Wrong questions

People still refer to the “tech industry” as if every industry wasn’t getting eaten by software. I advise and invest in companies tackling problems in education, real estate, banking, media, fitness, construction, and healthcare. The only reason I can help this range of companies is because they are all using the same principles of software development to accomplish their goals.

Internet-enabled software is in the deployment phase, where it becomes so ubiquitous as to be second nature. Asking which city will be the next tech hub is like asking which industry will use software.

Of course, all industries use software. And any city that wants to stay economically relevant will need to figure out how to attract people that build it. San Francisco and Austin and Miami are some of the best positioned places to do this. But the “tech industry” is too big for one city.

What’s a better question?

The most interesting industries are not the ones software is eating, but the new ones it’s creating. Things that weren’t possible or economically feasible before. Autonomous cars. Virtual reality. Social networks.

So, what new types of cities might the internet create?

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