(public).sospep.subjects ~ view article ~ VC-predictions-for-2015

<h1 style="text-align: center;">VC Predictions for 2015 - A compilation</h1>
<h2>[WHAT]</h2>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;by Don Sagrott, founder @sospep.com - we gathered up a number of VC predictions articles. We then organized all of those predictions&nbsp;by the <a href="/view/article?id=4161" target="_blank">startup&nbsp;market sectors</a>&nbsp;that the prediction would apply to.</li>
</ol>
<h2>[WHY]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] We (sospep) are going to build a compiled list of predictions for 2015 from some of the industry leaders in the Venture Capital market.</li>
<ol>
<li>] We (can/may) then use that list for&nbsp;guidance/direction in selecting companies for our startup companies portfolio.</li>
<li>] We may also&nbsp;track these "predictors" to see how accurate they&nbsp;turn out to be&nbsp;with their predictions.(for future reference FFR)</li>
</ol>
<li>] PLAY &nbsp;"Hunting Unicorns" -&nbsp;&nbsp;for fun &amp; profit </li>
<ol>
<li>] see the "how to" section below for details on joining the game.</li>
</ol>
<li>] fun - tracking&nbsp;some of the most&nbsp;interesting startup companies in the world today</li>
<ol>
<li>] who will be the next google?&nbsp;how will that companies product(s) change our lives, your life?</li>
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<li>] fun - discovery</li>
<ol>
<li>] the next important / interesting app,&nbsp; the next must have gadget, gizmo or trinket. The company making it is going to surface here long before you see it in the app store or read about it on theVerge.</li>
</ol>
<li>] profit</li>
<ol>
<li>] We (sospep) are offering&nbsp;real money ( $ xxx.xx - canadian dollars) - in a winner takes all contest. Pick a team of startup companies&nbsp;to create&nbsp;your portfolio and&nbsp;then compare the&nbsp;performance of your portfolio to the rest of the players in the startup game.</li>
<li>] pssssssssst .... my top 3 tips on how you can win this game!!</li>
</ol></ol>
<h2>[WHERE]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] <a href="/view/article?id=4196" target="_blank">VC-Predictions-2015</a> - Business Insider contributor Eugene Kim -&nbsp;gathers 16 predictions from&nbsp;11 different VC's from&nbsp;7 different VC firms.</li>
<li>] <a href="/view/article?id=4185" target="_blank">VC-predictions-2015</a> - Forbes contributor - attends a VC Discussion Panel&nbsp;and gathers 5 predictions from 5 different VC's from 5 different VC firms.</li>
<li>]&nbsp;<a href="/view/article?id=4157" target="_blank">VC-Predictions-2015</a> - Techcrunch contributor Jonathan Shieber - gathers predictions(17) of several&nbsp;different VC's(7) from a handful of different VC firms(5).</li>
<li>] <a href="/view/article?id=4175" target="_blank">VC-predictions-2015</a> - by <a href="/view/person?id=314" target="_blank">Boris Wertz</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp; 4 predictions from partner Boris,&nbsp;@ version one ventures - one of the top tech early-stage investors in North-America and the founding partner of version one ventures.</li>
<li>] <a href="/view/article?id=4160" target="_blank">VC-Predictions-2015</a>&nbsp;- by <a href="/view/person?id=314" target="_blank">Sergio Monsalve</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp; 5 predictions from&nbsp;Sergio, partner&nbsp;@norwest venture partners</li>
<li>] <a href="/view/article?id=4159" target="_blank">VC-Predictions-2015</a> - by <a href="/view/person?id=313" target="_blank">Fred Wilson</a>&nbsp;- 11 predictions from Fred, partner at union square ventures</li>
</ol>
<h2>[WHEN]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] 2015-01-15</li>
</ol>
<h2>[VC PREDICTIONS FOR 2015]</h2>
<ol>
<li>[BIG.DATA]</li>
<ol>
<li>] Last year was a big year for "big data," a buzzy term that refers to new tools that let companies analyze massive amounts of data from new sources like tiny sensors or website visits.</li>
<li>] Companies like Cloudera, DataStax, and DataGravity went through massive rounds of funding, while Hadoop provider Hortonworks and the data analytics firm New Relic went public.</li>
<li>] Steve Herrod of General Catalyst says ... this represents even more opportunities for next year. "2015 will be a fun year as these companies all focus on revenue."</li>
<li>] Greylock's Jerry Chen sees ...&nbsp;&nbsp;Hadoop maturing beyond a data hub, becoming a broader application platform, and he said, "The next generation of business-critical apps will be built on Hadoop, just like ERP apps were built on relational databases like Oracle." But big data won't be tied only to Silicon Valley or tech companies.</li>
<li>] Emergence Capital's Kevin Spain says,&nbsp;"New sensors and drones will revolutionize data collection in industries such as agriculture and land surveying."</li>
<li>] Bessemer's Brian Feinstein and Kent Bennett say this will lead to more software development for data collection across all industries, including traditionally old sectors like oil &amp; gas.</li>
<li>] Norwest Venture Partners' Matt Howard says. "The hottest job in corporate America will be the chief data officer,"</li>
<li>] VC Discussion Panel -&nbsp; BIG DATA + Associated SaaS companies - ] example tachyus.com - which uses sensors and other technology to help oil and gas producers improve production, ] exampe - Infer - SAAS companies realize they&rsquo;re sitting on a treasure trove of data that they can leverage, Infer is one company doing this, helping to improve sales productivity.</li>
</ol>
<li>[EDUCATION]</li>
<ol>
<li>] VC Discussion Panel&nbsp;Education business directly targeting students, example Udemy</li>
<li>] education by Sergio Monsalve - Online is at a true inflection point and will accelerate. ] Just this month, Stanford&rsquo;s Graduate School of Business took its investment in online education to a whole new level by announcing that a new program for company executives will be delivered entirely by way of the Internet. ] According to Global Industry Analyst, online education in 2015 will reach $107 billion, which will represent a doubling in just three years. ] There are many incumbent institutions now offering online curriculum, and several newer companies with innovative models making incredible progress like Udemy*, Coursera, Lynda and PluralSight.] I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if these garnered &ldquo;unicorn&rdquo; valuations and grew even faster.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li>[ENTERTAINMENT]</li>
<ol>
<li>] crickets</li>
</ol>
<li>[HEALTH]</li>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;patient centric by Fred Wilson -&nbsp;the health care sector will start to feel the pressure of real patient centered healthcare brought on by the trifecta of the smartphone becoming the EMR, patients treating patients (p2p medicine), and real market economies entering health care (people paying for their own healthcare). this is a megatrend that will take decades to fully play out but we will see the start of it in 2015</li>
</ol>
<li>[.gov]</li>
<ol>
<li>] crickets</li>
</ol>
<li>] CLOUD.IaaS<ol>
<li>] Most startups use Amazon Web Services for hosting their services, AWS is the fastest-growing business within Amazon.&nbsp;many VCs expect its growth to slow next year.</li>
<li>] AWS will continue to be a big player but will face increased competition from Google and Microsoft.General Catalyst's Steve Herrod says ...</li>
<li>] AWS is dominant in the space but says Google will challenge it in the developer ecosystem, while Microsoft will redouble its efforts on Azure.NEA's Jon Sakoda agrees</li>
<li>]&nbsp;AWS' dominance will weaken Bessemer's Ethan Kurzweil says"as alternatives that are specially tailored to a specific use case or company emerge."</li>
<li>] But this may also present more opportunities for AWS, Herrod says, as it will push it "further into the medium and larger companies that dominate IT spending."</li>
<li>] cloud wars INTENSIFY ] by jon sakoda, general partner @nea&nbsp;-&nbsp;&nbsp;wars started years ago, but, largely speaking, Amazon&nbsp;has been uncontested and has quietly become the dominant player in the&nbsp;space. In 2015, Amazon will face a multi-front war as Google will launch&nbsp;its assault on Amazon&rsquo;s traditionally strong presence in the developer&nbsp;ecosystem, and Microsoft will combat Amazon in the enterprise market by&nbsp;re-doubling its efforts on Azure.</li>
</ol></li>
<li>[IOT]</li>
<ol>
<li>] software not hardware&nbsp;by Sergio Monsalve&nbsp;] In 2015, it will be about the software, not the hardware. ] Last year we saw feverish M&amp;A activity in hardware but, next year, I expect to see the IoT battleground shift to software. ] I also predict that hardware IoT will prove out to become much more of a commodity.&nbsp; ] We already are seeing some of this played out in the smartwatch world with Apple, FitBit and others focused on matching features and commoditized offerings. ] In 2015, I expect IoT software and services to take center stage.</li>
</ol>
<li>[MAKERS]</li>
<ol>
<li>] crickets</li>
</ol>
<li>[MARKETPLACES]</li>
<ol>
<li>] VC Discussion Panel -&nbsp; Marketplaces &ndash; specialized and undeveloped niches ] example udemy, example lendingclub</li>
<li>] the end of the superstore in verticals ] by Neil Sequiera, Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners - First it was Circuit City, then Radio Shack, followed by Best Buy. There is still a place for Walmart and grocery stores but not vertical players in alternative commerce. That is were the web and mobile win. With companies like The Honest Company, there will be a rise of vertical commerce with a unique connection to the customer directly.</li>
<li>] new era retail and commerce innovation ] by Katherine Barr - &nbsp;The traditional retail infrastructure and supply chain logistics as we know it is being disrupted by companies creating new technology platforms and data-enabled distribution systems that have predictive analytics, better customer profiling, deeper consumer engagement, blended online and offline data, and more agile supply chains. The supply-chain has been fragmented and inefficient for years, particularity with the delivery of heavyweight goods to the consumer, which until now have been expensive and complex. E-commerce platforms are being transformed for the consumer and the manufacturer by leveraging powerful analytics and forecasting tools helping to alleviate &ldquo;last mile&rdquo; (i.e. from warehouse to consumer) problem that is the key logistics issue &ndash; where most of the cost, complexity and fragmentation lies, especially with the delivery of heavyweight items</li>
<li>]&nbsp;Marketplaces 2.0&rdquo; by Sergio Monsalve - &nbsp; is a theme that will thrive as a mega-venture category. ] We witnessed major financing including sky-high valuations from LendingClub* ($3.6 billion), Airbnb ($10 billion in April) and Grubhub ($1.9 billion in April). ] Emerging marketplaces like Minted and Udemy are now real contenders capable of challenging the last generation of marketplaces like Craigslist and eBay. ] I believe that within just five years, the public valuations of all major online marketplaces like Etsy, LendingClub, Udemy, Minted*, Grubhub, Zillow and Airbnb will together approach and perhaps surpass Apple&rsquo;s valuation today, and that is not even counting Alibaba ] This dynamic will give way to the birth of the &ldquo;Marketplaces 2.0&rdquo; era, which could drive venture returns and improve employment markets.</li>
</ol>
<li>[MEDIA] </li>
<ol>
<li>] downside to consolidation and failure of media properties&nbsp;by Neil Sequiera, - Consumers realize that this isn&rsquo;t a good thing &mdash; AT&amp;T plus Direct TV, Comcast plus Time Warner Cable. The fewer people there are to compete on the price of cable, phone and, most importantly, high-speed data, as well as provide thoughtful journalistic integrity is a concern and the consumers will realize this in 2015</li>
</ol>
<li>[MOBILE]</li>
<ol>
<li>] Apps that are &ldquo;deeply linked&rdquo; by VC Discussion Panel&nbsp; -</li>
<li>] Xiaomi to the USA by Fred Wilson ]&nbsp;This will bring a strong player in the non-google android sector into the US market and legitimize a &ldquo;third mobile OS&rdquo; in the western world. The good news for developers is developing for non-google android is not much different than developing for google android.</li>
</ol>
<li>[MESSAGING]&nbsp;</li>
<ol>
<li>] more asian competition by Fred Wilson ] More asian penetration into the US market will come from the messenger sector as both Line and WeChat make strong moves to gain a share of the lucrative US messenger market</li>
</ol>
<li>[NEW] undefined</li>
<ol>
<li>] Who knows&nbsp; by VC Discussion Panel &ndash; ] &ldquo;Sectors are an illusion. My only algorithm is &lsquo;Would I want to join these people as a founder?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s more than investing your money, it&rsquo;s investing your life.&rdquo;&nbsp; example cotap&nbsp;] If you want to do seed-stage right, you have to be in a place where you can&rsquo;t see a market yet,&rdquo; said Goldman. &ldquo;I look for people who can tell me a story on why the company they&rsquo;re building now is the exact right one to build right now and why they&rsquo;re the ones to build it.&rdquo;</li>
<li>] tech enablement creates more entrepeneurs - by Tony Tijan - Real-time and mobile services have empowered a new segment of workforce that thrives on flexible and independent work. This has enabled those that aren&rsquo;t able to (or simply don&rsquo;t want to) fulfill 9-5 jobs to enter the workforce and creates a prevalence of non-traditional careers in services.&nbsp;In 2014&nbsp;the U.S.&nbsp;has 18 million independent workers. Expect that number to increase at sharp rates in 2015.</li>
<li>] government creates more entrepeneurs ]&nbsp;by Tony Tijan - 2014 saw changes in policy that enable the entrepreneur with greater independence and freedom. More lenient immigration policies will allow people to pursue entrepreneurship, while affordable individual health care makes traditional employment less of a draw. These policy changes will drive a massive influx of entrepreneurs in 2015 and beyond.</li>
<li>]&nbsp;Life Tech Will Take on New Life: ] by Katherine Barr, In life, time really is money, and a major source of time is spent on home and family tasks. Life tech allows digitally-enabled services, intelligent personal agents and mobile-device-enabled communication and collaboration infrastructure to truly optimize consumers&rsquo; lives. Similar to how ERP helped to organize the business side of our lives, life tech promises to organize the personal side of our lives In addition to companies like Nest. Other companies, such as TicketFly and Ruby Ribbon, have products and services that optimize, personalize and automate our lives as consumers and are creating a smart world that shifts and responds to our needs.</li>
</ol>
<li>[CLOUD.PaaS]<ol>
<li>] app-development technology called "containers". startup docker is leading and coveted by industry giants, who are lining up to partner with them.</li>
<li>] Jerry Chen at Greylock believes this is just the beginning. "Container technologies and adoption will grow immensely, and Docker will get deployed in production by major enterprise customers," he says.</li>
<li>] Steve Herrod agrees: "The rise of Docker has been one of the true stories of 2014 with its momentum spurring a huge collection of startups betting on its rise."But Herrod also says 2015 will be the year container companies really get down to work. "The rise is real," he says, "but I believe 2015 will be the year some of the hype comes down to earth and the real work of making it usable by enterprises gets going." </li>
<li>] network virtualization&nbsp; Steve Herrod, -&nbsp;Virtualization will continue to rise in popularity and finally take the main stage in networking &ndash; we have seen this starting to take place with the acquisition of Nicira and ACE.</li>
</ol></li>
<li>[money] BITCOIN</li>
<ol>
<li>] Killer app - We&rsquo;ve seen Bitcoin adoption by major retailers like Overstock.com and Dell, but there&rsquo;s still too much volatility and regulatory uncertainty for Bitcoin to be used as a mainstream currency in North America anytime soon. I have long believed that Bitcoin is a beautiful and powerful technology, with great developer adoption&mdash;but&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/bwertz/status/511678396364247040" target="_blank">where are the apps</a> that solve real problems? We shouldn&rsquo;t look for much traction with the current use case (payments in North America), as most consumers in North America don&rsquo;t view the current payment system as broken and in need of a fix. Instead, look for a killer Bitcoin app to emerge elsewhere, like in international money transfers or remittances. </li>
<li>]&nbsp;wakeup call&nbsp; by Fred Wilson ]&nbsp;The horrible year that bitcoin had in 2014 will be a wakeup call for all stakeholders. Developers will turn their energy from creating the next bitcoin (all the alt stuff) to creating <a href="http://joel.mn/post/103546215249/the-blockchain-application-stack" target="_blank">the stack on top of the bitcoin blockchain</a>. Real decentralized applications will start to emerge as the platform matures and entrepreneurial energy is channeled in the right direction.</li>
</ol>
<li>[money] CAPITAL </li>
<ol>
<li>] winner takes all - This past year has brought accelerated funding rounds for emerging category leaders. As summarized <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/02/fundraising-acceleration-is-the-new-vc-investment-thesis/" target="_blank">in this TechCrunch article</a>: &rdquo;the biggest winners win by staggering amounts compared to their competitors. What used to be perceived as a 5x or 10x gap in valuation between the winner and a runner-up is now more widely seen as between 100x or even possibly 1000x.&rdquo; In a startup environment that&rsquo;s noisier than ever, break-out companies have an increasingly easy job of raising tons of money at high valuations while the second and third runs in a category often struggle. This dynamic has just started to emerge and will accelerate through 2015.</li>
<li>] legacy titanics fractured ] by jon sakoda, general partner @nea&nbsp;- more &ldquo;unbundling&rdquo; of legacy software companies. The&nbsp;disruptive forces that have pushed HP and Symantec to break up their&nbsp;operations in order to compete with new entrants will accelerate as&nbsp;activist investors and private equity owners push to maximize the value of&nbsp;these existing assets. Look for significant moves from Microsoft, EMC,&nbsp;VMware, Citrix, and Dell in the next year.</li>
<li>]&nbsp;bigger, better deals&nbsp;by Tony Tijan - With a 21 percent decline in funds but a 40 percent increase in dollars raised, we are seeing larger funds spread across fewer firms. In 2015 we can expect to see the average deal size increase with an uptick in later growth rounds.</li>
<li>] The IPO Market: ] Jules Maltz, General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners&nbsp;The IPO market will stay open, but a large number of tech companies will price their IPOs below the price of their last private financings.</li>
<li>]&nbsp;The IPO Market ] Sandy Miller, General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners - Tech IPOs: I think 2015 will be the best year since the &lsquo;bubble&rsquo; for venture-backed tech IPOs. We have had a solid year in 2014 and the deals late this year are working well. There is considerable institutional investor appetite; they have made good returns on tech IPOs this year. Most importantly, there are an unprecedented number of high-quality, private, venture-backed tech companies of real scale ($50 million or more in annual revenues) and growth (30-50 percent top-line growth).</li>
<li>] nasdaq flatline by Sergio Monsalve - ] In 2014 the NASDAQ index created a massive amount of chatter in the investor blogosphere around talks of a &ldquo;Bubble.&rdquo; ] For 2015, I actually expect the NASDAQ to be relatively flat and may even be slightly lower. ] However, the real issue we will face in 2015 is volatility. ] This lackluster performance in 2015 will not affect early-stage venture as much, but it may put a more moderate tone to potential IPO&rsquo;s. ] Having said that, great companies will continue to IPO in 2015 but the bar will be high. I see this as a very nice and gentle way to let &ldquo;air out&rdquo; of a perceived asset bubble, and much better than having a complete burst. While this may be viewed as negative, I view this as a positive in 2015 and perhaps necessary to keep a healthy and robust market of high-quality IPO&rsquo;s going.</li>
<li>] Bollywood is back, Brazil misses the goal by Sergio Monsalve - ] For international and emerging market ventures, 2015 will be the year of India. ] Brazil, Russia, India, and China all had been developing and maturing very impressive Internet properties in the last few years, and we saw some of those hit the IPO market in 2014. ] Alibaba certainly proved that for China. ] India had a very positive election, which should bolster confidence and allow the country to thrive in 2015. ] There are many great technology companies there that will take advantage of this positive landscape. ] Companies like Flipkart, Snapeal, Quikr* and Yatra* are companies to watch. ] On the other hand, Brazil was not as lucky as India in terms of its Presidential election and political landscape. I predict that Brazil will struggle in the coming year. ] Meanwhile, we could potentially see some major India IPO&rsquo;s in the coming years. As a result, there will be some increased and renewed attention on India from the global venture community.</li>
<li>] IPO by Fred Wilson -&nbsp;Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, etc, will start going public. Investors will be glad to scoop up some of their shares. That will lead, in turn, to a wave of acquisitions by these newly minted goldmines.&nbsp;</li>
<li>] Capital markets will be a mixed bag in 2015. by Fred Wilson - Big tech names will continue to access capital easily (see 1/), ] but the combination of rising rates and depressed prices for oil will bring great stress to global capital markets and there will be a noticeable flight to safety around the world. ] Safety used to mean gold, US treasuries, and blue chip stocks. Now it means Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.</li>
</ol>
<li>[money] PAYMENTS</li>
<ol>
<li>] relatively little tangible change by Tony Tijan, Chief Executive and Managing Director, Cue Ball Group - Despite heightened focus, increased investment dollars and strong media buzz around a revolution in the payments space, there has been relatively little tangible change in the way we pay for things. NFC payment hasn&rsquo;t taken off despite the introduction of Apple Pay, POS integrations are incredibly fragmented and interchange fees are being driven toward zero.</li>
</ol>
<li>[RENTALS] - </li>
<ol>
<li>] Enterprise angles on the marketplace or "share" economy Trevor Oelschig of Bessemer,&nbsp; ] The same marketplace concept is now being applied to the enterprise. For example, according to Cargomatic is building a marketplace connecting carriers and shippers. Honest Buildings is connecting real estate developers with specialist contractors. ] Consumer marketplaces like AirBnb and Uber +Lending Club ] have transformed the consumer experience &mdash; it will be no different in the enterprise,"</li>
<li>]&nbsp;Bench connect professional accountants with customers, while Scripted is a marketplace for content-marketing writers.</li>
</ol>
<li>[SaaS/enterprise] aka new enterprise</li>
<ol>
<li>] Emergence Capital's Kevin Spain argues that 80% of the global workforce is underserved by technology on the job, with 2.5 billion non-desk workers in areas like construction, manufacturing, and healthcare who need apps specifically tailored to meet their needs. "At $40 per worker per year, it could be the next $100 billion opportunity for enterprise technology," he says. "I predict we will start seeing more enterprise mobile use cases in 2015 that generate real revenue." Spain's point relates to what</li>
<li>] Andreessen Horowitz's Steven Sinofsky wrote on Re/code: "Work will happen first on mobile platforms, for both team agility and organizational security." He says business people everywhere are already using iPads all the time, with "enterprise apps, email and browsing (and now Office), doing enterprise work."</li>
<li>Beacons ] Beacons are low-powered, Bluetooth-connected hardware that can transmit messages to a mobile device over a short distance within a building. For example, a beacon can be used to send discount coupons when someone walks into a coffee shop, or to send in-store maps to provide directions.</li>
<li>] Norwest's Matt Howard says. "2015 will be the year of the beacons. It gives companies hyper-contextual user information based on location,"&nbsp; Tech companies are already jumping on this new technology, which could revolutionize retail shopping. Apple's iBeacon technology is already built into its iPhone and iPad devices, while Paypal and Qualcomm also have beacon products. ] In fact, according to BI Intelligence, 67% of retail shoppers have received in-store alerts, while 81% opened the alert. Of those, a staggering 79% said the alerts led to a related purchase. ] beacons aren't just restricted to retailers. They can give updates to travelers at airports or provide additional information at music concerts.</li>
<li>] driven by Big Data and Mobile&nbsp;&nbsp;There are always a ton of new enterprise apps ever year, each hoping to be "the next big thing" that changes the way we work. The common theme has been making apps more accessible (i.e. mobile) and smarter (i.e. machine learning and big data). Good examples are Slack for the first category and RelateIQ for the second. Expect both of these trends to take off in a big way in 2015. </li>
<li>]&nbsp;deconstruction of tradittional IT apps ] Steve Herrod, Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners - &nbsp;Independent of whether this will be driven by startups or by Google, there will be a shift in how and where companies do business in the future leveraging SaaS models and moving away from the stranglehold of traditional ENT software vendors like Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others.</li>
<li>] new enterprise trend ] by Katherine Barr, Partner, MDV - Labor and Workforce Innovation: Until a decade ago, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) were relegated to research labs, technical publications, and big-budget science fiction films. ML and AL have &ldquo;crossed the chasm&rdquo; and will have a profound impact on the way businesses work. Pairing human workers with machine learning and automation will transform knowledge work and unleash new levels of human productivity and creativity. Without the advances in automation, the swelling volume of data would overwhelm knowledge workers and cripple businesses</li>
<li>]&nbsp;the "new&nbsp;enterprise"/saas sector will shine in 2015 by Fred Wilson - "with dozens of emerging important new companies taking advantage of the cloud and mobile to redefine what work and workflow looks like in the enterprise".</li>
</ol>
<li>[SaaS/consumer]</li>
<ol>
<li>] crickets</li>
</ol>
<li>[SOCIAL MEDIA(SM)]</li>
<ol>
<li>] crickets</li>
</ol>
<li>[SECURITY]</li>
<ol>
<li>] "Despite all the attacks this year, it's just the tip of the iceberg." Steve Herrod says - He expects to see more sophisticated, organized crime and nation-sponsored attacks in cyberspace. "It's clear the current approaches to security aren't cutting it, which is why the security space is one of my biggest personal focus areas."</li>
<li>] Bessemer's David Cowan adds:&nbsp; "Exploits by nation-state adversaries will be discovered in critical industrial systems such as utilities, aviation, and medical equipment. We will see fast growth among security startups who sell simple security services to SMBs [small and mid-size businesses], such as scans, pen tests, fraud checks, and cyber intel."</li>
<li>] Norwest's Matt Howard says - "This will lead more companies to ditch the PC, which is more vulnerable to attacks, and shift their workflow to mobile. because mobile devices are newer, more contained, and more restrictive, they're a safer platform than desktop operating systems. "The shift to mobility is likely going to be the best solution," he told us&nbsp;</li>
<li>] there will be hacks ] Steve Herrod, - As we move into 2015, security breaches will continue to happen as companies work to patch holes in current software and networks. Trying to stay one step ahead of hackers with the latest software or security features isn&rsquo;t going to be enough; companies will need to work together in order to combat and fight them off.</li>
<li>] cybersecurity budgets will explode in 2015 by Fred Wilson -&nbsp;as every company, institution, and government attempts to avoid being Sony&rsquo;d. ] VCs will pour money into this sector in the same way they poured money into the rental economy. and, yet, the hacks will continue because on the open internet there is no such thing as an impenetrable system.</li>
</ol>
<li>[VIRTUAL REALITY(VR)]</li>
<ol>
<li>] beyond gaming -&nbsp;The game industry has been the first to really embrace the potential of VR; that&rsquo;s why Oculus first launched its public prototype of Rift at a gaming convention. However, VR is an incredibly exciting area that can reach far beyond gaming. This&nbsp;<a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/10/beyond-oculus-the-vr-boom-is-everywhere-from-classrooms-to-therapy-couches/" target="_blank">Ars Technica article</a> article describes a few examples from trauma treatment and classroom learning to marketing and film. In 2015, we will see the first major applications of VR outside the game industry. </li>
<li>] hype by Fred Wilson&nbsp;- Facebook acquisition of Oculus Rift, virtual reality will hit some headwinds. Oculus will struggle to ship their consumer version and competitive products will underwhelm. The virtual reality will eventually catch up to the virtual hype, but not in 2015.</li>
</ol>
<li>[WEARABLES]</li>
<ol>
<li>] wide-spread adoption and everyday use is still not at hand by Tony Tijan, - much excitement around wearable technology, but practical usage isn&rsquo;t quite there so adoption has been low. While there were some notable product releases, wide-spread adoption and everyday use is still not at hand. For that to happen, creators need to figure out use cases and applications that genuinely simplify everyday tasks, rather than complicate them. 2015 will feature greater entrepreneurial enablement</li>
<li>] hype by Fred Wilson&nbsp;- reality will not live up to the hype. The Apple Watch will not be the homerun product that iPod, iPhone, and iPad have been. Not everyone will want to wear a computer on their wrist. Eventually, this market will be realized as the personal mesh/personal cloud, but the focus on wearables will be a bit of a headfake and take up a lot of time, energy, and money in 2015 with not a lot of results.</li>
</ol></ol>
<h2>&nbsp;[HOW-TO]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] <a href="/Account/Register" target="_blank">REGISTER for sospep</a></li>
<ol>
<li>] don't worry, we won't spam you, we don't track you and we won't sell your info, not now, not ever.&nbsp;sospep comes with lots of perks, but you don't have to use them if you don't want too. ps its free to join!</li>
</ol>
<li>]&nbsp;SELECT your "team" of startup companies</li>
<ol>
<li>] i know, I know, that sounds like&nbsp;it could be a hassle, decisions to make, time consuming, but i'm going to let you in on a little secret that can have your team&nbsp;up and running in &lt; 5 minutes.</li>
</ol>
<li>] CHECK your status</li>
<ol>
<li>] heres the catch!, you knew it was coming didnt you? you've got to check your status at least once a month. Don't worry, we will send you an email to remind you and we will&nbsp;make it quick and easy (&lt; 1 min) to check in.</li>
</ol>
<li>] ADD new companies</li>
<ol>
<li>] So you've found that 1 hot new product or exciting new startup company that you thing is going to be the next big thing, but it's NOT on our list of startup companies. No worries it's quick and easy to add any new startup company, that you want too. &nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li>]&nbsp;UPDATE company valuations</li>
<ol>
<li>] When the value of a startup company changes, either they raise more capital or they are bought/sold/dissolved then their valuation will change for the purpose of our game. We will setup some simple rules&nbsp;to&nbsp;determine values, because its not quite as cut and&nbsp;dried as it is with determing values set in a public market.</li>
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<h2>[REFERENCE]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] <a href="/view/article?id=4158" target="_blank">Predictions-2015</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp; a new sospep&nbsp;project. I am creating a portfolio of startup companies (you can too). The goal is to discover the next uber, before it becomes the next uber.</li>
<ol>
<li>] observations - BIG(top 3)&nbsp;SECTORS - (] capital ] new enterprise ] marketplaces ) RUNNER UP - ] security, ] cloud, ] big data</li>
<li>] observations - NO activity (crickets) in SM, SaaS-Consumer,</li>
<li>]</li>
</ol></ol>
&nbsp;

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