What About The 99%?

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, and the list goes on and on regarding technological advancements the rest of the world doesn’t care for whatsoever. The tech industry as a whole appears to have inevitably developed a somewhat distorted reality as an effect of these rapidly changing technologies. The industry has undoubtedly provided the world with an unprecedented amount of value, and will continue to do over the years to come.

My biggest concern at the moment is that the 1%, or the tech industry and its peers, have completely lost touch with people in the real-world. We’ve fully immersed ourselves in the extraordinary advancements, inflated valuations, oversubscribed funding rounds, and have left behind the rest of society. You know.. like the people who aren’t developers, designers, founders, product managers, or VC’s. There are other people in the world who aren’t aware of what TechCrunch and Product Hunt are, and it might be a wake up call that those people can be your customers also. They’re people, who may not be tech-savvy, but have problems also. We’ve forgotten what it means to be empathetic, and most importantly, to be human. To build things that resonate with other people who aren’t founders and VC’s. To put ourselves in the shoes of others who may not be in such a privileged position.

I’m not a saint by any means, and I’m guilty of this as well because there’s a rush that comes with being in tech. I’ve had a very eclectic upbringing that exposed me to many different walks of life. I’ve worked jobs cleaning restaurants, working front desks at gyms, mail rooms in corporate offices, traveled to countries in poverty, hung out with lower income families, but I’ve seen the nicer side of things as well, which I’m more than grateful for. I can tell you from experience that the majority of people can’t resonate with the things people are building right now. It’s too far fetched. Some people in the world are now getting access to a phone for the first time, and it might even be their first television. They have more concerns than watching cinematic films in AR. I believe we should collectively attempt to address this issue.

Investors are running around like blind sheep looking for buzz markets, and founders are making up problems to fulfill the needs of investors to raise their next round. There’s a vicious cycle going on, while there are people in the world who aren’t fucking able to read, who need education, or can’t find a job. There happens to be a ton of room to innovate in grey-area markets that can be capitalized on right now all over the world, but they’re not sexy. It may be time the industry gets a wake up call and starts to look outside for answers. Maybe… just a thought…we should create businesses that make money, that add value, and not businesses for VC’s to simply show their friends at cocktail parties.

There’s a thrill involved with the current state of the industry, but is it sustainable for the long haul? Might be a good idea to look at markets that aren’t sexy with a ton of opportunity, whether in emerging countries or right here in the US. There’s more to life than UI/UX, new frameworks, and emerging technologies. If everyone’s looking in, don’t you think we should take a look the other way. There may just be a whole world out there outside of Silicon Valley.