Emerging Tech: 3 Ways to Stay Market Relevant

Emerging technologies are exciting, but realising meaningful impact—whether financial returns, user adoption, or market leadership—takes time. The challenge isn’t just attracting capital; it’s staying relevant in a market defined by rapid trends, fierce competition, and evolving buyer priorities.

Since 2011, I’ve navigated this space firsthand: through acquisitions, funding wins, layoffs and the sting of withdrawn budgets. What I’ve learned is that survival hinges on understanding the market’s language, expectations, and appetite for innovation—not just appeasing investors.

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

Buzzwords make for a good headline, but you still need to go deeper. To demonstrate market relevance, publicly talk about how your tech aligns with the latest buzzwords

Buzzwords make for a good headline, but you still need to go deeper. To demonstrate market relevance, publicly align your tech with trending terms—but always anchor to specificity.

Buzzwords are market signals. They reflect what buyers, competitors, and regulators care about right now. In 2023, while at Ultraleap, we pivoted our messaging from "HCI" (human-computer interaction) to "AI." This wasn’t a hollow rebrand: our core technology relied on computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML)—subcategories of AI. The shift maintained perceived relevance while staying technically accurate.

Result? Existing investors and customers retained confidence in our direction, even though our product roadmap remained unchanged.

But buzzwords are a starting point, not a strategy.

The market craves specificity. Over 79,000 companies now claim to be “AI” startups. To stand out, define your niche using precise terminology (e.g., NLP, computer vision, robotics). Tools like Gartner’s Emerging Tech Trends help stakeholders categorise your innovation within the broader landscape.

Why it works:

• Buyers need clarity to compare solutions—and confidence your tech isn’t a flash in the pan.

• Competitors can’t easily mimic a well-defined niche.

• Regulators increasingly target broad categories (e.g., “AI ethics”), so precision mitigates compliance risks.

Lesson: Use buzzwords to open doors, then differentiate with precision.

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2. Prove That You're Solve Real Problems (Not Just Chasing Hype)

The market punishes “innovation for innovation’s sake.” A pivot to AI or Web3 might buy short-term attention, but sustainability requires proving your tech addresses a tangible pain point.

Example: During the metaverse hype, companies rebranded VR collaboration tools as “metaverse platforms.” But those that survived focused on specific use cases (e.g., virtual training for healthcare workers) outlasted the buzzword cycle.

How to cut through noise:

• Map your tech to existing workflows. Does your AI tool automate a tedious task? Does your blockchain solution reduce compliance costs?

• Quantify outcomes early. Even an MVP should generate data (e.g., user engagement metrics, efficiency gains) to prove relevance.

• Anticipate skepticism. Prepare answers to: “How is this different from [X]?” and “Why should we care now?”

Lesson: The market rewards solutions, not slogans.

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3. Build in Public (Or Get Left Behind)

Get regular updates into the market as soon as you can to ensure your product is not stuck in the lab

Markets move fast: if your tech stays in stealth mode too long, competitors, open-source alternatives, or shifting trends will erase your edge - or worse, you lose funding before you even get to market.

Example: I made the mistake of over-engineering products on two separate occasions. First, I delayed a release seeking 'perfection.' By the time we launched, a competitor had captured the market with a less feature-rich, but faster, product. Second, I over-engineered the design phase, delaying engineering. Although our upfront research validated our hypothesis, funding was withdrawn before we could build anything.

Agility > Perfection:

• Release early, iterate publicly. An MVP (even with limited features) anchors your place in the market and provides real-world feedback.

• Balance validation with iteration. Conduct design and research in tandem with prototyping—don’t let “analysis paralysis” stall progress.

• Show progress, not polish. Share case studies, pilot results, or user testimonials to signal momentum and build trust with stakeholders.

• Leverage partnerships. Collaborating with established players can validate your tech and accelerate adoption.

Lesson: The market’s attention span is short. Stay visible or become irrelevant.

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Conclusion: Emerging Tech is a Moving Target

Emerging tech companies fail when they conflate funding with market fit. Staying relevant requires:

1. Speaking the market’s language (buzzwords + specificity),

2. Anchoring innovation to real-world problems,

3. Proving momentum through visible progress.

Investors are one piece of the puzzle—but the market decides who survives.

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