I'm trying to come up with high-growth product ideas, but it's hard to get excited about the prospects for products/services I would never buy. I just read Tim Ferris' "The 4 Hour Workweek" and like the outcomes he achieved. However, his product was a pseudoscientific, i.e. fake, "dietary supplement" sold to rubes at GNC. I see other people making money on crap like rented car rims, e-cigarettes, junk food, social media, fashion, luxury objects, etc.
It's almost like you'd need to have contempt for your customers in order to market this stuff to them. I could entertain contempt for my customers, but it seems like that sort of negativity would weigh on my morale after a while. Is the point of my life to part fools from their money and bankrupt families led by people with low financial literacy? Ooo... how inspiring.
Meanwhile, essential industries like food, shelter, transportation, healthcare, etc. are so established the margins and growth are nearly flat. Apartments in my area offer a whopping 4-5% ROE. The restaurant and grocery markets are saturated spaces where mature companies and chains eat most new entrants (70% restaurant death rate). In transportation, we would all be better off with e-bikes, but most people seem uninterested in changing their expensive car habits and it's hard to see where a very small startup could add value other than as a vulnerable middleman. Healthcare products/services seem to require scale beyond my means to produce, market, and comply with regulations unless you're relabeling Chinese placebo pills as "male enhancement".
I know, wah wah. But my thought is: What if all business models that deliver something of value - something people actually need to improve their lives - have been fully exploited to the limits of available technology and reduced to low margins and flat growth? What if almost all small business exponential growth occurs in either technology or faddish waste-of-money ripoff products and services no one actually needs or benefits from? (looking at you, check cashing places, weight loss pill marketers, energy drink makers, poop emoji sculpure manufacturers, and golf cart chrome accessory marketers)
I'm sure some businesses deliver value and contribute positively to their customers' well-being, but can they grow quickly? Have all our needs been met?