To follow up on my previous post about macro trends in technology, here’s a list of 16 major areas that another prominent VC firm, Andreesen Horowitz, is following as they make their investments. I love the Andreessen Horowitz mantra, Software is Eating the World. Witness the voracious appetite of email for the USPS’ business, Amazon for Walmart’s, Wikipedia for encyclopedias, Instagram for Kodak’s, Uber for taxis, Airbnb for hotels, and so on.
The list below catalogues the meta-level technologies that are enabling these sorts of companies. Without an understandable personal computer with an internet connection in the homes of millions, Wikipedia wouldn’t exist and wouldn’t be used. Without mobile phones with GPS sensors, Uber wouldn’t be possible. As more and more sensors proliferate into our lives as part of the contextual revolution, we will continue to see new and innovative companies pop up that eat existing industries and create entirely new ones based at their most fundamental level on software.
