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15 NEW “Pandemic-Created” Business Ideas in 15 Minutes

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A YouTuber turned a shutdown economy into a 15-idea pitch deck in under 20 minutes.

In the early weeks of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Pat Flynn — the entrepreneur behind Smart Passive Income and author of “Will It Fly?” — sat down in front of a camera and did what he’s built a career doing: broke a messy problem into a clean, actionable list. The result was “15 NEW ‘Pandemic-Created’ Business Ideas in 15 Minutes,” a 19-minute rapid-fire video aimed squarely at people watching their income disappear as offices closed, gyms shut down and events got cancelled overnight.

Flynn didn’t pitch enterprise software or venture-scale startups. Every idea on his list was built for someone with a laptop, a phone and no payroll to meet, matching the reality millions of newly unemployed or furloughed workers were facing in April 2020.

• Pat Flynn, creator of Smart Passive Income and author of “Will It Fly?,” published the video on his YouTube channel in spring 2020 as a direct response to COVID-19 lockdowns and the remote-work shift.
• The 19-minute video runs through 15 low-overhead business concepts, including virtual event planning, subscription-based meal delivery and automated cleaning services.
• Flynn framed every idea around immediate, pandemic-specific pain points rather than long-term enterprise plays — virtual alternatives to live gatherings, remote services, e-commerce and home delivery.

Flynn’s Case for Betting on Disruption

Flynn’s credibility on this kind of list comes from years of teaching digital monetization to a following that’s used to hearing him break down online income streams in plain terms. That background is why the pandemic pitch didn’t sound like a pivot — it sounded like the same skill set applied to a new emergency. Readers looking for the fundamentals behind that approach can find a similar breakdown in this guide to launching into affiliate marketing, which covers the same low-overhead, remote-first logic Flynn leans on throughout the video.

The premise was simple: with in-person commerce frozen, the businesses positioned to survive — and even grow — were the ones solving problems created by quarantine itself, not problems that predated it.

Fifteen business ideas, one 19-minute video, zero storefront required.

The Ideas Built for Lockdown Life

Three concepts anchored the video’s early minutes. Virtual event planning addressed the wave of cancelled conferences and concerts, positioning planners to move live gatherings online rather than scrap them entirely. Subscription-based meal delivery targeted the surge in at-home cooking demand as restaurants closed their dining rooms. And automated cleaning services spoke directly to the hygiene anxiety gripping offices and retail spaces trying to reopen safely.

From there, Flynn moved into services built around isolation itself — personal shopping and delivery for people unwilling or unable to enter stores, virtual coaching and tutoring for students locked out of classrooms, and online fitness classes replacing shuttered gyms.

Filling the Gaps Lockdown Left Behind

The middle stretch of the list tackled logistics and infrastructure people suddenly needed at home. Home office setup services answered the scramble millions of newly remote employees faced trying to turn a kitchen table into a workstation — a need echoed in this ergonomics breakdown on setting up a proper desk. Tech support for seniors addressed a real gap, too: older adults suddenly cut off from in-person visits and forced to rely on video calls they’d never used before.

Flynn also flagged online mental health services and home renovation and redesign as viable plays, betting correctly that stress and cabin fever would both spike as lockdowns dragged on. Anyone weighing whether to start something this small and this fast from home can find the groundwork in this rundown of the steps to starting a home business.

Sustainability, Team Building and the Final Stretch

The back half of the list rounded out with online gifting and care packages, virtual team-building activities for suddenly remote workforces, sustainable and reusable products like cloth masks, and online cooking and baking classes for people stuck at home looking to fill the hours productively. Outdoor events and pop-up shops closed the list, aimed at the moment restrictions eventually eased enough for small, distanced gatherings to return.

Detailed follow-up reporting on which of Flynn’s 15 ideas actually got built and turned a profit remains thin in the record from that period — the video was designed as a brainstorm, not a case study, and it was published in real time as the shutdown was still unfolding rather than after any of these businesses had a chance to prove themselves.