For more than 10 years we’re interviewed the people that changed the tech world. What are some tips and tricks to identify which trends emerge, survive and fail? 

SHOW: 522

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SHOW NOTES:

• 2020 Year in Review
• 2019 Year in Review
• 2018 Year in Review
• 2017 Year in Review
• 2016 Year in Review

IDENTIFYING TRENDS TO HIGHLIGHT ON THE PODCAST

1. 522 shows, 57 companies acquired, $4.9B in VC funding, $58B in Acquisitions/IPOs
2. Track Record of Founding Team, Macro Trends, Societal Trends

VC TRENDS vs. TECHNOLOGY TRENDS vs. CUSTOMER BUYING TRENDS

1. There is a very long lifecycle between university research vs. early VC investments vs. early technology trends vs. customer buying trends. Often 10-20 years.
2. Gracely’s Theorem: “There are very few truly new ideas, rather there are mostly advancements because of improved CPUs and Networking speeds.”
3. The Platform vs. Feature test: A baseline platform or higher-level platform? 
4. The Bed, Bath & Beyond test: Is it more than 50% cheaper than previous generations?
5. The Friction test: Does it remove significant barriers to previous generations?
6. The Don’t Fight a Land War in Asia test: Is it trying to be too many things to too many people?
7. The Follow-the-Money test: How do companies around this technology make money? Does the ecosystem make money? Are there adjacent paths to monetization?
8. The Culture Change test: People don’t like change, especially for change’s sake. Changing culture is one of the hardest things to do at most companies. 
9. The Re-Education test: How much of a learning curve is required to make this technology successful? 

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