I think that there are many, many markets that have not been noticed by most progressive developers and people who are interested in creating startups. (By pro

I think that there are many, many markets that have not been noticed by most progressive developers and people who are interested in creating startups. (By progressive developers I mean those who develop really polished, usable software in the vein of web 2.0 - there is software for every conceivable market already, but there are plenty of markets that are dominated by hard-to-use, crappy software.) I suspect these areas tend to be those that are not at all among the core competencies or hobbies of software developers, for obvious reasons. For example, I recall someone who started up a site devoted to exchanging knitting patterns (or something similar) that enjoyed a lot of success. Just think about how many markets for software you could find if you just talked to women about what they want. I bet there are tons of huge moneymakers lurking in fields that most software developers think are silly - like people who love to ride horses, or love to do crochet, or enjoy (or make a living from) any of a number of fields that are far removed from the average software developer's mind. Right now, those markets are dominated either by amateurs making crappy sites, or big established players with no creative spark.