The Ecosystem of Expertise

Over the last decade, we have seen start-ups change industries, take out middle-people and in many ways create efficiencies through technology.  It is the next generation of thinkers re-tooling verticals that are ripe for change.  What has become more and more apparent as these start-ups begin to mature and shift market share is that many of them have built businesses on their own expertise that has helped consumers and companies.

New brands that sell directly to consumers have side-stepped the retail stores as the only avenue to peddle their product.  It has made a dramatic impact on the companies revenues and margins.  They are all scrambling from Macy’s to Sears to Whole Foods to look at their organizations from bottom up.  How can they become more efficient and continue to bring in the customer?  Perhaps Amazon will be the new leader in this space and show them all how it is done in 2020 and beyond.

I am invested in several start-ups that are creating businesses that help other businesses eliminate an entire division that oversaw something because they can hire an outside company to be that expert and in turn be more profitable and efficient doing that.   That is a win-win for everyone.

We are just beginning to see the many companies built 5 years ago start to get serious traction that results in consumer behavior shifts.  Although 92% of products are still bought in store vs online and that will start to accelerate in the years to come from 8% purchased online to 50%.  Companies that operate with a smaller staff of people and overhead because of the expert companies that they can hire for a particular job.  New brands at the grocery store are starting to grab a lot more of the shelf space than they had 5 years ago.

And of course there is more but these subtle shifts are happening at a bird’s eye view and we are not that far from an onslaught.