26/03/2014
TECH STARTUPS - ARE WE READY FOR THEM?
Are we ready for the Internet blackout?
The proliferating tech startups continue to yield quite load of surprises. The majority of the global population, over 2 billion of us, have, one way or the other been significantly affected by a tech startup making use of the Internet.
Now before you look around with that puzzled face trying to find someone affected by this viral bug, here's the sad truth. You are one of us. Yeah Facebook bit u.
Not that there's anything wrong with being touched by a startup(wanted to underline that but couldn't, hint hint Facebook), in fact, some of us have started leveraging the power of these startups to grow our businesses.
What I find shocking, something that actually prompted this post is the continued support that startups continue to amass. Yes, financial support with no guarantees.
Gone are the days when entrepreneurs relied on banks with their traditional funding models to finance their ventures.
...You are still reading?... Great!... You can certainly read more than a tweet. You are one of a kind....
Not that the traditional financing models didn't work, they did. It is however, important to note that tech startups don't subscribe to convention and would probably get no funding for their ventures in the traditional system.
Firstly, the future of tech startups through the eyes of a banker is never certain. Banks want certainty. Remember, it's not their money they using, it's mine, yours too, and they want to be certain that they will be getting it back before we go all GANGnam style on them.
Secondly, tech startups don't necessarily have all the financial management skills, human resources, often required by banks. These startups are usually founded by young college dropouts. A complete no no for a bank. They resemble a black hole to the banks.
Now here's what caught my attention. A number of tech startups have been racking in millions of UD$ with no prospect of making a profit.
WhatsApp for example, was recently bought for US$19 billion by Facebook. WhatsApp has not made a profit yet.... let me rephrase that. WhatsApp has been losing money since it was founded and still has no plan on how to generate revenue.
This is just one example.
Now the questions that bug me are:
1. Were we ever prepared for this shift?
2. Are the banks, that are now facing a difficult challenge with the potential proliferation of virtual currency, preparing themselves for the inevitable?
3. Are we, the consumers prepared for this shift?
4. What happens to us in an Internet blackout?
5. Is there back up, like in the case of electricity?
6. Have we started training ourselves for the complete digital world?
7. Have we started considering new career paths since most of our jobs will be rendered obsolete in a couple of years?
Well, all those questions can only be answered by an entrepreneur. He will spring up soon, among us and we will be asking ourselves "where did he come from" when he gets millions of dollars for a black hole.... I mean another tech startup....
Thank you for reading this pointless post. It just goes to show that the tech world has got u hooked.
Don't be afraid to share, most people don't read more than a tweet these days.... They will not get this far.
