People always want to know what the “next big thing” is because if you can predict that, then you can make tons of money. If you invested in smartphones before realizing that smartphones were a thing, and just how big they were going to be, then you would be prohibitively wealthy. The issue is obviously understanding when the market will develop, how it will develop, and the companies that are going to capitalize on that first mover's advantage.

Now, unfortunately, I do not possess any divine powers, so these are just my best guesses based on industry trends that I see. Further, there is a generally increasing amount of startups in these areas, sentiment increasing, and other things I think that will push these into the forefront of modern society in the coming years.

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1. Flying Cars/EVTOLs

Ok, before you immediately write me off, hear me out. Flying cars are here, just not like you’d expect with the jetsons… Er… Well, technically, exactly like the jetsons. Meet the Jetson ONE:

Not only is this completely possible, it’s HERE. Jetson plans to begin fulfilling pre-orders this year, with all of their pre-orders for 2022 already purchased, and 2023 is nearly filled as well.

Jetson isn’t the only player in the space. There are tons of companies making similar vehicles to this, and you can check out some of them here if you’re interested:

Thinking About Investing In LIFT Aircrafts, The Leader In the Urban Air Transportation and eVTOL…

This company is making flying cars, and now you can invest!

medium.datadriveninvestor.com

The only real limitation on these vehicles is the exact thing that made them possible in the first place: Batteries. As battery technology progresses, so will this space. With massive amounts of money being dumped into battery research, this will only improve over time, but right now most are limited to about 15–20 minutes of flight time on a single charge.

LIFT, the people in that story, are looking to make a hybrid that can fly for hours though. It’s ultimately anyones guess how this will all shake out though.

2. Food Automation & Robotics

Ever walk into a restaurant and had a robot prepare your food? Me either! That might not be the case for much longer though. There are a number of companies looking to be at the forefront of food automation. Most notably, there is “Flippy” with Miso Robotics which is a robotic arm programmed to manage everything from literally flipping burgers to fryers, and more!

Miso Robotics isn’t the only one looking to do this, and a robotic arm isn’t the only form this takes either. There are things like fully automated Pizza kiosks going to market, with several unmanned restaurants already popping up.

There are tons of different shapes this could take, but it seems pretty clear that the industry will be quickly shifting to further automation in the future, and this is a good one to keep your eye on.

3. Private Equity Secondary Markets

Ever wonder why you only get to invest in companies once they’re worth billions, but rich people get to invest in the company when it's worth a few million dollars and make enough money to make their grandkids rich? Well, that's all changing, and it's changing FAST. Equity Crowdfunding and the JOBS Act of 2015 have been making massive strides in the Democratize Finance movement so now anyone can invest in startups.

Not only does this mean Main Street is pouring money into this industry looking to get a taste of these potentially life-changing gains (myself included), but in recent years, WallStreet has been putting more money in than ever before.

We are actually approaching levels that really haven’t been seen since the tech bubble.

With records amounts of money being dumped into this industry, there is one issue: Liquidity. If I invest $700Bn into startups in 1 year, and I make a few thousand percent and want to cash out, I have no recourse. I have to wait for an IPO, and that’s just how the market is right now. Imagine investing in ByteDance (Parent of TikTok) when it was a startup worth $10m, and it's now worth nearly half a trillion dollars. Your investment is now worth 35,300x whatever you invested… but you cannot cash out.

Right now, there is basically nobody with an established secondary market, but there are several working on different models. StartEngine is currently working on your typical 5 days a week trading model, but the platform is still in its infancy. Carta recently launched CartaX but those are 1-time liquidity events that take place over the course of 1 day. Unlike Secondary, which are listed and trade until the founders decide to de-list them.

StartEngine Is Going To Become the Binance of Startups

Wondering how StartEngine Secondary is going to turn out? Look to the crypto market.

medium.com

These secondary markets pose a massive market opportunity for people able to properly list and manage them. StartEngine Secondary, for example, takes 4-5% of every “sell” (Buying doesn’t cost anything though). Further, they can be attractive to founders and early shareholders because it allows liquidity for people that might be sitting on heavy gains looking to cash in.

4. Modular Housing

Like legos? Yes, exactly like legos, except for houses.

The housing market is an absolute frothing, terrible mess right now. It probably isn’t going to get any better, and there are reports that Wallstreet now owns 1 in 10 homes. Building supplies are only getting more expensive, and building your own home can take months, and probably isn’t any cheaper.

Fortunately, there is a company at least somewhat trying to fix this problem. You may have even heard the name going around a bit: Boxabl

The idea is pretty simple, but the fact that they pulled it off is actually really impressive. They build all of their homes in a factory, then they are ready to be set up and ready to live in within a few hours of reaching the living site. The first model is just a simple box, but you can buy and combine multiple Boxabls to build various different types of buildings as you go. At first, you might only be able to afford the simple little house, but you can slowly spend about $50,000 per Boxabl to continually add on to your house to improve.