Dear Entrepreneurs: Parking Full

In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.

Things might have become easy for entrepreneurs to hit the ground these days but the journey is never easy for a Young Turk. These are indeed encouraging times and everyone wants to have a share of the pie. But why does everyone want apple pie only? There are other flavors available too.

Some might say theirs is a tastier one with a tint of some extra flavors. Conceded. But not every time you can walk free with the same alibi. I might be no one to get between you and your dream pie but what rolls out of your dreams is surely your concern. So why make it clichéd. Why do you want to enter a saturated market? If you are an entrepreneur, you have it in you to sidestep the beaten path and forge a new one for you.

Here is a small list of verticals or industries that are better avoided today. Some of these you may already have a business in. Some others you may disagree with. And for some other you might have a revolutionary product that’ll change the game (think Slack in enterprise communication). But this list is a helpful guide all the same because you can expect resistance from investors if you pitch any products in these spaces.

On-demand services

Every second startup that’s taking off these days boasts of offering on-demand services.  There are so many of them and mostly repetitions. If you still want to go ahead for its immense possibilities, tap a virgin vertical.

Food Delivery

This one is ultra saturated at the moment. You surely don’t want little yields out of your service. Time to think out of the box.

Ad Tech

E-commerce

Social Media

There are nearly 10,000 already out there. Enter only with a tornado.

Messaging Apps

Sometimes you don’t even know when was a particular app launched and when did it disappear.

Any Industry with Lots of Government Bureaucracy, Including Healthcare, Education, Energy, and Government

These markets aren’t very good option for startups because they are highly regulated, unionized, have very long sales cycles, and are slow to adopt new technology. The time and the cost factor involved spell a doom for the venture.

There are some more which most people think should have ‘Parking Full’ board.

• Car Sharing
• Dating
• Subscription Boxes
• Two-sided Marketplaces
• Search Engines
• Social CRM
• Blog Platforms

Some passionate souls, however, believe there are “no-touch” industries or verticals. All you need is passion, zest, a willingness to toil and loads of pre-existing domain expertise. Maybe.

Ideas might be easy to come, Fundraising isn’t. Whats and Whys could be answered but justifying the size of the addressable market and your solution for it won’t be a cakewalk with VCs.