The Internet is not just a technical innovation; the Internet is perhaps the greatest social innovation of all-time.
For the first time in human history almost everyone on earth is instantly connected. This changes everything. Sometimes I'll just sit and think for hours about how different this makes the world we live in. We're playing by a completely new set of rules -- we're playing a completely new game, and even the most innovative people on earth are just barely starting to make sense of it all.
I think we're barely even scratching the surface of what's possible and what is to come.
It's not as obvious as you would think - consider any of the great companies of the past 10 or so years. If they had never been founded, it probably wouldn't be painfully obvious that we need them. It only becomes obvious in retrospect that we were actually in dire need the whole time.
Or look around the room you're in. What will change under the circumstances where everyone is instantly connected to each other and simultaneously to the largest data store the world has ever none? I can imagine ways that almost everything in the room I'm in now will be different. Most won't be good startup ideas, but I would venture a guess that some would.
We're all treading on very fresh ground. This is only the beginning.
very true.
PG articulates the "obviuosness" in his essay http://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
Founders tend to live in future and build the missing things.
Hence these holes appear obvious to them.
For the first time in human history almost everyone on earth is instantly connected. This changes everything. Sometimes I'll just sit and think for hours about how different this makes the world we live in. We're playing by a completely new set of rules -- we're playing a completely new game, and even the most innovative people on earth are just barely starting to make sense of it all.
I think we're barely even scratching the surface of what's possible and what is to come.
It's not as obvious as you would think - consider any of the great companies of the past 10 or so years. If they had never been founded, it probably wouldn't be painfully obvious that we need them. It only becomes obvious in retrospect that we were actually in dire need the whole time.
Or look around the room you're in. What will change under the circumstances where everyone is instantly connected to each other and simultaneously to the largest data store the world has ever none? I can imagine ways that almost everything in the room I'm in now will be different. Most won't be good startup ideas, but I would venture a guess that some would.
We're all treading on very fresh ground. This is only the beginning.