I came across a founder last week selling access to a Google Sheet.
Not software.
Not AI.
Not an app.
A spreadsheet.
And customers were paying $299/month.
My first reaction was:
"There's no way."
Then I looked deeper.
The spreadsheet tracked companies that had recently raised funding.
But here's the twist.
Every Minute Offline Feels Like Money Burning
One dropped connection can mean a lost customer, a missed sale, or a team sitting idle.
While competitors move faster with AI and automation, many businesses are still fighting network issues from the last decade.
T-Mobile for Business helps teams stay connected, secure, and productive almost anywhere.
It wasn't the funding data people paid for.
That data is everywhere.
Crunchbase.
PitchBook.
TechCrunch.
LinkedIn.
What they paid for was the work done after the funding announcement.
The founder added:
- Decision maker names
- Emails
- Hiring activity
- Tech stack
- Recent growth signals
- Best angle to contact them
He didn't sell data.
He sold time.
That's an important distinction.
Most founders think information is valuable.
Usually it isn't.
Processed information is valuable.
Let's do a quick experiment.
Imagine I give you:
A list of 10,000 ecommerce stores.
Worth very little.
Now imagine I give you:
500 ecommerce stores currently hiring marketers, spending heavily on Meta ads, and using Shopify Plus.
Worth significantly more.
Same category.
Different level of processing.
This is creating a huge opportunity right now.
Because AI has made raw information almost worthless.
Anyone can find information.
Few people can organize it.
That's where the money is moving.
I call this the "signal layer."
The internet is drowning in data.
People pay for signals.
A recruiter doesn't want 50,000 LinkedIn profiles.
They want 50 qualified candidates.
An agency doesn't want 100,000 businesses.
They want 100 businesses likely to buy.
An investor doesn't want every startup.
They want the 20 showing unusual momentum.
The opportunity isn't collecting more information.
It's removing noise.
Here's a practical exercise.
Think about your industry.
Now ask:
"What takes customers 10 hours to research?"
Not build.
Research.
That's where many overlooked businesses are hiding.
Examples:
Restaurants opening this month.
Creators growing unusually fast.
Companies actively hiring.
Apps losing ratings.
Stores increasing ad spend.
Startups raising funding.
The data already exists.
The value comes from filtering it.
And that's exactly why people are paying hundreds of dollars per month for spreadsheets.
They're not buying rows and columns.
They're buying saved time.
In 2026, information is abundant.
Attention is scarce.
Time is expensive.
The businesses quietly printing money are often the ones helping people spend less of all three.
