The prophecies for 2023: It's the Makers' Year.
Spoiler alert, if you hope I fuel your fears of a dark future or machines taking over the world, you will be disappointed.
While we went into the holidays to finally celebrate with families, friends, and loved ones again, the looming crisis and bumpy economic climate are ubiquitous. A growing energy crisis, inflation, protests against regimes, supply chain shortages, and mass layoffs forming the dark clouds on people's hopes for 2023. Some experience it more than others. No doubt. But, everyone who needs clicks will tell you their darkest prophecy. Predicted by the doomsday leader himself: Nostradamus.
Well, I believe in positive thinking creates positive outcomes.
History suggests that companies that invest in innovation through a crisis statistically outperform competitors during recovery. I believe it will be again the hopeful optimists, most innovative companies, and leaders who will likely design and drive the next wave of global growth and acceleration.
Crystal balls might be cloudy for 2023, but here are my most positive predictions for 2023:
1. Female Entrepreneurs are rising and leading the way in meaningful solutions
In 1984 Gisela Heinrich (my Mom) and her best friend Petra Vordermayer founded the first gym for women only. Inspired by the aerobic movement and their tour and collaboration with Sydney Rome, they recognized the opportunity to create not just a workout program tailored to women, but also the whole experience and environment around it. They branded it "Lady Power" and it became an instant success in Germany. What my Mom and Petra did was incredibly brave at that time, but they also understood the total addressable problem (TAP) for women to train differently. They put their fears aside and trusted their intuition to launch a one-of-a-kind start-up in the 80s.
Front: Sydne Rome / Back Right: Gisela Heinrich, Petra Vordermayer
Fast forward 40 years this is still not the gold standard in the start-up world. But numbers finally start to trend positive: Findings from the newly released 2021 Annual Review of Funding for Female Founders show a staggering 146% YoY increase when compared to 2020. Lady-powered startups in the US raised $54.6 billion from 3,871 capital-funded deals in 2021.
Talking and working with female entrepreneurs Simone Oppenheimer Mandel and Rachel Segall from NBZ partners, one of the hottest marketing start-ups, shows the competitive advantage of women in times of uncertainty and crisis.
“Being an entrepreneur requires you to do things you’ve never done before. Simone and I are always looking for ways to level up our business, which comes with fear of change. Luckily, we’ve found ways to let that fear propel us forward,” said Rachel Segall in an interview with Candice Georgiadis.
Simone, Rachel, and so many other female entrepreneurs skyrocketed in untapped white spaces by being curious, facing their fears, and being willing to constantly iterate to outperform competitors with their innovations, their excellence, and their craft. This makes female start-ups now a better bet for investors and an attractive and reliable investment for VCs.
A Gusto research survey supports my prediction that we will see a continuous rise of an already staggering 40% in new businesses launched by female entrepreneurs in the past two years.
My first prediction for 2023: Female entrepreneurs are lifting off to a new hemisphere.
2. Creating a space strategy is inevitable to save our planet
The lift-off of female entrepreneurs is a great segue to my second 2023 positive prediction. NASA’s successful Artemis 1 mission last November has fueled new excitement for the universe and space industry.
According to McKinsey the space economy was valued at $469 billion in 2021, up 9 percent from 2020, and is expected to reach $1.25 trillion by 2030. Citi group analysts expect “the fastest growth rate to come from new space applications and industries.”
It’s important to remember that 100% of the money spent in the space sector isn’t actually spent in space, it’s spent down here on Earth where it fuels our economies. The space agency NASA for example has just awarded ICON/BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group with a $57 million contract to use their 3D-printing technology to build roads, launchpads, and homes on the moon's surface.
"ICON's Olympus system is intended to be a multi-purpose construction system primarily using local lunar and martian resources as building materials to further the efforts of NASA as well as commercial organizations to establish a sustained lunar presence," says ICON co-founder Jason Ballard.
Renderings courtesy of ICON unless otherwise stated.
The rise of the space economy will force business leaders to implement a space strategy now. As I outlined in my article the universe has long been a potent incubator for innovation. And the outcomes will most likely lead to sustainable solutions that help businesses gain a competitive advantage through innovative business models.
Lisa Callahan, VP of commercial civil space at Lockheed Martin believes that "if people are going to be able to live and work in space and create money in space, you need infrastructure. And a lot of that infrastructure isn’t that different from what we have here on Earth."
On earth ICON’s "House Zero" is already using 3D Printing technologies. The walls are made with Lavacrete, which incorporates architectural and energy-efficient designs that highlight the benefits of sustainability.
The underestimated benefit of a space strategy for people and the planet is that life on other planets requires products that support a circular ecosystem of repurposing, up-cycling, and reusing which impacts life on earth, too.
My second prediction of the rapid rise of the space economy is fueled in 2023 by the simple formula that greater investment will be driving down costs and lead to more sustainable innovations.
3. Rethink the employee value proposition
In the realm of sustainability or ESG, we see a growing pressure on businesses and leaders to do more and implement actions with immediate impact. The reality is, that a staggering 63% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck according to a recent LendingClub report.
Sandra Matz, Professor at Columbia Business School points out what impact that has on people and businesses: "Employees that struggle financially will have a higher risk of being absent, both physically and mentally from work. Financial well-being is closely tied to other forms of well-being."
Australian fintech start-up oNesto invented an innovative solution based on advanced behavioral science to change this. oNesto links employee-earned wages with everyday essential purchases to build savings naturally. Employees receive up to 12% cashback into an emergency savings account when they and their family members use their earned wages at 200+ retailers and restaurant chains.
“Our platform focuses on human-first needs, whilst removing complex industry standards and barriers by delivering a seamless habitual savings mechanism. Ultimately, integrating this financial habit will lead to healthier and happier people and will assist companies in creating enhanced culture, delivering healthier profits and a more engaged workforce," says oNesto co-founder and CEO Benjamin Silluzio.
My last big bet for 2023: An advancing Health Equity. Addressing social and environmental issues, and designing actionable solutions for humans now.
All the examples show some innovators are reinventing not just for profits but for sustainable change. And, highlight that collaboration is king in 2023. Again.
Of course, there are many other predictions and technological innovations won’t be a stranger to dominating the headlines in 2023, too.
Female entrepreneurs face fears, trust their intuition, and always looking for ways to level up their business to create world-class products and experiences.
Businesses that pursue emerging opportunities now may gain a first-mover advantage by having a space strategy and saving the planet.
Creating social impact by rethinking by putting human behavior at the center
My big bets for 2023 are all supercharged by technology, but none of them would be possible without the human factor.
We’ve lived through massive changes and transformations in the past three years. And we might see more controversies in the first part of the new year, but this will only create the foundation for inventors and designers of all genders and cultures to use their ingenuity to solve humanity's biggest problems at scale.
2023 is the year for makers and the ones who believe in themselves.
I agree that we will continue to live in a challenging environment, but no one said that this isn’t a great time for making new things. Let’s press on and make it the best time of our generation, with the next ones in mind. This will make their future and ours incredibly rewarding, and more so create a sustainable and inclusive environment for all.
Maker Mode On. Come join me. And let’s make things happen together.
Happy 2023!