Lauren Beukes is the author of award-winning novels like Afterland and Zoo City, with her book Shining Girls was adapted to an Apple TV+ show. She has asked us about how to poison AI and whether there are methods to get it to stop stealing ever...

July make luggage. Beautiful, useful, perfect luggage. They've got a big problem though - they decided to name themselves after the month of July and now, well, they've got all sorts of SEO and searchability problems. When their customers tell ...

Naked Sprout make toilet rolls out of bamboo. They're super sustainable and the company prides themselves on using no fossil fuels in 99% of their process. That remaining 1%, that's what they wanted us to help with. They currently have to use o...

AutoTrader is the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace. You can buy cars. You can sell cars. You can swap cars. (Maybe? Does it work like that? Like football stickers or Pokemon cards? I don't drive. I don't know about car stuff.)Aut...

Toucan make really nice table tennis equipment. In Germany, where they are based, you can find table tennis tables outside in parks and public spaces. However, how can Toucan make sure they can help you find one that is free? What about in wint...

Water and Wines make jigsaws designed to teach you about wine. Designed by sommeliers and their passion for oenology, each jigsaw transports you to a wine region around the world. However, just like many of us, they are haunted by an existentia...

Wave is an ecologically focused phone case manufacturer, coincidentally based near us in the North East of England. They need help though: why do Apple keep releasing so many iPhones, each needing a unique case? Some of our ideas: ...

Allbirds design and make shoes and footwear with a focus on nature and the environment. They have got in touch wondering how to convince people to shop more sustainably. Some of our potential ideas: try to save all the birds, mad m...

Season 2 of Brains on the Outside begins on the 30th of September 2024! This year, we are joined by a range of businesses like Allbirds, Autotrader, Naked Sprout and more as we solve some of their largest challenges in the most ridiculous ways....

Slugs.The worst of all the garden creatures.Slimy. Slithery. Leaving gross trails all over the place. Ugh.This week Corinne has written to us to ask whether we could start up a business to deal with these pests.And honestly our ...

Metal detecting is such a mixed bag. Finding cool stuff is undoubtedly amazing but having to dig things up all the time is not only a drag it's also inaccessible.Listener Kat has messaged us this week to ask whether we could dream up a busi...

Two factor authentication? More like EW factor authentication. Nobody likes all the hoops you have to jump through in order to log into your bank, your email, your social network of choice or the Warhammer website these days a...

Andrew done goofed today and accidentally recorded the whole episode without turning his nice mic on. He is very sorry about this - please forgive him Aside from just having to live through it, jet lag is something that no one has ...

Is your cat getting attacked by the other mean cats in your neighbourhood? How are you stopping it? Andrew and Alex have two innovative businesses that will definitely solve this, and make you a lot of money in the process.Thank you Ash...

Losing your glasses robs you of the thing you really need to find your glasses - your ability to see. So far, even after thousands of years of glasses development, there is no solution to this problem. Can Andrew and Alex pitch a business that ...

Hayfever sucks. It's nothing like nightfever or that fever that you can only cure with more cowbell. It just stinks. You feel terrible but you're not actually ill and you don't have an actual fever and nobody really feels that sorry for you. It...

Selling your house is a stressful, expensive, and long process. Lets make it quicker. Alex and Andrew pitch two revolutionary, next-generation, Estate Agents that will sell your house faster and for more money (well, Alex's idea definitely won'...

So much of our infrastructure is wasted most of the day. Once it gets to 5pm offices, opticians, chocolatiers, EVERYWHERE, closes. Even the humble ice rink closes. But isn't this a waste of potential? A failure of imagination? Surely, there is ...

The world has had enough of crude graffiti, surely we are better than just covering everything with spray-paint drawn willys? Andrew and Alex are here to help, as they both pitch their own ideas for businesses to make vandalism more unique and ...

Why can we not Shazam smells? There's Google image search, why not a Google smell search? Alex and Andrew pitch two businesses that will aim to make it possible to really understand what you are smelling. There are wine sommeliers, why aren't t...

When kids are little, parents get to witness so many of their achievements. However, as they grow up, the distance grows. Job interviews, driving tests, exams - parents can’t be in the room as this happens. Or can they? This is ver...

Is your significant other pissed with you? Do you not know why? Have you recently bought (or not bought) a zoo? Well, our new consultancy service is here to help. With experts trained at Deloitte, McKinsey and IDE...

After 64 episodes, Andrew and Alex are broken. Help them, dear listeners, understand what Brains on the Outside should be. Prepare for 20 minutes of, effectively, podcast therapy, as they go through their ideas for podcasts to launch if this on...

Your problems may seem insurmountable to you but to somebody else they might be easy-peasy! Our new app lets someone attempt to solve your problem for you, as long as you try to solve theirs. It's Strangers on a Train, but for cleaning your dra...

Alex discusses his perfect shopping experience: a trip to a Spam concept store. If you want to send in your business idea, please email us at brainsontheoutside@gmail.com - we will send merch to everyone who writes in! Give us a review ...