Is There Dough to be Made in Bread Funds?
Source: Upwork Report: Freelancing in America 2019
The Signal: In the US alone, 57m people freelanced in 2019. This number, representing a significant percentage of the American workforce (35%), grew by 7% since 2014, compared to 2% growth in the non-freelance workforce. An even sharper increase in the self-employed was expected, with 27m Americans indicating in 2017 that they were considering a move to self-employment by 2020 — a shift that would have tripled the self-employed population from 15m to 42m.
Fewer than 2m Americans actually took the leap. Lack of traditional safeguards like health insurance and paid sick days have deterred would-be freelancers in the past, but as we wake up to a new world, the coronavirus may force new working models on us. With some economists forecasting that as many as 1m jobs could be lost in April, many people will be seeking new work regardless of whether they’re signing a 1099. And if we look abroad, there are examples of this already happening.
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Don’t press snooze on this opportunity: sleep supplements
The signal: As meditation becomes mainstream, people may be surprised to find that searches for sleep apps double their meditation counterpart. As people invest in getting a better night’s rest, there’s opportunity abound, including physical products like weighted blankets or premium PJs, supplements, popular insomnia drugs having their patents expire, companies paying their employees to sleep better, marketing for sleep specialists, or online sleep education (ex: sleep apnea test has 27k searches per month).
The alternative milk market is getting frothy
The signal: As more people wave goodbye to dairy, alternative milk is slowly taking over; it has already cornered 13% of the market. With the exception of soy milk, all of the alt-milks have been on the up, with some of the newer entrants including hemp milk and pea milk. Other alt-products are getting attention, including cashew cheese, with 18100 searches per month.
Capitalizing on the Airpods market, making more money than Shopify
The signal: Since killing the headphone jack, Apple has graced the world with AirPods, which did an estimated 60m units in 2019. That means AirPods alone are bringing in approx ~$10b in revenue, more than Twitter, Shopify, or Spotify, to name a few popular tech giants. Opportunity lies in Apple opening up SiriOS or the wave of iPhone accessories (including cases, cleaning kits, hooks, and keychains) which have shown “hockey stick” growth alongside their hardware predecessor.
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