Startups already increase global prosperity enormously by targeting massive markets with scalable solutions. Ultimately, the way you make money as a startup is by offering value to your customers, i.e. increasing their wealth.<p>Some examples of this include: Uber&#x2F;Lyft, decreasing transportation costs and improving quality for millions, while creating tens of thousands of jobs; Airbnb, same thing for hotels; social apps like Twitter, Instagram, etc, increasing entertainment&#x2F;information flow to users, creating new media careers; etc. So startups don&#x27;t need to operate any differently than they do now ... Think big and make big moniez!<p>One thing that definitely does not work are &quot;social enterprise&quot; startups. Distraction from the brutal realities of market forces ultimately leads these to fail while patting themselves on the back for doing &quot;good.&quot;<p>In the spirit of the question though I&#x27;ll list a few areas I think have enormous potential.<p>Money services and lending - very difficult to innovate here due to the iron fist of Uncle Sam and banking cartels. I think what&#x27;s needed is either, 1) US-caliber teams operating outside the US or 2) products that skirt the law a la Uber&#x2F;Airbnb but like those products are so positive with users that going against them becomes a risk for politicians.<p>Health - outsourcing&#x2F;telepresence, reducing the cost of basic testing. Again may need to operate outside the US.<p>Legal - enormous value to be unlocked by standardizing and automating this field a la Clerky but better. Difficult to get lawyers on board, they are very good at extracting rents.<p>Real estate - breaking regulatory capture of Realtors.<p>End of life services - we&#x27;re all in this market. It&#x27;s not sexy so not much innovation.<p>Education - it&#x27;s so backwards that you can innovate in any dimension.<p>Investment - despite nominal progress on things like crowdfunding, there really hasn&#x27;t been a big impact yet by startups in increasing access to capital &#x2F; opportunities to invest. It&#x27;s still far too difficult to raise money for new businesses. Again, may have to operate outside of the US for this and consider innovative legal structures.<p>Science - breaking the University stranglehold on credible scientific research through crowdsourced&#x2F;funded efforts. Enormous potential to cheaply fund studies especially those that go against orthodoxy or corporate interests. Again may need to be outside US.