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101 Things #038: There is someone in a garage at this very moment with a really great idea that will...

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

There is someone in a garage at this very moment with a really great idea that will become a billion-dollar company
101-thingsforesight-receipt2021
Publish Date2021-12-07
Updated Date2026-09-18
Made Date2021-12-07
Horizonnow
Outcomeopen
Confidencemedium

Is your future happening in a garage at this very moment? (And are you even aware what’s happening?)

— Jim Carroll

Original 2021 statement: There is someone in a garage at this very moment with a really great idea that will become a billion-dollar company

What Jim has written about this

From “Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership - “Is your future happening in a garage at this very moment? (And are you even aware what’s happening?)”” (January 2024)

We live in disruptive, transformative times, in which new companies are developing new products and services that might displace legacy organizations. Some of them might be working at this very moment in the ubiquitous ‘garage,’ and are set to become tomorrow’s billion-dollar company before you know it.

As I cautioned my audience yesterday at a senior leadership meeting: “At this very instant in time, there might be someone working in a garage with a blindingly disruptive idea, and in 5 years, they will have completely changed your market, your product, and your future. Are you aware of who they might be? Or even more important - shouldn’t YOU be the company in the garage ?”

That’s not an easy thing to do by any stretch of the imagination, but the key idea is that you need to be aware that at this very moment, your future might be being determined in a garage somewhere. Be cognizant of it, wary of what it represents, and refuse to rest on the legacy of your laurels.

From “Daily Inspiration: “At this very moment, someone somewhere is busy inventing something that will be so common in but 10 short years that you simply won’t know how you lived without it!”” (February 2022)

“At this very moment, someone somewhere is busy inventing something that will be so common in but 10 short years that you simply won’t know how you lived without it!” - Futurist Jim Carroll

Right now, someone has the perfect idea in mind to put your business model into a death spiral – and you might not notice till it is too late

From “Daily Inspiration: “At this very moment, someone is busy with an idea, busy inventing a future, that will have you looking back in five years and saying ‘Wow!’”” (April 2020)

“At this very moment, someone is busy with an idea, busy inventing a future, that will have you looking back in five years and saying ‘Wow!’” - Futurist Jim Carroll

But it’s out there, and it’s happening right now. And the fascinating thing is that there is more than one. Right now, at this very moment, millions of people are choosing not live by the big scary headlines of this very moment - they are busy writing their own future headlines. Should you join them?

Walt Disney began his epic voyage during the Great Depression. He didn’t let economic calamity shut down his idea machine. FedEx? It appeared shortly after the 1971 downturn - the era of 21% interest rates and massive future gloom. WhatsApp, Uber, AirBnB and GroupOn were launched after the economic meltdown of 2008 … I guess they didn’t get the memo that the future was over?


Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:

Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership - “Is your future happening in a garage at this very moment? (And are you even aware what’s happening?)”
Daily Inspiration: “At this very moment, someone somewhere is busy inventing something that will be so common in but 10 short years that you simply won’t know how you lived without it!”
Daily Inspiration: “At this very moment, someone is busy with an idea, busy inventing a future, that will have you looking back in five years and saying ‘Wow!’”

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