How To Predict The Future
Most people think seeing around corners is a talent reserved for insiders. It is not. It is a set of habits. And almost anyone can build them, and in this thread, I’m going to teach you how.
I have spent over two decades inside the rooms where technology gets built before the world knows it exists. But the thing I have learned is that proximity is not the only way in. There are doors open to everyone that most people simply walk past.
Here is what you can start doing this week:
💡 Read patents, not just headlines.
Patent filings are public and free to search. When companies cluster filings around a specific technology, they are telling you exactly where they are placing their bets. Google Patents is your starting point. Industry news hubs like Mac Rumours are handy and inspiring also.
🧱 Follow builders, not reporters.
GitHub, Reddit, Inc. communities like r/MachineLearning, technical forums and the personal blogs of engineers (usually on X or Substack) will show you what is actually being assembled right now. Real constraints. Real timelines. Long before any journalist covers it. I’m always reading tags and threads and replies from innovators and monitoring the conversations.
👀 Watch where early money is moving.
Crunchbase has a free tier. Look at what categories are receiving Seed and Series A funding. Capital moves toward a problem before the public even knows the problem exists. I also notice who has left big orgs and keep my eyes peeled on their next move.
📜 Track regulatory activity.
When governments start drafting policy around something, that something is about to matter enormously. Follow bodies like the OECD or your national digital regulator. Policy drafting is one of the clearest early signals available to anyone.
🪑 Sit at the edges of your own industry.
Every field has Discord servers, subreddits and niche newsletters where practitioners discuss what is broken and what they wish existed. That gap is where the next wave is forming. This can also be digested via short video summaries from events like #Davos, #MobileWorldCongress and #CES.
🧠 Synthesise once a week, not just consume.
Write down three things you noticed that felt like early signals. Ask yourself what they mean together. Connecting dots across unrelated domains is where genuine foresight lives.
You do not need a boardroom invitation to do any of this.
You need curiosity, twenty minutes, and the discipline to look slightly further ahead than the people around you. I carve out time in my calendar to do this, to make the commitment.
What is one signal you have noticed lately that others seem to be ignoring?
