Thread by @jmj

10 Product Predictions as we begin Q2 2019:

1. More entrepreneurs & investors will talk about their struggles with mental health. Leaders will treat this as one of the most important workplace topics. Top companies will adopt infrastructure help employees manage mental health.

2. Facebook will have a tough 2019 as election season heats up. Presidential candidates will engage in unethical online acquisition tactics inspired by the 2016 election. Candidates who abuse performance marketing channels will be outed by Facebook. Most will not be caught.

3. Inspired by Andreessen Horowitz, more venture firms will give up their venture capital status to become investment advisors. VC's will be free to invest in cryptocurrencies, CBD, real estate, and new markets. VC has become too competitive/restricting & the world has changed.

4. With the wave of 2019 IPO's, more tech employees will leave California for more tax friendly locations including Washington, Texas, and Nevada. The Bay Area exodus narrative will grow as employees see their co-workers depart for other locations. New ecosystems will emerge.

5. Startups will view distributed development as the most fiscally responsible way to build early stage companies. In Q1, I saw a large cohort of startups emerge who have founders/executives in the Bay Area/LA/New York & engineers/operators throughout the world. See: @turingcom

6. Solo founders will be more accepted, as CEO's distribute their "co-founder" equity allocation to a larger group of early employees.

As @jdh said: "Go single founder but take an equal second founder stake and make a monster employee pool, and pay 2x-3x market on grants."

7. Inspired by @rogerdickey, consumer "search labs" will grow in popularity as employees IPO at Lyft, Slack, etc. and decide to start their own companies, but haven't identified the single idea to build.

Founders will raise $ to test a set of ideas & double down on the winner.

8. Several brand name consumer venture firms will announce CBD investments (cannot say who yet) that will tip the scale for CBD in venture. CBD has been hot for a long time in Los Angeles/New York, but most Bay Area firms have not fully participated yet. That will change.

9. Snap announced exciting social gaming features this week inspired by WeChat, Kakao, Line.

Gaming will become a focus for Snap (everything is becoming a game).

Instagram will announce social games in Q2/Q3 because they are Instagram... and they copy everything Snap builds.

10. Venture jobs will be more competitive during the "year of the unicorns" as employees at Uber, Lyft, etc. cash out & move on from being operators.

In a world with too many VC's, hiring seasoned operators will become even more difficult. Those who resist VC will be rewarded.