Boston
Takes an idea seriously and helps the person with it work out what to do next.
The problem
The gap that stops most ideas is not skill and not money. It is that the first person you tell does not take it seriously, so you stop telling people, and an idea nobody takes seriously quietly becomes an idea you no longer have.
The insight
Build the listener rather than the tool. Something that starts from the assumption that the idea is worth pursuing changes what the person does next — and the thing missing at that moment is belief, not features.
How it works
- Someone arrives with an idea and no plan.
- Boston takes the idea at face value instead of asking it to justify itself.
- It works through what the idea needs, in the person's own terms.
- It ends on a next move small enough to actually do.
Materials and process
Web application with a hosted database and a separate service holding its keys. Named after a nickname; the tagline on the live site is Auston's own and is not to be reworded.
What exists now
Live at bostonbyruthlessideas.com. It is also the exhibit that most nearly went wrong: in July 2026 an environment file was left publicly readable on the deployed site, exposing a live API key, and its database was returning real names and email addresses to anyone who asked. Both were found, and both were closed in August 2026 — the key rotated, the data access locked, the fix verified by testing the hole from outside.
Next: A first paying subscriber.