Riding Trends – The Big Picture

To catch big trends like Apple, Garmin, RIMM and CROX is not as hard as riding them. I have sold way to early all my life. Most people have.

Listening to experienced Venture Capitalists is one of the best things I have done in the last few years to gain confidence in trends and bigger picture thinking.

My friend Francine sent me her post today from the ‘Always On’ conference at Stanford. Read it. It’s on the Gobal Shift from Joe Schoendorf of Accel Partners. Some of my favorite slices:

Everything is changing. Globalization will drive the next forty years. Change is increasing at an increasing rate.To have a prepared mind, you have to know that shift happens, and happens exponentially.

1 in 8 couples who were married in 2006 met online.

The Number 1 English speaking nation in the world is CHINA.

65 milion active sites on the web, increasing by 50k a day.

The number of text messages sent every day is now more than the global population.

It took 2 decades to sell the first billion mobile phones, 1400 days to sell the second billion, and under 1000 days to sell the third billion. Rate of growth in China and Africa is enormous. There are more mobile phones in China than there are people living in Europe.

Private currencies will replace national currencies. Economic domains will replace nation states.

The last one really has me thinking. It’s going to be gigantic. Paypal was the first big mover but still not exactly what he means. I will have more on this one for sure.