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Tech predictions for 2019:
1) Podcasts will be funded, sold and monetized like content tech startups. We will see seed/growth rounds, acquisitions and revenues reaching close to $xxx,000,000 for a media company that rolls them up.
1) Podcasts will be funded, sold and monetized like content tech startups. We will see seed/growth rounds, acquisitions and revenues reaching close to $xxx,000,000 for a media company that rolls them up.
2) New entrepreneurs will start tackling problems that older entrepreneurs felt were impossible to tackle because of network effects: social networks. We will see a new social network emerge that competes with Facebook on data privacy, micro-communities, and quality engagement.
3) ChinaTech will continue its dominance globally. Chinese start-ups will make up the majority on the $10B+ valuation list as they expand outside of China. The world will start paying attention and look at them as innovators and not purely as copycats.
4) Bitcoin will be the killer use case as a store-of-value (gold alternative) and we will see another killer use case in a hybrid model. Will be both centralized and decentralized like the Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB).
5) Companies without true moats (network effects, data, economies of scale, high switching costs, brand) will start going sideways once the bull market ends. This includes direct-to-consumer brands and WeWork.
6) Startups will embrace complexity over simplicity for a competitive advantage. We'll start seeing 'SuperApps' (multiple products, features) and new biz models (tipping, micro-payments, pay-as-you-go) instead of/built on top of: one core product/biz model.
7) YouTube will lean into empowering creators (platform) instead of competing with Netflix (publisher). This includes rolling out channel subscriptions, tipping, etc at scale. As a result, engagement explodes (minutes watched) with an unprecedented amount of millionaires.
8) Apple will lose market dominance because of the lack of innovation. Consumers flock elsewhere and iPhone sales get cut in half. Apple struggles to release new innovative products and starts aggressively discounting. Google Android wins with both superior software and hardware.
9) Sheryl Sandberg gets fired from Facebook. Spotify starts signing big artists directly as label contracts expire. Netflix tries to buy HBO to beef up both hits and making hits. Amazon Alexa wins the voice war. Uber/Airbnb have strong IPOs as it's a product that people use 🤷♂️
10) Startups will offer flexibility, profit sharing, liquidity, and work/life balance to compete. Remote work becomes a must-have instead of a nice-to-have. Employees can start selling their stock options for liquidity. Flexibility will be a key theme for company culture.
11) As a result, we will see the rise of micro-freelancers. One person "companies" who work for multiple companies with very niche and specialized skills that command a premium hourly rate. As this becomes ubiquitous, more companies have a difficult time retaining key stars.
12) We will see accelerating innovation in health, finance, science, AI, blockchain, work, and AR/VR. While it might have been 'too early' a few years ago, these new innovations catch 🔥. There will be early use cases of leapfrog technologies that will pave the way for decades!
13) Crypto winter will end and Bitcoin will reach a new ATM 🤞
"Still, according to that Journal piece, the two anchor investors were less enthusiastic about a giant new investment in nearly nine-year-old WeWork for numerous reasons, including that they see WeWork as a real estate play"
techcrunch.com/2019/01/07/for…
techcrunch.com/2019/01/07/for…
First prediction of the year completed investors.spotify.com/financials/pre…
