Idea Data Bank API docs

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/meta"

# or the header form
curl -H "x-api-key: uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/meta"

{
  "error": {
    "code": "quota_exceeded",
    "message": "Monthly quota of 500 requests reached for this key. ..."
  }
}

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/ideas?budgetTier=under-1k&difficulty=Beginner&limit=10"

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch(
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/ideas?q=cleaning&sort=viability&limit=10",
  { headers: { Authorization: "Bearer uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" } }
);
const { data, pagination } = await res.json();

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/ideas",
    params={"category": "Local Services", "limit": 10},
    headers={"x-api-key": "uyi_live_YOUR_KEY"},
)
ideas = res.json()["data"]

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "start-a-business",
      "title": "Start a Business (the Foundations)",
      "description": "This is the foundational path every idea on this site eventually walks: pick the thing you will sell, form the entity, get the free EIN, open the business bank account, and land the first sale. It is not an online idea or an offline idea; it is the ground floor underneath all of them, and it runs anywhere.",
      "category": "Education & Training",
      "industry": "General",
      "startupCost": "Under $500",
      "budgetTier": "under-1k",
      "timeToFirstDollar": "Depends on the idea you attach it to",
      "timeBand": "under-30",
      "difficulty": "Beginner",
      "revenuePotential": "High",
      "viability": 9.5,
      "traits": [
        "Beginner friendly",
        "Low startup cost",
        "Fast launch",
        "Local business"
      ],
      "location": "Hybrid",
      "audience": "Both",
      "businessType": "Service"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "total": 5043,
    "limit": 1,
    "offset": 0,
    "hasMore": true
  }
}

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/ideas/IDEA_ID"

{
  "data": {
    "id": "start-a-business",
    "title": "Start a Business (the Foundations)",
    "description": "This is the foundational path every idea on this site eventually walks: pick the thing you will sell, form the entity, get the free EIN, open the business bank account, and land the first sale. It is not an online idea or an offline idea; it is the ground floor underneath all of them, and it runs anywhere.",
    "category": "Education & Training",
    "industry": "General",
    "startupCost": "Under $500",
    "budgetTier": "under-1k",
    "timeToFirstDollar": "Depends on the idea you attach it to",
    "timeBand": "under-30",
    "difficulty": "Beginner",
    "revenuePotential": "High",
    "viability": 9.5,
    "traits": [
      "Beginner friendly",
      "Low startup cost",
      "Fast launch",
      "Local business"
    ],
    "location": "Hybrid",
    "audience": "Both",
    "businessType": "Service",
    "topics": [
      "First business",
      "Legal",
      "Setup"
    ],
    "profitMargin": "Not applicable, this is the foundation layer",
    "bestFor": "Everyone starting anything on this site",
    "howToStart": "Decide what you will sell, pick your structure, get the free EIN from the IRS, open a separate business bank account, and go get the first customer.",
    "whyOverlooked": "Nothing about starting a business is overlooked; hundreds of thousands of people search it every month. Most never start because the legal steps feel bigger than they are, so they research for months when the paperwork is an afternoon and the real work is the first sale.",
    "professions": [],
    "identities": [
      "Students",
      "Parents",
      "Career changers",
      "Corporate escapees",
      "Retirees",
      "Veterans",
      "Immigrants"
    ],
    "ages": [
      "Teens",
      "Adults",
      "50 plus"
    ],
    "trending": false,
    "addedAt": "2026-07-02",
    "steps": [
      {
        "title": "Choose the thing you will sell and prove someone wants it",
        "detail": "A business is not an LLC; it is a paying customer. Before any paperwork, write one sentence: who you serve, what problem you solve, and what they pay. Then test it cheap: ask five real people in that group if they would buy at that price, or better, take one pre-order. If nobody bites, you just saved yourself the filing fee."
      },
      {
        "title": "Pick your structure honestly, then register it properly",
        "detail": "A sole proprietorship is the default the moment you sell something under your own name, but default is not the same as done right: your personal assets stand behind every business debt and lawsuit, and most cities and states still expect a DBA name filing or a local license before you operate. An LLC costs a state filing fee (roughly $35 to $500 depending on the state) and puts a legal wall between the business and your house; if your work carries physical risk, contracts, or clients on premises, form it before the first job. Whichever you choose, make it official with your state: the guide at /register-a-business shows your state's real fee and the official office to file with."
      }
    ],
    "whatItIs": "This is the one path every business on this site eventually walks, whatever the idea: decide what you will sell, confirm someone will pay for it, choose a legal structure, get the free EIN, open a business bank account, handle the licenses your city and industry require, and land the first customer. It is deliberately not tied to any single idea, because it is the foundation layer under all of them. It runs online, in person, or both, and for most first businesses the whole legal and financial setup costs under $500 and takes days, not months. The paperwork is the easy part; the discipline of validating before filing and selling before polishing is the real skill being taught here.",
    "whyItWorks": "The foundations work because they are the same everywhere: an entity, an EIN, a separate bank account, and a first sale are what a dog walker, a consultant, and a software founder all need, in the same order. Done early, they compound: the entity protects your personal assets before a problem exists, the separate account makes taxes and pricing honest, and the first-customer discipline forces contact with reality while changing course is still cheap. Done late or never, each one becomes expensive exactly when you can least afford it: commingled money in a dispute, an unlicensed sale in a regulated trade, a year of work priced below cost. The people who treat setup as a one-week project and selling as the main event are the ones still in business a year later.",
    "whatYouNeed": [
      {
        "item": "One sentence that says who pays you, for what",
        "why": "Every later decision (entity, license, price, marketing) flows from this. If you cannot say it plainly, you are not ready to file anything yet."
      }
    ],
    "mistakes": [
      {
        "mistake": "Researching for months instead of filing and selling",
        "consequence": "The window where motivation is highest gets spent on tabs and videos, and most people in this loop never start at all"
      }
    ],
    "monetizationPaths": [
      {
        "path": "Sell a service",
        "how": "Your time and skill for money: cleaning, consulting, design, care, trades. The fastest first dollar of any model because there is nothing to build first; most ideas on this site start here."
      }
    ],
    "firstSevenDays": [
      {
        "day": "Day 1",
        "action": "Write the one-sentence business: who you serve, what you solve, what they pay. Pick the idea on this site it attaches to."
      }
    ],
    "notFor": "Not for people looking for a specific business idea; this card is the setup underneath the idea, so pick one from the site first or bring your own. Not for anyone hoping the paperwork will substitute for selling; an LLC with no customers is a fee, not a business. And not for people who want someone else to decide for them whether to start. This path assumes the decision is made and gets you legal, banked, and paid.",
    "faq": [
      {
        "q": "How much does it really cost to start a business?",
        "a": "Less than the fear says. Registering properly costs a state filing fee, roughly $35 to $500 for an LLC depending on your state, the EIN is free from the IRS, and a license or DBA filing where your city or industry requires one adds a little more. Most people on this site are fully set up for under $500, and your state's guide at /register-a-business lists the real fee and the official office. The bigger number is the startup cost of your specific idea, which the calculators on this platform help you estimate before you spend it."
      }
    ],
    "revenueEstimate": {
      "monthlyLowUsd": 500,
      "monthlyHighUsd": 6000,
      "model": "mixed",
      "basis": "As foundational education or coaching, income comes from courses and sessions and builds slowly with audience."
    }
  }
}

{
  "data": {
    "categories": [ { "value": "Local Services", "count": 412 }, ... ],
    "industries": [ { "value": "Healthcare", "count": 388 }, ... ],
    "budgetTiers": [ { "value": "under-1k", "count": 1834 }, ... ],
    "timeBands": [ ... ],
    "difficulties": [ ... ],
    "audiences": [ ... ],
    "businessTypes": [ ... ]
  }
}

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/lists"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer uyi_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/api/v1/idea-bank/lists/ready-to-launch-businesses"

{
  "data": {
    "version": "v1",
    "ideas": 5043,
    "lists": 65,
    "revenueEstimates": 1200,
    "docsUrl": "https://www.unleashyourideas.com/ideas-api/docs"
  }
}