No, Blockchain is NOT revolutionary; here’s what startup founders say about overhyped tech
Wednesday, December 19, 2018 IST
Only 50% respondents to the survey said that businesses in their industry have either only minor integration of cryptocurrency or blockchain technologies into their businesses or they are still experimenting with it.
Here’s a spoiler if you are a blockchain and deep tech enthusiast or professional: less than 1% of the founders in the US and outside have found blockchain to be revolutionary for their businesses, according to a survey. Similarly, a majority of over 63% and 51% of startup founders believed VR/AR and bots, respectively, to be overhyped technologies. The fourth annual survey was conducted among 529 founders by one of the most prolific early-stage funds First Round Capital.
“There is a hype cycle in any new technology that emerges. It takes time before real-world application comes up and for people to realize whether it is relevant or not,” Amit Ranjan, who heads government’s National Digital Locker Project, said to FE Online. “Blockchain will take time to create large-scale impact,” he said. Amit Ranjan earlier co-founded content sharing company SlideShare which was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012.
Only 50% respondents to the survey said that businesses in their industry have either only minor integration of cryptocurrency or blockchain technologies into their businesses or they are still experimenting with it.
The survey throws up surprising sentiments that suggest founders are not too positive about technology and large technology businesses. However, they are optimistic about the growth and profitability scenario in coming years.
Here are some other interesting findings from the survey:
Profitability still doesn’t seem to be the priority for founders as 70.8% said that they are optimising for growth instead of profitability. “That’s because of the sheer availability of venture capital chasing much lesser no. of investible businesses and also because of investors back in a winner-takes-all situation to earn disproportionate wealth,” said Ranjan. However, 47.8% founders think it would take 1-3 years for their businesses to turn profitable.
A whopping 89% said that older people face age discrimination in the tech industry generally while founder’s age is the biggest factor for bias among investors while investing, according to 37.6% respondents. “Despite this bias, startups that have been successful are founded by entrepreneurs over 35 years of age,” added Ranjan.
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