MATTHEW BUCKLAND: Tech start-ups, and new buzzwords, now come in waves
The internet has made millions of start- up companies possible and easy for more people than ever before
Given all the hype, you would be forgiven for thinking start-ups have only become a thing in the last 20 years. The reality is that they have existed since the beginning of time. Some have failed and some are the big companies we know today. But it’s different now. And the reason is because this new wave of entrepreneurship is bigger than ever before, and it’s been driven by the internet revolution. In the past it was unheard of that young university graduates would go on to create billion-dollar companies. It’s because of the very nature of the internet: its disintermediation model has smashed traditional business models and provided better ways to transact, communicate, market and distribute. The low barrier-to-entry of the internet means start-ups can spring up with very little capital, using open source software and work-from-home developers, and often without needing to build physical structures in the world. A whole lot of new buzzwords have arrived in the past few years repre...
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