Behavior change start-ups (as opposed to technology start-ups) are really moving the VC market. Twenty years ago if you wanted to start a new commercial venture you needed real estate, manufacturing equipment, people to run stuff, a banker, insurance and office equipment. That’s where the money went. These days, a smart entrepreneur can develop a behavior changing business, using apps and software, in his/her home. (S/he doesn’t even need to move to the garage.)

Uber is one such behavior-changing company. It doesn’t own cars or a drivers. Sure it has insurance and some office workers, but the “there there” is pretty thin. It’s all software. People bring the demand for cheaper transportation and they use their own devices. It is a logistics business, as Elon Musk says.

The best new products and services meet pent up consumer demand. When marketers find the pent up need and can use apps to deliver it, it doesn’t require a huge up-front cost. All you need is an idea, a couple of football fields worth of code, some Rackspace or Amazon cloud services and a VC with a little love.

Behavior changing start-ups are the haps now. Just ask Netflix. When you a launching one of these companies, ask yourself the marketing question “Who is going to lose the sale I am winning? And better yet, “What behavior am I changing that consumers are desiring?”Behavior changing start-ups are the haps now. Just ask Netflix. When you a launching one of these companies, ask yourself the marketing question “Who is going to lose the sale I am winning? And better yet, “What behavior am I changing that consumers are desiring?”

Peace.