Staying Relevant in the Tech Hype Cycle

How to keep your product visible, credible, and valuable as the market shifts.

Emerging technologies are exciting, yet the emerging tech hype cycle can be unforgiving. Once technical feasibility is proven, attention shifts fast and expectations rise before impact is realised. Achieving meaningful outcomes, whether that means financial returns, user adoption, or market leadership, takes time. The real challenge is not only attracting capital but also staying relevant as trends, competitors, and buyer priorities evolve.

Since 2011, I have navigated this space firsthand through acquisitions, funding wins, layoffs, and the sting of withdrawn budgets. What I have learned is that survival depends on understanding the market’s language, expectations, and appetite for innovation rather than simply keeping investors happy.

Every company operating in emerging technology faces the same tension: how to stay credible when the narrative around them keeps changing. The answer lies in three habits that keep your story anchored, your value clear, and your product visible when the hype fades.

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1. Speak the Market’s Language (But Don’t Stop There)

Every wave of innovation brings its own vocabulary. Buzzwords can open doors, but they can also blur your message if you rely on them alone. To demonstrate relevance, align your technology with what the market already recognises while keeping your language specific and accurate.

Buzzwords act as market signals. They reveal what buyers, competitors, and regulators care about at a given moment. In 2023, while at Ultraleap, we shifted our messaging from “human-computer interaction” to “artificial intelligence.” This was not a hollow rebrand. Our core technology relied on computer vision and machine learning, both subfields of AI. The change preserved our credibility and reassured investors, even though our roadmap stayed the same.

However, buzzwords are only a doorway. The real work begins when you define your niche. With tens of thousands of companies now calling themselves “AI startups,” clarity becomes a competitive advantage. Tools such as Gartner’s Emerging Tech Trends can help you place your product precisely within the wider landscape.

This is also where storytelling matters. Communicating what your product truly does and why it matters requires focus and empathy. If that is a challenge in your own startup, you might find my piece on Product Storytelling for Startups useful. It explores how to make “nice-to-have” products feel essential.

Why this works

• Buyers need clarity to compare solutions and to trust your longevity.

• Competitors struggle to copy a well-defined niche.

• Regulators are increasingly focused on broad categories such as “AI ethics,” so precision helps reduce compliance risk.

Lesson: Use buzzwords to gain attention, then differentiate with precision.

Once your message connects, the next challenge is to prove that it truly matters. Language builds curiosity, but sustained traction comes from solving something real and measurable.

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2. Prove You Are Solving Real Problems, Not Chasing Hype

The market quickly punishes innovation without substance. A pivot to AI or Web3 might create a short burst of attention, but lasting success comes from showing that your technology addresses a genuine need.

During the metaverse hype, many companies rebranded their VR collaboration tools as “metaverse platforms.” The ones that endured focused on clear use cases, such as virtual training for healthcare professionals, where the outcomes were measurable and repeatable.

How to cut through the noise

• Map your technology to existing workflows. Ask whether your AI tool replaces manual effort or whether your blockchain solution lowers compliance costs.

• Quantify outcomes early. Even a minimum viable product can produce meaningful data such as engagement metrics or efficiency gains.

• Prepare for scepticism. Be ready to answer “Why now?” and “What makes this different?” with evidence, not adjectives.

When you focus on solving real problems, your team also avoids what I call The Custom Work Trap, which is the cycle of delivering one-off solutions that never scale. Anchoring innovation to repeatable value is what turns progress into growth.

Lesson: The market rewards solutions, not slogans.

Once you can demonstrate clear value, the next priority is visibility. Emerging tech evolves quickly, and staying relevant means staying seen.

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3. Build in Public (Or Get Left Behind)

If your product remains hidden for too long, competitors, open-source alternatives, or changing trends can overtake you. Even strong ideas fade when no one can see the progress.

I learned this lesson the hard way on two occasions. In one, I delayed launching a product while pursuing perfection. By the time we released it, a faster and simpler rival had already secured the market. In another, I over-invested in research before moving into development. The validation was strong, but the funding disappeared before we could build.

Agility matters more than perfection

• Release early and iterate publicly. Even a basic version helps you claim your space and collect feedback.

• Balance validation with iteration. Research and prototype in parallel instead of waiting for absolute certainty.

• Share progress rather than polish. Use pilot results, case studies, or testimonials to show momentum.

• Build partnerships. Collaborating with established players adds credibility and accelerates adoption.

Lesson: If you stop showing progress, the market assumes you have stopped making it.

At this stage, visibility is part of viability. Market traction depends on being seen to make progress as much as making it.

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The Emerging Tech Hype Cycle is a Moving Target

Many tech companies fail because they confuse funding with fit. Staying relevant means speaking the market’s language, solving real problems, and showing progress in public. It is also about recognising where your technology sits in its maturity. If you’d like to understand how I assess that progression, read A Tech Maturity Framework for Anticipating Market Shifts, which outlines the Onion Model and how to anticipate readiness before the market does.

Innovation is only the starting point. Relevance is what turns a clever idea into a lasting business. Investors may provide opportunity, but the market decides who endures. For a real-world example of how that transition plays out, Turning Tech Innovation Into Product-Market Fit explores the lessons from one company’s journey from invention to adoption.

Staying relevant requires:

• Speaking the market’s language with both buzzwords and specificity.

• Anchoring innovation to real-world problems.

• Proving momentum through visible progress.

The companies that endure are those that keep learning in public while the rest of the market catches up.

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If you are leading a startup or scaling a product team and want to stay visible, credible, and commercially grounded as technology evolves, let’s talk. I help founders and product leaders build strategies that outlast the hype and keep their products market relevant. Reach out at info@crwburgess.com.