10 Hot Startup Trends You Can Expect in 2017
Ready to learn about the hottest startup trends this year?
With technological advances happening every second around the globe, we live in a fast-paced economy that doesn’t wait around for good ideas.
If you’re looking to make it big as a startup, it’s vital to know where to invest your time and what the competition is doing.
This list captures the top 10 startup trends lurking around the corner, so you can be the king of the jungle rather than being taken as prey.
1. Wearables
Wearable technology is in fashion. Whether you want a special watch, cool glasses or some other techie accessory, wearables are trendy and affordable.
Products such as camera glasses like Spectacles (made by Snap, the creator of Snapchat) and smartwatches, like FitBits, are ubiquitous.
You’ll find jackets that can change your music track, jerseys that send vibrations at a touchdown or goal, and coats with far infrared heat to warm you up.
There are a lot of other fun inventions that introduce technology to fashion and invite startup trends to participate on the cutting edge.
2. Autonomous Transportation
In recent years, people have started talking about using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to automate anything and everything. The sky is the limit on what our startup trends will soon create.
One main obsession is autonomous transportation. Have you heard about cars that drive themselves? They are engineered to react to red, yellow and green lights, obey traffic laws, and watch out for pedestrians. They are even rumored to be safer than driving a car yourself.
They are programmed to detect obstacles in the roadway and divert their course as needed to avoid accidents.
Our grandparents would never have dreamed that someday they could drive to a restaurant while taking a nap.
This hot topic hopes to convince entrepreneurs to hop on board before their car leaves without them.
3. Smart Homes
Cars aren’t the only thing that can be automated. Remember when Clap-On, Clap-Off was a big hit? Get ready to applaud.
Now you can tell your house to do pretty much whatever you want, with the click of a button. Smart homes allow you to control various features in your home while you’re away.
The electrical system, gas, thermostat, windows, and doors can be connected together on a grid so that you’re always in control, no matter where you are.
This means that you can use your laptop to check that the oven is turned off, the lights are on, and the windows are closed, if it starts to rain.
You can also adjust the thermostat and security system from afar so you’ll never worry about the house being too cold when you get home.
4. Chatbots
According to the Business Insider, it is estimated that more than 85% of customer communications will be controlled with technology, rather than person-to-person interactions, by the year 2020.
With technology replacing human interaction, large firms can save a lot on customer service. You don’t need to find and hire a bunch of staff members who are personable and professional.
Just write a script and record a pleasant voice, and that’s it. Set it and forget it.
Chatbots are expected to be the most popular application of artificial intelligence. They are customer service messaging applications. They can assist customers with tasks like password resets or account balance inquiries, along with a variety of other tasks.
They’re already being used extensively in social media apps and platforms.
Startup trends are primed to launch into this sector.
Chatbots provide a personalized message with adjustable voicing so that customers feel like they interacted with a friendly person, without really knowing the man behind the curtain. If you peek, you’ll realize it’s just an electrical room.
5. Cybersecurity
With the security breaches and problems of 2016, the field of cybersecurity is ripe for harvest in 2017. Last year, startup trends paved the way by filling each new gap in cybersecurity.
The demand for IT professionals is skyrocketing, and the supply is still relatively small. Startups with innovative services will likely lead the way until the market becomes saturated, which will likely take a long time.
Cybersecurity will increase in value as international politics becomes more polarized, and cyber attacks are becoming more common. Because the field is complex, there will be a lot of opportunities for new ideas that can help keep everyone safe.
6. Cloud Solutions
2017 is a year that will propel the digital transformation, or “the acceleration of business activities, processes, competencies, and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies and their impact in a strategic and prioritized way.” according to IDC, a research firm.
This is propelled by mobile, social and cloud technologies. Whether you like it or not, technology is so essential to our everyday lives and to our businesses, that we must learn how to use and create it.
This impulse forces businesses to become digital natives, or they risk being left in the dust.
Likewise, startups are rushing in to meet the growing need for newer, faster and better technology. This situation offers large firms a great opportunity to sponsor and mentor startup trends in exchange for their innovative solutions.
7. Augmented and Virtual Reality
It started with Pokemon Go, the app game that had you walk around outside to find creatures on your phone. Most people enjoyed the diversion, as long as they didn’t stray into a dangerous part of town or onto private property.
Augmented reality (AR) is the technology behind Pokemon Go. AR is when audio or visual content from an electronic device enhances your natural environment. Virtual reality (VR) is a complete immersion into an electronic world.
AR and VR have gained everyone’s attention, and those fields are expected to grow immensely in upcoming years. In fact, IDC predicts that by 2020, more than a billion people around the world will use AR and VR content. That’s a ripe scene for startup trends.
8. Increased Competition
With all of these great inventions and ideas already on the scene, and countless more to come, we’re sure that competition between startup trends may last for many years.
As the technology industry continues to expand and diversify, this rapid growth has and will change the way we do business. More and more industries will turn digital, and as more choices become available through technology, lots of opportunities will be created for and by tech startups.
This means more innovation in less time, but it also means that tech startups must act on their ideas promptly before they fade into the stone age.
9. Lean Startups
Funding for startups is also changing. Gone are the days when tech startups took out a sizeable chunk of change to get started.
With increased competition in a rapidly-expanding tech market, efficiency is the new buzzword. Doing more with less is a necessary trend. Startups that work hard to reduce costs are the ones that can beat out competition.
While startups inherently carry some risk, reducing your initial monetary investment can mitigate some of that risk. It also helps ensure your success in the long run.
The key is to determine exactly how much you’ll need for essentials to get started. Then you can expand and diversify as your business grows.
10. Crowdfunding
Crowdsourcing can be a great way to fund a startup. The term combines the words crowd and outsourcing, and basically means that Internet users can choose to fund your innovative idea.
Crowdfunding is the type of crowdsourcing that allowed Kickstarter to launch hundreds of thousands of creative projects last year. Their projects included art, comics, fashion, games, photography, and music, just to name a few.
Startups often use crowdfunding to promote their ideas as a way to stay fiscally lean and beat out their competition.
Conclusion
Startups can take a lot of work to get off the ground. It takes focus and flexibility to be successful, because you have to give it your all and change course as needed.
You’ll need to constantly take your customers’ pulse. Make sure you listen carefully to your customers so that you understand exactly what they want. Feedback is vital to your success. Building customer loyalty will pay off in the end.
You’ll also invest a lot of time at the beginning. However, once your idea takes off, you can decide how much time and energy to invest. One day, you may decide to sell the business and keep the profits.
While the industry is fast-paced and exciting, remember that there is some risk involved, so you’ll want to think carefully about where you want to invest your money and why.
Having your own startup can be challenging, but also very rewarding. If you’re ready to create your own startup or small business, check out our website for tips on how to start a business in 30 days, secure financing in Canada and plan out your taxes for the year.
You can also use our free NUANS Preliminary Search to find out if your proposed small business name is available.
