The ultimate leverage in the new economy belongs to those who go meta on existing assets.
Going meta means finding systems that can govern existing systems.
In a software-driven world, new levels of abstraction and aggregation are constantly being built.
When things can’t scale horizontally, they go vertically and then circularly. Upward, outward, around.
You go meta when you create the next-highest layer of complexity either via consolidation, acquisition, or simplification. You create the thing that eats everything “below” it.
Expedia went meta on tourism.
Uber went meta on transportation and taxis.
Spotify on music.
Web3 will go meta on the Internet.
Blockchain on payments. Crypto on money—an already representative or fabricated form of value.
On one hand, things become increasingly less real as new levels of organization are implemented.
On the other hand, new opportunities always emerge when this happens. Jobs, derivative industries, totally new use cases.
The big victors of the 2030s and 2040s will win by making technologies that chew up existing tools, make them irrelevant, or bring them together under a broader umbrella.