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Mark Pincus: Do Not Overlook Mature Markets. That Is Where the Money Is.

By Mark Pincus · Startup Growth · 1 min read

Everyone chases new markets. Pincus says the biggest opportunities are in old markets done in new ways.

Key Points

Mature markets have proven demand. New markets have unproven hope.
Zynga found billions in casual gaming — a market hardcore gamers dismissed
Apply new technology to old markets. That is the formula.

Everyone looks at the shiny new thing. I look at the old boring thing that prints money.

Old Markets, New Approaches

Zynga did not invent gaming. Gaming is older than computers.

But Zynga did something new: casual games on Facebook. Free to play. Social.

A new approach to an old market. That is where the billions are.

Look for the mature market phenomena — markets everyone thinks are solved, but they're not.

Proven Demand

A new market might have demand. You hope. You guess.

An old market has proven demand. People already spend money there.

Your job is not to create demand. It is to serve it better.

Mature markets that everyone thinks are solved — entrepreneurs overlook them. That's where the opportunity is.

The Formula

Take a market with decades of proven demand. Apply new technology.

Uber did it to taxis. Netflix did it to video. Airbnb did it to hotels.

None created new markets. All transformed old ones. That is the formula.