Why this is THE BEST TIME to become an entrepreneur….

I recently received a letter from Peter Diamandis, from Singularity University, with this very title! Full disclosure: it wasn´t actually a “personal letter”, Peter was pitching for me to join his A360 Executive Mastermind Program in 2021. Which I confess I feel tempted to join - and should anyone be interested in knowing more about this program, please check out the link at the end of this blog!

However, what I really want to disclose are Peter´s very convincing arguments as to why, thanks to Covid-19, this is the best time in many years to become an entrepreneur! Below I summarize Peter´s arguments for the sake of everyone who hasn´t received his invitation letter!

His first observation is that many businesses and industries that are unable to adapt to the “new normal” caused by COVID-19, will eventually disappear. COVID-19 is changing our lives and behaviors for good in many areas. Below a short list that he presents and which I challenge anyone to contradict:

• We’re all spending (much) more time at home;

• We are in social isolation, craving connection;

• We are much more conscious of our health, desiring safety;

• We’re concerned about how and where we will educate our kids;

• We’ve got more time for exercise, meditation and learning;

• We’re learning to do everything online;

• We're spending more time with family and kids;

• …Ultimately, we are taking on new hobbies, games and entertainment.

Three of the most obvious examples of permanent change that he presents are remote work, online education, and telehealth.

Remote work: Even before COVID-19, the percentage of people working remotely was already increasing. In the US, 4.3% of the workforce worked remotely in 2010. That number increased to around 15% in 2019, and with COVID-19, it has jumped to roughly 50%! Platforms like Zoom or Teams have benefited tremendously from this shift but there is obviously room for other players. In addition, none of these platforms has so far made adequate use of VR/AR to create more engaging and realistic “virtual environments”.

Online education: Practically overnight, more than 1 billion students worldwide were affected by school closures. Global education technology investment was over $18 billion in 2019 (of a total of $240 billion global corporate learning market). COVID-19 will have accelerated this trend tremendously! Additionally, there is plenty of room for AI to make learning experiences more personalized and effective. We can also learn from the video game industry to make learning more engaging and collaborative.

Telehealth: Before COVID-19, telehealth was struggling in the US. Both Apple and Microsoft have tried in the past to launch platforms to address this market, without much success. According to McKinsey, only 11% of consumers were using telehealth in 2019. By April 2020, that number had increased to 46%! Just look at what happened to the shares of many companies in this market: some went up 200% between January and August 2020. A potential of up to $250 billion in expenses on outpatient and office visits in the US could shift from in-person care to virtual or near-virtual care in 2020/2021.

Last, but not least, for the first time in the past years, companies now have access to a larger and cheaper (less expensive?) pool of talent. Due to the pandemic, a large number of qualified people are now unemployed or underemployed, at the same time as the accelerating trend of remote work and the increasing adoption of digital collaboration tools makes it easier than ever to access this global pool.

This is why Peter says it´s a great time for agile entrepreneurs to capitalize on this new and rapidly changing environment

Who´s up for the challenge?

Link to Peter Diamandis’ Abundance 360 Mastermind Program for 2021: https://www.abundance360.com/summit