In the early days of the pandemic, Sequoia wrote in the article “Coronavirus: The Black Swan of 2020”:
Having weathered every business downturn for nearly fifty years, we’ve learned an important lesson — nobody ever regrets making fast and decisive adjustments to changing circumstances. In downturns, revenue and cash levels always fall faster than expenses. In some ways, business mirrors biology. As Darwin surmised, those who survive “are not the strongest or the most intelligent, but the most adaptable to change.”
During previous recessions, great companies have come out, like Uber, Airbnb, Rent the Runway, and even Trader Joe’s. Coming off this crazy year, a couple trends / industries that I’m excited about are the following:
Healthcare / MedTech
This year has made many people start prioritizing and investing more in their health. Telehealth and behavioral science platforms have taken off such as Headspace, Noom, and Hims. Consumers value convenience and being nudged towards health goals like exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness practices.
✨ Product opportunities: products that provide preventative care, help with building healthy habits, regular tracking and insights on progress, convenient and easy to use and replaces traditional specialized services, low cost and time commitment with high frequency of interactions
🏢 Companies I’m interested in:
- Oura: smart ring that tracks and monitors sleep
- Eightsleep: smart mattress to sleep better by controlling and monitoring temperature
- Real: affordable, on demand therapy and progress tracking with topics from career to anxiety to relationships
- Vessel: in-home wellness tracker with health metrics from nutrition and hydration to toxin and stress levels
Communities
We live in a digital age, where we have an opportunity to engage with a vast group of people, but it can also be lonely at times, which Gaby Goldberg discusses in her article “My Modern Friends and Me”. Covid has definitely added to this need for a platform to create meaningful relationships and connect remotely. I recently joined the Twitter and Clubhouse world (know I’m a bit late to the game) and it’s been exciting for me to see the connections and conversations that form from immediately diving into deep topics with strangers creating meaningful friendships.
✨ Product opportunities: platforms that cut out the small talk and jump into conversations, ability to find groups with similar interests, mindful of censorship and inclusivity
🏢 Companies I’m interested in:
- Upstream: moderated events with speed networking breakouts
- Icebreaker: breakout activities and conversation prompts
- Quilt: audio social platform for feel good conversations
- Ethel’s Club and Somewhere Good: social network and events for BIPOC
Future of Work / EdTech
I know these are two different trends / industries, but think there’s a lot of overlap, especially when it comes to HR and recruiting. The broader access to learning and recruiting opportunities also poses an exciting opportunity for increased diversity in traditionally fenced off industries.
✨ Product opportunities: products that provide learning tools and resources that translate into career opportunities
🏢 Companies I’m interested in:
- Forage: virtual work experiences with recruiting pipeline
- Himalaya: Masterclass-concept in audio form including courses from Elon Musk, Malcolm Gladwell, and Seth Godin
- Upperclass: platform to help students learn about career paths
Dating
As a single, 20-something, living in NYC, I’m recognizing the struggles of meeting people in this digital age. I’ve been obsessed with Aziz Ansari’s book Modern Romance for a couple years now, which comedically uses behavioral science research to discuss the choice paralysis that occurs from all the options we have on modern dating platforms.
✨ Product opportunities: minimize the number of simultaneous interactions, encourage users to value potential partners on less superficial characteristics, gamify dating in a way that reward quality over quantity
🏢 Companies I’m interested in:
- Monet: dating app with drawing component
- S’more: love is blind in an app
- Ship: friends make matches for you
Media
Content is king when it comes to media. With the success of Disney+ and failure of Quibi, it’ll be interesting to see how large media companies continue to expand their product offering and maintain their footholds. In particular, we’ve seen a huge emergence in audio content and opportunities to leverage existing influencers.
✨ Product opportunities: leveraging existing fanbase from the creator economy, varying content forms (vertical v horizontal screen, audio, short form, mini series, nostalgic shows and movies)
🏢 Companies I’m interested in: mostly excited about how big media companies are expanding their portfolio, such as:
- Disney+ announcing shows with the D’Amelios and Kardashians on Hulu
- Spotify exclusive podcasts including the Joe Rogan Experience and Archewell Audio (with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle)
- Amazon’s acquisition of Wondery podcast network
Creator Economy
We’re living the age of Social 3.0, as discussed by Tasha Kim, with the ability for influencers to monetize from their following through views, sponsorship, exclusive content, and merch / products. This year, Charli D’Amelio reached 100M followers on TikTok with sponsored posts from Dunkin’ Donuts and Moncler. Creators are leveraging platforms like Patreon for additional, recurring sources of income. Chiara Ferragni is even looking to IPO her own influencer brand.
✨ Product opportunities: hard to say what will be the next big social media platform, but opportunities for products that build relationships between creators, brands, and followers; help manage streams of income, negotiations, legal contracts, CRM tool
🏢 Companies I’m interested in:
- AspireIQ: connect influencers and brands and manage deals
- Gumroad: facilitates the sale of products by creators directly to consumers
Goodbye 2020. Hello 2021.
