Innovation Wave Surfing

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Mike Maples Jr. published a blog post in 2012 that detailed the patterns of technological waves. Every decade or so, a new wave comes.

First, it was PCs, then servers, the internet, and social media, each one building on to the next one.

Mike says there are 3 phases each one goes through.

1. They start with infrastructure. Advances in infrastructure are the preliminary force that enables a large wave to gather.
2. As the wave begins to gather, enabling technologies and platforms create the basis for new types of applications that cause a gathering wave to achieve mass penetration and customer adoption.
3. Eventually, these waves crest and subside, making way for the next gathering wave to take shape.

The opportunities for entrepreneurs are created when technology has suddenly made a behavior easier to do. The ability for others to complete complex behaviors becomes simplified.