I’ve been doing a fair amount of angel investing over the last few years. I think it helps keep me in touch with the trends in tech to see startups from the inside. And it is fun to think I might be part of the next big thing.
I was at a meet up sponsored by an incubator that I plan to invest in and was talking with their next group of recruits. Man did I feel old. I was talking to a marketing guy and mentioned gorilla marketing. He looked at me like he honestly wanted to ask “is that where a person dresses up in a gorilla suit with a company logo on it and stands on a street corner?” OK, I might be exaggerating a little but it struck me how the generation shift has happened. The new kids on the block are a generation that has never known a world without Nintendo, Microsoft Windows, the internet, and phones that are not connected to the wall with 20-foot tangled cords.
Another enlightening example was when my wife and I were watching TV the other night and an Apple commercial came on with three kids playing different instruments on their iOS devices. In unison my wife and I said, “Wow, they don’t even have to move a muscle anymore!”
I used to be the youngest guy in the room and now, at 46, I’m the elder statesman. These two experiences, along with a few others along the way, have made me understand that if I don’t get it, it is probably the next big thing 🙂
I have never tried to run my help desk software company in any traditional way and whereas many lessons of the past are important, it’s just as important not to repeat the past. We have to look at the front line help desk employees of today and understand that what they want may not be the same as the generation before them. That is why we keep pushing iSupport forward. Not only do we need to keep our current customers happy, we need to constantly add features that keep us fresh. I think the old saying ‘business as usual’ has never been less applicable than it is today.
All the best,
Daren
