In the past most startups occurred because a new technology had
come along that would provide solution to a problem that could
not be solved previously. (As an example, an unmet need was the
pain of creating and editing documents. The solution was word
processing, and the technological trigger that made this
possible was the availability of low cost personal computers.)
However more recently there is a different phenomenon occurring.
Instead of technology innovation being the driver for startups,
it is more frequently business model innovation. The business
model innovations fall into two categories: - Brand new business
models being created because of the Web which don’t resemble any
previous businesses. Examples of these would be companies like
Google, PayPal, Gilt, OpenTable, SurveyMonkey, Second Life,
eLance, 99Designs, etc. These businesses leverage the incredible
power of the web to acquire customers at a low cost, with
interesting new ways of monetization. - Areas where there were
already existing busi