Tech Startups Are Over
Not literally, but on the semantic sense.
Technology has been part of humanity since homo sapiens created tools to kill and chop animals to eat. Then, in early 90’s the term “tech startup” emerged in reference to a new kind of companies that use the magic of internet and digital technologies to deliver value to the market. And the term stuck with us till today.
There’s nothing technological about digitalising a traditional service.
It’s rare that a new company today emerges in the so-called tech world and creates a piece of technology that is revolutionary like back on the day it was the browser, IRC, or streaming. Most tech companies take traditional services (buy, sell, rent, inform) and use the internet and digital means to deliver value. There’s no new technology created and therefore no point at calling them tech companies.
Let’s save the term “tech company” for true innovators.
At the digital world there are plenty, specially since the rise of AI. From services that can write perfect copies for marketing, to automatisation of services, just to mention a couple. For those creating marketplaces and e-commerces, let’s use another term.
Here my proposal.
I suggest we call them “digitalised services”. Because that’s how they create and deliver value.
New technologies are created in a variety of fields, some involve the internet, many don’t. It’s time to stop referring to internet-related business as tech business, as it’s the lat technology that has been created.
