Is the Internet Dying?
I've been facing an innovator's dilemma of sorts lately: innovation in my industry seems to have ground to a halt. My company focuses on delivering personalized content experiences. It is the logical evolution of a static internet and the way you got here most likely had some element of personalization attached to it. There's still much to be done and a lot more fresh thinking is needed but we may soon be in short supply. While I'm not begging for more competitors, I want to make sure that we are in a space that still has tons of opportunity, which tends to attract newer competitors.
What you see above is a representative sample of over 500 companies that make up the backbone of personalized internet experiences. These are the companies that license their technology to companies and consumers, the true operators. Some, like Nielsen (who we work with), have been around for nearly 100 years. Their data and measurement systems have been used to tailor content for decades and through acquisitions and new products they remain as relevant and influential as ever. But where are all the new bleeding edge startups? As you can see, the rate of new startups entering our space has crashed significantly since 2012. Is our industry (and the internet at large) dying? Acquisitions have shot way up. What's going on?
From what I can see, it sure seems like a seller's market right now. Last year seemed to have been a banner year, with prices and the number of acquisitions shooting way up. As we approach the statistically significant 6 to 8 year acquisition period for the 2012 batch of companies, it'll be interesting to see how this dynamic continues to play out when fresh supply starts to run out.
While we should definitely celebrate all the intrapreneurs that allow incumbents to stay competitive, for a multitude of reasons new companies form the lifeline of innovation in most industries. Have we already settled into a resting state on the internet? Seems a bit early to me.
This is the first in what I hope to be a series of data analyses. Let me know what you think. To find out more about Instinctive, visit instinctive.io.