A ‘micro’ trend is more than a ‘fad’ but less influential than a ‘macro’ trend. Mark Penn, who coined the term, referred to microtrends as “the small forces behind tomorrow’s big changes”.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain are all macro trends that will persist beyond 10 or 20 years. Microtrends typically last 3 to 5 years before being replaced, or becoming implicit as a result of widespread adoption. An example would be the application of a specific AI technology to a common use case, one which eventually disrupts an entire market horizontal or industry vertical.
Based on 490 interactions with ‘Applied AI’ startups (22% of all Forward Partners’ leads in 2017) and examples from our own portfolio, we share our observations to predict the top AI microtrends over the next 5 years.
Chris is an Investor at Forward Partners, a leading early-stage VC fund providing startups with a game changing combination of capital + operational support. Their unique approach is helping to build the UK’s next generation of talented AI, e-commerce and marketplace businesses. He previously founded machine learning platform growthsquared.io, enabling e-commerce businesses to apply advanced analytics to their data. Before that, as Head of Analytics at Swoon Editions, he championed the “zero stock, zero lead time” model in online retail. Chris has a PhD in organisational economics from Imperial College London and has worked part-time on the London Stock Exchange ELITE programme – supporting UK scale-ups such as Skyscanner, graze.com, Vision Direct and MedicAnimal – with the exciting nightmare of rapid growth.
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