0/ 2021-2030 will be a Renaissance Decade.

I’m investing $3M this year into startups solving across this spectrum.

Here are the biggest opportunities I’m most excited about. If you’re building in any of these areas, let’s chat.

Let's dig in 👇👇👇
1/ Education

$50K for subpar Zoom classes and an increasingly meaningless credential won't cut it.

Next gen schools, (@flockjay), communities (@Career_Karma), homeschooling (@withprimer) and recruiters (@placement) will educate, train and support the next billion people.
2/ Crypto

The parabolic rise in bitcoin and ether price over the last few weeks may seem bubble-esque, but over the last 4 years, crypto developer and startup activity has 10x’d.

⬆️projects = ⬆️startups =⬆️innovation = ⬆️value.

Crypto and decentralization are about to rip.
3/ Creators

The internet unleashes human ingenuity. Empowering ingenuity is the perfect pick/shovel business.

Companies that enable this - e.g. @teachable, @BookCameo - will take a “slice of human creativity.”

Prediction: 2030 will see a Creator Trillionaire.
4/ Space

It blew my mind when I had @thetimellis of @relativityspace on my podcast and he told me he was 3D printing rockets. The volume of ambitious projects related to space - @momentusspace, @boomaero, @vardaspace is incredibly exciting.

Talk about unbounded TAM.
5/ Capital Markets

The number of public companies has decreased by ~50% over the last 20 years.

Implication: Employees are locked in and access is closed off.

Companies that “democratize liquidity” (e.g. @cartainc, @talamobile) from start to finish will create mega value.
6/ Productivity and Knowledge

Whether you’re on the remote work train or not, it’s undeniable we’re going to be working very differently over the next 10 years.

Knowledge management (@DashworksAI) and company comms (@loom, @usebubbles) will be rebuilt from the ground up.
7/ Consumer Health

Sleep. Fitness. Diet. Mind. The 4 prongs of a healthy lifestyle.

⬆️Software = ⬇️price = ⬆️access = ⬆️consumers

Over the next decade everyone will have a personal trainer (@FitnessAI_), sleep expert (@eightsleep), therapist (@calm) and chef (@farmsteadapp)
8/ Cybersecurity

Over the last decade, cloud adoption exploded. This decade we'll see a similar explosion of digital identity and security.

It’s not an accident that @OneTrust (shoutout Atlanta!) is on pace to be the fastest growing enterprise software company of all time.
9/ Fractional Ownership

@AliBHamed taught me an interesting lesson a few years ago - your mind opens up when you view everything as an asset.

I’m interested in companies increasing ownership in unconventional assets - collectibles, digital art, sneakers (e.g. @withotis).
10/ The Elderly

The elderly are increasingly isolated and depressed. Companies that build products to combat these emotions will unlock an undertapped consumer segment.

There are different angles here - e.g. grandkids on demand (@join_papa), niche community (@HelloRevel).
11/ India

Digital infrastructure has been totally unlocked in India. @reliancejio gave 4G for free to all Indians in 2016 and since then, over 400M Indians have been brought online.

Prediction over the next decade: India will surpass China for unicorns.
12/ There are so many more areas to explore. Climate, real estate, healthcare, construction, enterprise software, retail etc.

I'm bullish on this decade - it'll be the best one in human history. Let’s get to work!

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More from @RomeenSheth

1 Jan
0/ After talking to 200+ founders this year about operating through COVID, @schlaf and I coined a term we hope catches on in 2021:

“Human-Centric CEO.”

We think this philosophy can drive 10x impact for leadership in organizations.

Let’s dig in to the what, why and how 👇👇👇
1/ One of the most commonly cited management think pieces for operating through crisis is “Peacetime - Wartime CEO” by @bhorowitz. And for good reason, it's a philosophy for companies to survive, reinvent and ultimately win when macroeconomic environments shift.
2/ In most of the conversations we’ve had with Founders, we hear frequent allusion to this framework to help navigate the landscape. We’ve even used it over the past year.

But while helpful, it's incomplete. And it's application can lead to deeply problematic outcomes.
Read 15 tweets
30 Dec 20
0/ Last night I tweeted about the top 10 things Founders do that derail fundraising. It struck a chord. 2,500+ liked the tweet.

I got a ton of DMs asking the opposite question: “What are the top things Founders do well when fundraising?”

Here's my top 10 👇👇👇
1/ Focus on traction

Investors are in the business of giving you money. But they need help.

When you’re running a startup, there are minimal data points to triangulate. This is where traction comes in.

Assuming you have a traction, then read on. If not, stop reading.
2/ Get your mind right.

You’re about to hear no. A LOT. Many meetings will make you doubt your idea. Some might even make you doubt yourself.

Surround yourself with a good peer group so you can honestly communicate how things are going through the process. It's not easy.
Read 11 tweets
28 Dec 20
0/ After evaluating 200+ startups this year, I've been in some awesome and not so awesome pitches.

Here are the top 10 mistakes I see Founders make that routinely derail fundraising 👇👇👇
1/ “If we just get 1% of the market we’ll be a billion dollar company”

Most software markets are winner take all, or at least winner take most. Dominant companies have a flywheel on talent, capital, product.

Explain why you'll be a major player, not a passive participant.
2/ Mistaken X for Y analogies - “We’re Peloton for Education”

If you’re pitching yourself as X for Y, make sure you understand X and Y intimately. These analogies often don’t work in practice because of business model particularities of X and industry dynamics of Y.
Read 12 tweets
24 Dec 20
0/ I tripled down on angel investing this year, investing $1M+ in ~20 companies in 2020. I’ve learned what feels like 5 years worth of lessons in 1 year of investing. Here are my 10 biggest takeaways for anybody interested in getting started investing:
1/ Ownership reality > ownership mindset.

The earlier you think of yourself as an investor, the better. Investing in startups is a cheat code to participating in the future with asymmetric upside. Worst case, you lose 1x your money; best case you 1000x it.
2/ Invest in founders that are better than you.

When you’re floored by a founder, work with them. Period. If you're with the right people you’ll either (a) make a killing because they’ll figure it out / see something you don’t or (b) learn a ton and develop a killer network.
Read 14 tweets
20 Nov 20
1/ Over the last 2 days, 3,000+ people pumped up a thread I wrote about ATL's success; but like all success, underneath lies a😤grind. Over the last 18 mo's I’ve learned a lot running an org w/ 100+ FTEs. Here’s 50 lessons I learned the hard way so you don’t have to.

Thread 👇
2/ Create an identity for your company

It’s so easy to get enamored by shiny objects. Identify the value in your industry and decide strategically where you want to go. There’s a lot of ways to drive impact, but you can’t do all of them at the same time. Focus is key.
3/ When in doubt, just ask “Why?”

Whenever I want to push deeply, I’ve found the easiest tactic is to ask “Why?” Asking why either gets us to ground truth or it highlights a gap in our thinking. If we can’t come up with a good answer, then I know we haven’t yet cracked the nut.
Read 53 tweets
19 Nov 20
1/ Last night I tweeted that Atlanta is on absolute fire. 2,300+ liked the tweet. There’s a special energy building here. So what is going on in this “overnight success hub”? Hint - it’s been 15 years in the making. Time for a 🔥 thread 👇👇👇
2/ Atlanta has historically been a Fortune 500 town. Today Atlanta is home to 26 F1000 companies (16 F500) - household names like @UPS, @Delta, @CocaCola. All have been instrumental to “increasing the size of the pie” - these companies cumulatively do $500B+ in revenue annually.
3/ ATL has had tech success, but it's been few and far between. Meanwhile, something deeper has been happening. Specialized expertise has been sewed into the city’s fabric - logistics, aerospace, retail, payments. Atlanta goes toe to toe with any other city on vertical expertise.
Read 17 tweets

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