#costofentry

These new economies of unscale will be good for job growth, because they open up thousands of new market niches for exploitation.  By buying specialized services, in customized form and at modest cost, companies can create unique products, find buyers from across the world, and secure profits.  It doesn’t matter if a designer wants to build polka dot bird feeders — there is a hyper-niche market they can tap, using platforms like Etsy to sell it across the world.  To succeed though, we first have to unlearn what we have been taught about business: We have to think in an unscaled mindset, where the emphasis is on a greater number of specialized products sold to customers who know exactly what they need.  How we train our students for this world will be critical to securing their future employment.

In any case, established photographers don't necessarily have to worry about the democratisation of their medium. "I'll survive in this profession because I have skills," says Olmos. "I'm a storyteller in images; my compositions are better than most people's. Just because you've got a microprocessor in your computer doesn't make you a writer. And just because you've got an Instagram app on your phone you aren't a great photographer."

Wired: So what happens when innovation gets pushed to the edges? Ito: There is freedom to innovate, freedom to connect, and freedom to access. It’s the core features of the whole Silicon Valley venture world.

Wired: How is that freedom exhibited outside Silicon Valley? Ito: It turns out that you can use the same formula for startups and apply it to other things. For example, the personal landmine treaty would not have passed if it were not for the fact those NGOs could run circles around the United Nations by using email. It cost them nothing to collaborate. In the past it cost tons to collaborate.