The ‘Unsexy’ Industry Landscape
There’s been a lot of hype recently in the technology ecosystem around ‘unsexy’ startups — companies applying a digital-first approach to traditional, old-school industries. Flexport in freight forwarding is a great example. For a while now, I’ve been interested in realms within real estate, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and life sciences where I think Internet and software companies can make a substantial impact.
Inspired by the work of Eric Stromberg (The Startup Idea Matrix) and Teddy Citrin (The Direct-to-Consumer Landscape) with their startup landscapes, I thought I’d compile a matrix of 25 ‘unsexy’ markets I’ve found interesting and information about them from IBISWorld.
This is by no means comprehensive, and it’s critical to remember that enterprises in these spaces often require significant domain expertise.
The next step would be to see what software-driven business models would make sense given where the opportunity areas are, and if you’re looking to explore one of these areas, please drop me a note at aashaysanghvi[at]gmail.com!
