SIX surprising businesses hiding inside familiar industries, where companies found new opportunities by serving the needs created by someone else’s success.
Six Businesses Hiding Inside Other Businesses
Every successful business creates more than customers and revenue.
It also creates new problems, new demands, and new opportunities around itself.
E-commerce needs delivery networks.
Smartphones need accessories.
Creators need payment tools.
Restaurants need reservation systems.
This creates an interesting business opportunity: you don’t always need to compete with a successful business—you can build a business around it.
Here are six fascinating examples.
1. Shopify — The Business Behind Online Businesses
Millions of businesses want to sell online, but most don’t want to build an entire e-commerce system from scratch.
Shopify built a business around that need.
Instead of competing with every online store, it provides the infrastructure that allows businesses to create and operate their own stores.
The interesting part is the relationship:
More online businesses → more demand for e-commerce infrastructure.
Shopify doesn’t need to sell the products.
It helps the people selling them.
2. Stripe — The Business Behind Digital Commerce
Every online transaction creates a problem:
How does the money actually move?
Stripe built infrastructure around that problem.
Online businesses need payment processing, billing, fraud prevention and other financial tools to operate.
The customers may see a checkout page, but behind that simple button is an entire financial technology ecosystem.
Stripe found a business hiding inside the growth of online commerce.
More digital businesses → more digital payments → more demand for payment infrastructure.
3. Canva — The Business Behind the Content Explosion
Businesses, creators and individuals constantly need visual content.
Social media posts, presentations, advertisements, thumbnails, invitations and promotional materials all require design.
Canva built a business around this growing demand.
Instead of becoming another advertising agency, it created tools that allow millions of people to produce visual content themselves.
The business opportunity appeared because another trend was exploding:
More content → more design needs.
4. Aftermarket Car Businesses — The Business Behind Car Ownership
Buying a car is only the beginning.
Owners need tyres, repairs, accessories, insurance, servicing, cleaning and replacement parts throughout the vehicle’s life.
That means the automobile industry creates an enormous secondary economy around every vehicle sold.
The original manufacturer sells the car.
Other businesses can make money from everything that happens after the sale.
It’s a powerful reminder that a product can create an economic ecosystem much larger than its original purchase.
5. App Stores and Mobile Accessories — The Business Behind Smartphones
Smartphones created an entirely new collection of businesses.
App developers build software for them.
Accessory companies sell cases, chargers and other products.
Cloud services store data.
Repair businesses maintain damaged devices.
Developers create games and subscription services.
The smartphone isn’t just a product.
It’s a platform that creates thousands of businesses around itself.
And that is often more powerful than simply selling the original device.
6. Creator Tools — The Business Behind Creators
The creator economy created a new customer: the independent creator.
Once creators began producing content professionally, they needed tools for editing, analytics, payments, memberships, scheduling, newsletters, websites and audience management.
Entire businesses emerged to serve those needs.
The creators attract the audience.
Other companies build the infrastructure around them.
This is one of the clearest examples of a business hiding inside another business:
The creator is the visible product. The supporting ecosystem is the hidden opportunity.
The Bigger Business Idea
The most interesting opportunities aren’t always found by asking:
“What business should I start?”
A better question can sometimes be:
“What new problems will this successful business create?”
Every growing industry produces side effects.
More restaurants create demand for delivery and reservation technology.
More online stores create demand for payments and logistics.
More creators create demand for creator tools.
More cars create demand for maintenance and accessories.
More smartphones create demand for apps and services.
The original business may be obvious.
The businesses growing quietly around it can be much harder to notice.
SixGlobe Takeaway
Don’t always look for the next big industry. Sometimes, look at what today’s biggest industries are creating around themselves.
