Almost 20 years since the dot-com era, the Nasdaq is reaching levels last seen during the previous boom. At the same time, we are witnessing business model changes driven by architectural transformations which could disrupt the global technology and media industry.
Tomorrow, we can expect new technologies enabling the internet of things to create opportunities for future fast-growth companies. Some will become industry leaders – the Xiaomis and Ubers of tomorrow. Many more will fail – either because their offering wasn’t differentiated enough, or because their management made the wrong decisions.
But as they look to scale, today’s fast-growing technology companies are in a radically different position from those in the previous boom. Their ability to source talent, set up new operations and sell to customers online means they are global from day one. They are staying private longer and many of their valuations are more grounded in reality than their forebears’. Rather than locking into large infrastructure expenses early on, today's growing tech companies can also pay as they go.
In this environment, established companies need to use new technologies, explore options like M&A, improve profitability and extend their operations worldwide. Newer, but still established, technology companies need to scale their operations, acquire financing, expand their product lines and extend their customer markets beyond their first domestic market.
