cats.
When the site first launched, customers could pay extra US$5 for colour. Shipping cost US$1 if they didn’t mind the drawing arriving in a folded envelope, or US$5 for a flat mailer. For delivery within 48 hours, there was a US$19.95 rush fee that many customers were happy to pay.
These days, Gadlin leans more on digital delivery and limited runs of his cat drawings at US$50, rather than mailing every single piece of his art. What he once described as “mediocre cat drawings” has become proof that a simple, original idea can claw its way into the startup world.
Imagine arriving in a new city with no one to show you around. That is exactly the kind of situation where RentAFriend can help.
Launched in 2009 by Scott Rosenbaum, the unusual business was inspired by Japan’s “rental family” services, where people can hire a friend, a date or even a parent for a short period. Rosenbaum saw an opportunity to adapt that concept for North America, but with a focus strictly on platonic friendship.
Here’s how it works: Anyone can sign up as a “friend” for free by creating a profile, listing their interests and setting an hourly rate. People who want to hire pay a membership fee, typically around US$24.95 a month, to connect with friends across the platform.
With a rented friend, you can do pretty much anything platonic. Go sightseeing, hit a museum, catch a game, work out together or even bring them along to a party or family event. At its heart, RentAFriend connects people who need company with those happy to earn a little extra simply by being one.
Back in 2014, in the small town of Norwood, Ontario, Canada, three brothers—Jarrod, Darren and Ryan Goldin, set out to do something that sounded downright bizarre at the time: farm crickets for people to eat.
The idea first struck Jarrod after he saw a cricket-based nutrition bar on television. Around the same time, the UN released a report on edible insects as a sustainable food source. Suddenly, the “weird” idea didn’t seem so weird after all.
At Entomo Farms, crickets are raised in cage-free “cricket condos”, where they live in warm, dark spaces that mimic their natural habitat. They’re fed and cared for until they reach about six or seven weeks old, then humanely harvested using a CO₂ method. From there, they’re rinsed, roasted and ground into a fine powder—no additives, just pure cricket protein.
The appeal goes beyond novelty. Crickets are packed with nutrients and need far less land, feed and water than beef, making them both healthy and eco-friendly.
While their approach may seem unconventional, what drives Entomo Farms is simple: making sustainable, responsible food accessible to everyone.
These startups prove that innovation doesn’t always wear a serious face. Sometimes, it turns up wrapped in humor, curiosity or even a touch of absurdity, yet still manages to spark real change. From crickets turned into protein to chickens rented out by the season, each weird startup idea shows that entrepreneurship thrives when people dare to think differently.
While some of these unusual business ideas burned bright then faded, others are still evolving in the background, shifting from fads to niche services or steady, quiet companies. What they share is a willingness to test an idea most people would dismiss at first glance.
That is the real takeaway for founders. Weird startup ideas will not always scale into unicorns, yet they can test new consumer habits, open up fresh markets and shape culture in surprising ways. If you are building something new, there is space for products that make people laugh, think or raise an eyebrow before they reach for their wallet.
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The Canberra biotech startup is helping processors detect spoilage risks before milk reaches the shelf.
Updated
August 13, 2026 1:01 AM
CYBERTONGUE® Food Testing System, developed by PPB Technology. IMAGE: PPB Technology
Anyone who has opened a carton of milk before its expiry date only to find that it smells off or tastes bitter has experienced the problem firsthand. For dairy processors, the same issue can play out across thousands of litres. Milk may pass routine quality checks, make it through production and still spoil before reaching the end of its expected shelf life.
CYBERTONGUE®, a biosensing platform, is designed to give dairy processors an earlier warning.
Developed by Canberra-based biotech startup PPB Technology, the compact food testing system allows processors to analyse milk on-site and receive results within minutes. Its first commercial application detects protease, an enzyme linked to spoilage, shorter shelf life and production losses across dairy products.
Dairy companies already test milk for fat, protein, bacteria, antibiotics and other indicators. Samples from individual farms may be sent to central laboratories, while tanker loads are tested again when they reach processing plants. These checks provide useful information, but they do not always show whether milk will remain stable in a UHT carton, meet a supermarket’s shelf-life requirements or produce the expected amount of cheese.
Even after heat treatment, protease can continue affecting milk. For processors making UHT milk, fresh milk or mature cheese, that creates a costly blind spot.
“Right now, dairy processors are working blind on this,” PPB Technology founder Stephen Trowell told Ventureport. “It’s becoming more of a problem as customers expect longer shelf lives and higher quality.”
CYBERTONGUE® uses engineered biosensing proteins that emit blue and green light. The balance between the two colours changes when the protein reacts with a target substance. The reader measures that shift and calculates how much of the target is present.
Trowell describes himself as a protein engineer at heart. He spent around three decades at CSIRO, Australia's national science and technology agency, and close to four decades in research before becoming a startup founder. The technology behind CYBERTONGUE® grew out of years of biological research, including earlier experiments involving wine aromas and explosives detection.
PPB initially developed its technology to measure plasmin, an enzyme derived from cows. After feedback from the dairy industry, the company shifted its focus to bacterial proteases, which were identified as a more pressing spoilage problem. The platform can make some existing tests faster, but PPB chose to focus first on a measurement previously unavailable to processors.
“Where we’ve chosen to lead is with a measurement nobody else can do at all,” he said. “The blue ocean, if you like.”
That focused entry point shapes PPB’s wider strategy. CYBERTONGUE® could eventually test for lactose, allergens, microbial toxins and other targets. Yet launching everything at once would stretch a six-person company too far. Protease gives it a clear route into dairy, where the financial value is easier to demonstrate.
A processor that detects high protease activity may redirect a batch of milk away from long-life products and use it for yoghurt, curd or another product where the enzyme causes less damage. PPB also says its tests can help trace problems in the milk supply and detect biofilms on processing equipment, allowing factories to take corrective cleaning measures.
Fresh milk presents another sizeable opportunity, with the global market estimated at around US$81 billion in 2026 and projected to grow at 6.83% annually through 2035. At that scale, even small gains in shelf-life consistency could prevent substantial losses. Supermarkets often require milk to have a minimum amount of shelf life remaining on delivery. Products that fall short may be rejected, discounted or discarded at the processor’s expense. While Australian processors typically aim for a shelf life of 19 to 21 days, they do not always achieve it. CYBERTONGUE® could help them reach that target more consistently.
Cheese producers face a related issue. Protease can create bitter flavours in hard cheeses and reduce production yield. Cheesemakers add another enzyme, chymosin, during production, often without knowing how much protease activity is already present in the milk. Better information could help them adjust the process and get more value from the same raw material.
PPB sells the reader as laboratory equipment, but its long-term business model centres on repeat testing. Customers buy the machine, then purchase a PPB reagent cartridge each time they run an assay. Future tests are intended to work on the same reader, making the system more useful as the catalogue expands.
CYBERTONGUE®’s compact design reflects PPB’s focus on practical onsite testing. The device is small enough to fit into two cupped hands and comes with a tablet running PPB’s software.
At the time of the interview, 13 to 15 systems had been installed with paying customers. PPB had made sales in 11 countries across five continents, with Europe as its largest market.
Trowell describes PPB as “born global”. While Australia and New Zealand have sophisticated dairy industries, Trowell thinks CYBERTONGUE® may offer even more value in regions where milk quality is less consistent, transport routes are longer or refrigeration is harder to maintain.
Trowell also believes PPB has a strong competitive moat, with the combination of manufacturing both the hardware and consumable reagents. Patents form one layer, but he does not consider legal protection sufficient on its own. A competitor would need expertise in protein engineering, reagent production, optical hardware, software and dairy processing.
Calibration adds another barrier. For each new box of reagents, PPB securely uploads the required calibration data to the customer’s machine. A third party could not simply manufacture a cartridge with the same dimensions and expect it to work correctly.
“We own the whole stack,” Trowell said, referring to everything from the sensing molecule to the hardware, software and cloud platform.
That said, he accepts that no technology is impossible to copy. His view is that PPB’s mix of scientific knowledge, integrated system and experience in dairy gives it enough of a head start to build a meaningful position before competitors catch up.
The technology could eventually reach beyond food. Trowell sees possible uses in environmental testing, veterinary care and medical diagnostics, including the analysis of blood, serum or saliva. PPB has already discussed potential applications with organisations outside the food industry.
For now, however, moving directly into clinical diagnostics would create more risk than opportunity. Medical products can require years of trials, extensive regulatory work and large development budgets. PPB would also need to build new sales channels and choose between many possible clinical uses without knowing which one would attract the strongest demand.
For these reasons, food testing offers PPB a clearer path. The regulatory barriers are generally lower, customers have immediate operational problems, and PPB has already built relationships in dairy. Once the platform has proved itself commercially, the company could enter other sectors through partnerships or licensing.
Trowell has held that view for years. The immediate goal is to build a successful food testing company rather than chase the prestige often attached to medical biotechnology.
The opportunity may also expand as food production becomes more complex. Dairy factories increasingly process oat, soy and other alternatives on equipment that also handles cow’s milk. This creates cross-contamination and allergen risks, offering another potential use for CYBERTONGUE®.
PPB still has plenty to prove. It must secure repeat reagent orders, convert early trials into wider deployments and expand its test catalogue without compromising accuracy. Scaling an integrated biotech hardware business across international markets will not be simple.
Still, its approach offers a useful lesson for other deep-tech startups. Instead of beginning with every possible application, PPB picked a specific problem that costs customers money today. It built a product around that pain point, then used the same technology as the foundation for a broader platform.
As Trowell put it, customers “need it fast, and they need it right.” CYBERTONGUE® is betting that food testing can deliver both.