In ancient days, people used to tackle their problems on own. They used to find or cook their food, build shelter and design clothes without any help of an outsider or expert. The word 'economy' was yet to be emerged. As time passes, people felt the need of better product or services and started trading their skills. Business ecosystem comes into existence when people started outsourcing their needs.
Then comes the money system and people started getting their things done in exchange of money. As technology and skills come in, life gets easier day by day. when the basic problems of people had been solved, people created culture, rituals to create more 'problems'. It is okay if you don’t go through the wedding ritual to tie a knot with someone, but people are seeing it as an essential thing to follow as everyone around them is following it as a religious or societal procedure. This is the problem established by people. Here, in order to pocket up the profit, startups and businesses always rush in to.
To put simply, a startup or business is an establishment which profits out by solving the existing problems associated with the existing business model or people and thereby makes human lives easier.
What if people start doing their household chores on their own? What if everybody cooks their own food? What if they use their foot to reach somewhere or build a car on own? Is it feasible to solve every problem on own in today’s time?
The answer is big NO. Now a day, it’s too difficult to draw a line between basic needs and wants. There are thousands of different things without which your life can go out of civilization like you can’t keep yourself away from mobile or Internet for more than a week as you might miss lots of important conversation or news. Your relatives or business people won’t bother to contact you personally if you stop using the fastest medium of communication.
You can’t even imagine the number of businesses which have been linked to solve the single problem of humanity. Let’s say transportation. Vehicle manufacturers, a supplier of vehicle parts, engine designers, steel, iron and aluminum miners, Service stations, drivers, conductors, retailers, dealers, thousands of managers, fuel suppliers, online ticket platforms, and the list goes on and on.
Increasing population and changes in lifestyles are pushing the economy to grow even more which in turn integrate more businesses. When a particular business focuses on solving one problem, it requires the help of other businesses to make it possible. Restaurant business would require the services of real estate builders and brokers, carpenters, LPG providers, vegetable vendors, utensils providers, telephone and internet providers, Air conditioners and much more.
Spending to earnings ratio of people is increasing gradually and touching new highs. Usage of credit cards, personal debt is escalating leaving very narrow saving and thus investment. Where are people spending most of their money? Food, clothes, entertainment expenses seem like a part of basic spending. When one earns even more money, they spend them on home, décor and why not a big car. Well, all these investments end up being a liability and require even more spending.
To feed spending habits and liabilities, people need even more money. So, they work even hard and for long hours. More the work, lesser the time. Lesser the time people have, more the spending they do to get their chores and other works done and there comes the rise of even more businesses. Some of the economists argue that USA startups and businesses are booming just because the people are spending more than they earn and this demand creates even more and profitable businesses.
The basic problems like food, clothes, and shelter are being solved by the upgraded and sophisticated business models. People are making or finding new problems and solvers are keeping eyes on it. Some of the businesses haven’t been really a problem solver but their existence has created happier or entertaining life and that’s the reason they are sustainable. People really don’t require Instagram. It is not solving any major problem. but the way it provides a unique experience to share pictures fascinate people.
Consumers don’t demand the solution in a form of product. Their demands will always remain vague. When there was no car or automobile, people were in dilemma to solve the problem of faster transportation. They were expecting horses to be faster. The business-like FORD came into existence and it didn't make horses faster, but rather it provided something that can satisfy the demand for faster transportation. The demand for faster transportation is still there in today’s time, but will it be solved by faster automobiles? No, may be, Hyperloop and bullet trains will do the job.
"Some businesses or startups may not sustain for longer due to quickly growing competition, but the concept which is not going to die is 'solving the problems either by understanding needs of people or by showing them how they can make their lives easier, well organized, and entertaining."
The startups should be solving problems on both front and back side in order to be sustainable. In back they should be economical to compete the existing business model by reducing operating costs and making it more feasible. While in front they should be giving more comfortable and upgraded services at affordable rates. If you are making lives of people easier or better, they will buy you.
Now, latest problem with entire human race seems 'the attitude of getting things done in easiest way' and startups are mushrooming to exploit out the opportunity. Want to buy something? You don’t need to go even outside of your house. Just open some portal or applications and search out the product you want to buy. You can even order for food as well from restaurant’s own website portals. You don’t need to do household chores on your own. You can employ people to do by placing your requirement to the online portal of manpower providers. Want to solve any academic problem, just find an online tutor to make you understand.
Today, some of the huge problems worldwide are water, war, poverty, and global warming. For poverty, some of the huge businesses and billionaire CEOs are doing philanthropy work towards a better life. Government is the big cushion to them. Any startup which would be able to tackle the climate issues like Global warming and drinking water shortage would be the trillion-dollar company someday. Human problems are unlimited and humans mind keep creating their own problems to solve. As long as human is creative and aspiring, business ecosystem will grow, sustain and thrive.