Are the days of tech's 'easy growth' gone?
With four words, Mary Meeker summed up a key concern whispered by venture capitalists, analysts and tech employees in recent months: "Easy growth behind us."
The stark statement came 37 slides into Meeker's famous annual 200-plus slide presentation about the state of the Internet and tech industry, published online Wednesday.
Meeker, a partner at the prominent venture firm Kleiner Perkins, typically uses the report to highlight the most exciting trends and growth opportunities. This year, however, the presentation was front-loaded with cause for concern.
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In one jarring slide after another, Meeker highlighted slowdowns in smartphone growth and internet growth -- once core drivers of the sense that tech companies had limitless growth ahead.
Meeker also highlighted the difficulty of reaching new users in emerging markets as well as more macro trends like changing interest rates, slowing population growth and mounting government debts.
"Adjusting to slower growth + higher debt + aging population creates rising risks," Meeker wrote in her presentation. The silver lining, however, is it "creates opportunities for businesses that innovate."
In the dozens of slides that follow, Meeker highlights opportunities she sees in voice assistants, autonomous cars, messaging apps and live videos.
Even here, the news is bittersweet. The Amazon Echo is just starting to take off as the iPhone growth stalls -- but will the Echo or voice-powered devices like it ever power a startup ecosystem as robust as the iPhone?
The internet has enabled powerful and extremely lucrative ad targeting, but the number of users relying on ad-blocking tools has skyrocketed, prompting a "call to arms to create better ads."
Internet companies continue to build innovative, personalized tools, but surveys show consumers are increasingly concerned about sharing the personal data that powers these tools.
One can't help but read Meeker's presentation and conclude that the opportunities for top tech companies, and the challenges facing them, have never been greater.
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Seth Fiegerman was a Senior Business Reporter at Mashable, where he covered startups, marketing and the latest consumer tech trends. He joined Mashable in August 2012 and is based in New York.Before joining Mashable, Seth covered all things Apple as a reporter at Silicon Alley Insider, the tech section of Business Insider. He has also worked as a staff writer at TheStreet.com and as an editor at Playboy Magazine. His work has appeared in Newsweek, NPR, Kiplinger, Portfolio and The Huffington Post.Seth received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University, where he majored in journalism and philosophy.In his spare time, Seth enjoys bike riding around Brooklyn and writing really bad folk songs.
