One of my favorite pastimes while driving to and from work is to listen to Guy Raz’s excellent podcast “How I Build This”. It’s an insanely well-produced interview series with the founders of companies ranging from Lyft to 1–800-GOT-JUNK and everything in between.
Listening to the incredible stories of these founders makes you realize (next to a bunch of other things) that you truly can build a successful and impactful company in any industry. From tech (where most, if not all, our attention is these days) to hamburgers, real estate, groceries, junk hauling, shoes, candles, furniture, fashion, sports… you name it.
What I find particularly interesting is the notion that a lot of the founders on the podcast have built their companies in industries where, at the time, was little competition in their niche. Which makes you realize that it is often the better strategy to do something in an industry which is not in the limelight but the opposite.
You truly can build empires in any industry. Instead of following the glowing sheen of what is cool at the moment (AI anyone?), rather focus on finding a big, juicy problem you can get passionate about.