Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Journalism

My Predictions Post for 2025: All Bets Are Off

[Disclosure: This post was in no way, shape, or form written by “A.I.” It is purely “H.I.”]

Well, it’s now early February, so I got through the whole month of January without writing my perennial New Year’s predictions post. Last year, it look me three weeks into January before I gathered up enough angles to blather about. This year, there were tons of predictions swirling around in my head around yearend that I thought were bound to come true — but those were so obvious to me that I thought spewing them out would sound stupid. or just plain boring. So, the spirit never moved me to hammer out a post.

an AI-generated image of men looking at a Predictions Market wall display

Image created by me using ChatGPT’s DALL-E.

This year, I think I’ll just revisit my last year’s predictions and crow about how many were right — or that exceeded my expectations. I’ll also grade any that were wrong or “to be determined.” Here we go, with my words from last year’s post stated first in italics:

AIThe hype curve has peaked. Enjoy the ride down into the trough of disillusionment. I won’t say anything more because… are there any more words to say at all that haven’t already been said about AI in 2023? A breather is needed for sure, because the hype has been getting out of control as we sit here in early 2024. (Note: I am not anti AI, I am anti *AI hype*… ) Verdict: WRONG! The hype did not let up, I’m sure you all agree.

StartupsI predict the number of startups will pick up somewhat in 2024 (from 2023’s dismal number). Verdict: RIGHT! According to Crunchbase, the overall number of startup formations, as measured by global venture funding, did slightly increase in 2024 compared to 2023, with the majority of this growth attributed to the significant rise in investment directed towards AI-related startups.

VCIn 2024, I will not be surprised if more VC funds shut down. Pitchbook reported in December that 38% of VCs “disappeared from dealmaking in 2023.” Verdict: RIGHT! Consider this recently from Pitchbook: “More venture firms than ever are becoming zombies. In 2023, 15,303 unique investors participated in at least one VC deal in the US. But this year, that figure has dropped to 11,425 investors, according to the Q3 2024 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.” Ouch.

AppleMy price target for $AAPL shares is $220 by yearend… Verdict: RIGHT! But, actually, the share price of my favorite stock  exceeded that number, by a lot: it was $250 on 12/31/24! (Okay, I can’t pass up the temptation to predict a price by the end of 2025. Let’s go with $290!)

Sports / NationalWill gambling on NFL games get out of control? One senses that a crackdown must be coming. Right on cue, Minnesota legislators are trying to have sports betting legalized in our state. Verdict: RIGHT! Sports gambling TV commercials increased in frequency, as any viewer of pro sports on TV can attest — yuck!! But WRONG! – no gambling crackdown appeared that I have seen. Perhaps in some states? Here in Minnesota, thankfully, sports betting still has not been legalized.

Sports / LocalThe Vikings will do better. Which isn’t saying much. And Gopher football damn-well better improve as well! 2023 was embarrassing. One highlight in 2024: we’re finally going to the Rose Bowl! Verdict: RIGHT! On both counts. And my personal favorite of the year was getting to see that Gopher win vs. UCLA in-person at the Rose Bowl! Some awesome memories.

Higher EdCollege enrollments will continue to drop nearly everywhere, but prices will of course not fall nearly as fast… if at all? Verdict: RIGHT! At both public and private non-profit four-year colleges, there was a 6% decline in enrollment in the fall of 2024. For 46 states, Inside Higher Ed found the average drop was almost 7%. What about costs? In 2024-25, average tuition and fees increased by 2.7% for in-state students at public four-year institutions, and by 3.9% for students at private nonprofit four-year institutions, before adjusting for inflation.

Minnesota State GovernmentComplete DFL control will end — it has to! Verdict: Unfortunately, TBD. If you live here (or, if not, you may have seen national coverage), our legislature is still completely dysfunctional — not even in session at this late date! Don’t get me started on this. [Update 2/7/25: progress! So, this pick could turn into a RIGHT!]

Anywhere But the CityWithin the state, the escape from the central Twin Cities to the metro area suburbs and rural MN will continue… Verdict: RIGHT! The populations of Minneapolis and St. Paul both appear to have decreased in 2024 compared to 2023. Minneapolis has had an annual decline of 0.44% per year since 2020. And St. Paul’s decline has been even more during that time, though specific 2024 data is not yet available. Meantime, census data shows the populations of the suburbs and prime out-state locations (meaning where property valuations are especially increasing) are both on the rise. The population of Crow Wing County, for example (which encompasses part of the Brainerd Lakes Region), grew by 3.69% since 2020, with an estimated growth rate of 0.61% in 2024. And, in a study entitled “The Best Places to Live in the Midwest” conducted by Consumer Affairs, Plymouth MN ranked among the top 10 best Midwest cities to live in, while its larger neighbor Minneapolis ranked in the bottom five. (Sigh, it used to be a great city.)

The Media Business …. Let me go out on a limb 🙂 — the media industry will continue to contract in 2024. Many more jobs will be lost. Verdict: RIGHT! Nearly 15,000 jobs were eliminated in 2024 across broadcast, television, film, news, and streaming — “extending a two-year run in which the news and entertainment businesses were dealt body blows,” as reported by The Wrap.

Not a bad performance for me, with eight RIGHTS and only two WRONGS (plus one TBD). But, as far as making a long list of predictions for 2025?  I’ve decided that all bets are off! Why? Well, with an improving economy, a promising outlook for increased M&A activity, and, yes, even a better environment for early-stage startup funding, it could be a blockbuster year. So, frankly, it’s beyond my wildest imagination to make predictions right now!

Yes, I remain, as always, an unapologetic optimist!

My 2024 Predictions Post

I have this tendency to publish a post each January about what I see coming in the New Year. I’m a little late this year (being it’s already January 20th), but that’s because the general mood has been leaning negative of late — not exactly motivating for an optimist like me.

I refused to use an AI-generated image this time. I instead chose this awesome photo by Nicole Avagliano via Unsplash.

 

Then again, my post in January 2023 wasn’t real upbeat, either. But that was more of a tongue-in-cheek exercise. The previous year, my post in January 2022 wasn’t a list of predictions, but rather focused on one big positive trend I couldn’t ignore: the startup boom. (Remember those good old days?) Going back to January 2021, I went full-on optimist, though had some fun with it, as we were coming out of that God-awful pandemic year and needed some levity.

Anyway, for this post, I finally got around to fleshing out the notes I’d been making over the past couple of weeks. I tend to not blurt things out — I like to think a bit first. (Call me crazy compared to  most bloggers… haha.) This year, I went beyond tech to some other topics I just find hard to ignore these days. So here goes:

AI … The hype curve has peaked. Enjoy the ride down into the trough of disillusionment. I won’t say anything more because… are there any more words to say at all that haven’t already been said about AI in 2023? A breather is needed for sure, because the hype has been getting out of control as we sit here in early 2024. (Note: I am not anti AI, I am anti *AI hype* and anti *AI washing*, which so many startups are doing in an attempt to raise money.) A funny recent quote I saw is from Philip Elmer-Dewitt, who runs the very popular Apple 3.0 news blog: “I’ve been following the A.I. beat since Ronald Reagan’s first term, and in my experience its champions have consistently over-promised and under-delivered. Large language models and generative A.I. are real things, but so are self-driving cars and they’re still running over pedestrians.”

Startups … According to AngelList, the startup formation number was well down in 2023 —  40 percent since 2021! That’s horrible. I predict the number will pick up somewhat in 2024. However, a meaningful reversal won’t come until 2025 with a new administration.

VC … In 2024, I will not be surprised if more VC funds shut down. (A big one did last month.) And check-writing from those that have been largely sitting on their hands in 2023 may not increase much. The numbers are sobering. Pitchbook reported in December that 38% of VCs “disappeared from dealmaking in 2023.” Pitchbook also reported that VC investors injected only $170 billion into startups in 2023, a decrease of nearly 30% from the $242 billion recorded in 2022. In 2021, the number was $348 billion. Not a pleasant trend.

Apple … My price target for $AAPL shares is $220 by yearend — on the strength of the iPhone 16 in the fall (call it “the AI phone”), advancements with the next Watch, and, yes, the initial success of “spatial computing.” No Apple Car anytime soon, friends. Which is fine with me.

Sports / National … Will gambling on NFL games get out of control? One senses that a crackdown must be coming. Right on cue, Minnesota legislators are trying to have sports betting legalized in our state. I for one am getting really sick of all the gambling hype!! On another topic, with TV commercial time absolutely ballooning to fund NFL largesse, I predict sales of low-cost DVRs, like the $79 Tablo unit (to record live TV and certain streaming channels), will boom — letting consumers without high-cost cable services (like that rascally DirecTV) inexpensively record and watch just the actual game, skipping through the mind-numbing amount of commercials they now blast at us. And no subscription is required.

Sports / Local … The Vikings will do better. Which isn’t saying much. And Gopher football damn-well better improve as well! 2023 was embarrassing. One highlight in 2024: we’re finally going to the Rose Bowl! Okay, it’s only a regular season matchup October 12th against UCLA (in their home stadium), as they become part of the Big Ten (Big 18!) this year. And another glaring college football topic: I fear, as many do, that NIL is ruining the sport (sigh). It’s the main reason Nick Saban resigned as coach at Alabama, Hey, we don’t need more “professional” sports!

Higher Ed … College enrollments will continue to drop nearly everywhere, but prices will of course not fall nearly as fast… if at all? That tells you all you need to know. How bad is higher education? Americans’ confidence in these institutions has dropped from 57% in 2015 to 36% in 2023, according to a July 2023 poll by Gallup. Here’s more, from Barron’s: “College tuition rose 12% on average annually from 2010 to 2022, according to data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. After adjusting for inflation, college tuition has increased 747% since 1963.” This prediction I don’t make joyously, as two startups in my portfolio are in this space. (Luckily a small percentage.)

Minnesota State Government … Complete DFL control will end — it has to! Hope you enjoyed watching that $18 billion surplus — your money — go poof! That measly $520 rebate check to taxpayers (per couple) was an insult. But you fellow Minnesotans already knew that. More people are leaving the state than the number moving in. It’s not just the weather.

Minneapolis … The city will never be the same, I am convinced. And St. Paul, which is suffering almost as badly (worse with tax increases), shares the same fate. The population of both cities will continue to drop.

Anywhere But the City … Within the state, the escape from the central Twin Cities to the metro area suburbs and rural MN will continue, as will the rise in values for lakefront property, hobby farms, and farmland. I included some great insights into the trend toward remote work outside the cities, from a national viewpoint, in a post I published in January 2021.

And one more prediction for good measure:

The Media Business …. Let me go out on a limb 🙂 — the media industry will continue to contract in 2024. Many more jobs will be lost. Take a guess how many — then double it. One glaring reason: according to an October 2023 Gallup poll, a record-high number of Americans — 39% — say they don’t trust the media at all. That number has steadily increased since 2018.

So, on we go. (Yes, to a brighter 2025.)

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Postscript:

And in my continuing quest to counter the AI hype, I give you this:

A Technologist Spent Years Building an AI Chatbot Tutor. He Decided It Can’t Be Done.

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And Another Postscript:

I saw a  Wall Street Journal Saturday Essay recently (subscription required) entitled “Why Americans Have Lost Faith in the Value of College.” In it, they noted that the decline in undergraduate enrollment since 2011 has translated into 3 million fewer students on campus. Nearly half of parents say they would prefer not to send their children to a four-year college after high school.

Billionaires who slam higher ed also don’t do it any favors. Here’s Elon Musk on the topic in 2020:

“College is basically for fun and to prove that you can do your chores, but not for learning. I don’t consider going to college evidence of exceptional ability. In fact, ideally, you drop out. You don’t need college to learn stuff. Did Shakespeare go to college? Probably not.”

As a former English major, I can attest… 🙂

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And Yet ANOTHER Postscript:

Re: my VC prediction, here’s additional insight into the state of the industry:

VC Funding in 2024: High-Profile Departures, Layoffs and a Glut of Investors Struggling to Generate Returns | Inc.com

Okay, that’s enough postscripts for one post. I publish insights like these to my X account as well, so please follow me there, where I post daily. Over and out!

I Wrote Another Article for Grit Daily… This Time on Startup Grit

Grit Daily is a very cool media site based in NYC. It was founded by an amazing guy named Jordan French (seriously, read that bio). And he has a bunch of other great team members around him. (You should subscribe — support independent journalism you won’t find anywhere else!)

I was introduced to Jordan by an another amazing guy, who’s based right here in the Twin Cities: William Harris. He connected me with Jordan right before I headed off to SXSW in March 2019. Jordan was kind enough to accept me as a contributor, and I wrote my first piece for Grit Daily on my experience at that crazy event: “Partying at SXSW for Your Health.” I wrote another piece in the ensuring months that included one of my most favorite topics, Apple: “Amex, Apple vie for top spot in heated ‘metal card’ wars”... about my weird love affair with a couple of new credit cards.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2021 — what we all hope will be a much better year — I just published another article on Grit Daily. This one is called, “10 New Year’s Resolutions If You Think You Have a Startup In You.” It aims to help anyone who’s thinking they’re ready to quit their day job and go off and build something big. Hope you like it. Tell me if you do!