Originally published in Entrepreneur Magazine

By Tim Schigel

There is a difference between building a business that has purpose, and building a business to just make money. And while technology has made us all smarter, and just a click away from being connected to a person or information no matter where we are, something seems to be missing.

Maybe it’s what author Ross Baird has described in his takedown of Silicon Valley — the focus on solving “my world problems” instead of real-world problems. Or maybe, more simply, it’s rediscovering a sense of purpose.

It is no longer enough to build new technologies just because we can. We’re living in an attention economy that is being driven, almost entirely, by technology. We have access today to more information than we can possibly absorb, and all of those sources are competing to try to get top of mind with us. If they can get us addicted, then they’ve got a business model.

But, we’re also seeing the downside of this tech explosion, and it isn’t pretty. We are more isolated, more segmented and unhappier than ever before as tech has moved away from solving real problems.

We need the tech industry to refocus some of that effort on solving real world problems again.

Read the full article at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308454

Tim Schigel is the founding partner of Refinery Ventures, an early-stage venture capital investment firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio.