Timing of Technology Business

I love to see and think about new technologies early. Finding the right timing was something I had to calibrate on. Remote work and mobile are two examples.

At Teleport we built a search engine for digital nomads in 2014. That was a little too early. It was a great company in many ways, and we sold Teleport in 2016 or 2017. But had Teleport been around in 2020, it would have had millions of users.

One more example. In 2004-2007, Google maps existed, but the iPhone didn’t yet. In those years, I would go to Google Maps and get screen-by-screen directions. I would screenshot every screen of the directions. I would charge up my laptop and keep it on the passenger seat facing me. It was like a proto-iPhone doing Google maps. From that I could tell mobile computing was going to be a big thing, and Google maps was going to be an app.

No one wants to join it

It's too risky

Then it succeeds

Then everyone wants to join it

Then everyone joins it

Then it becomes mediocre

It's too risk-averse

Then it fails

Now no one wants to join it.

*Note: This is a bonus section from The Anthology of Balaji, which was edited out of the final published version. Enjoy this section and join the email list for updates, new material, and upcoming products.