VC. A few days ago, I exchanged emails with a journalist friend.
She said the following, "I'm just wondering which sectors/investment areas/types of start-ups you think will be exciting investments in 2010, and which you're staying away from because they're over-hyped, not yet ready, etc. " Today I sent a friend in the VC business an email outlining some areas I wanted to focus on this year so we could find some things to work on together. In thinking about those two events, I decided I should just post the answers right here. So here goes: I should say that this is my view, it probably reflects the views of my partners but I haven't shared this with them so I can't be sure. 1) Mobile: I am very excited about Android. 2) Mobile What? 3) Gaming: I believe gaming is the most powerful form of entertainment and education right now. 5) Cloud based platforms and APIs – Many web services have APIs today.
So these are the six areas I'll be looking closely at in 2010. The future is in services « Non-Linear VC. Last week, I attended GigaOm’s Structure ’09 Conference: Put Cloud Computing to Work.
It was worthwhile to attend and I intend to return next year. It was exciting to see how the services business model is being rapidly adopted by the technology-delivery value-chain. In a talk titled The Cloud in Context, Russ Daniels, VP and CTO of Cloud Services Strategy at HP put it most succinctly, describing HP’s vision as: “Everything is a Service”.
Full video of Daniels’ talk here. It is no wonder then that the operating model through which value is delivered to customers (whether enterprise, smb or consumer) is turning away from products and toward services. Products turning into services Consider the transformation taking place in each of the following areas: In each case, the value proposition – once delivered to the customer in the form of a one-time sale/license product – can now be accessed by the customer through a CapEx light service. An Investors View An ecosystem play. Areas I’m most likely to invest in during 2010 « Non-Linear VC. I have always been fairly thematic in my investment approach.
For me, the process starts with identifying big markets that are either 1) emerging (and will therefore be created over the next several years) or 2) undergoing some structural shift that will enable new entrants to grab market share from incumbents. I have seen Companies succeed in both types of markets and so I don’t have a preference for either approach. In 2010, there are a several big themes that I’m tracking which are likely to influence my investment selection during the year. Everything is a service For several years I’ve been spouting off about the notion that “everything is turning into a service”. Platforms For me, 2010 will be the year of the platform. Payments. What I’m Looking Forward to in 2010. I still can’t really believe that the “noughties” have nearly gone; it’ll be 2010 in less than a month. I’ve been thinking about 2010 (what an impossibly futuristic date that sounds!) And what it might hold in store for me as a web worker: Faster, Better Browsers The ongoing browser war means that browsers are improving at an almost unbelievable rate.
In particular next year I’m looking forward to using Chrome on my MacBook, and seeing whether Google can cultivate an extension ecosystem for Chrome that rivals Firefox’s. Faster web apps could mean that in 2010 I shift nearly all my working entirely to web apps, and effectively have a “virtual desktop” that I can access anywhere. For more on where browsers are headed, check out my post “What Does the Future Hold For Browsers” over on GigaOM Pro (subscription required). Apps Taking Advantage of New Technologies: HTML5, Geolocation, Canvas, Web Fonts, and More Tighter Integration Between Web Apps Gadget Lust: iPhone 4G. Industry Intelligence.