( CNN ) -- Startup . The term , near ubiquitous in our app-consuming , fully Facebooked world , is one that did n't truly enter the lexicon until the 1990s , when Wall Street took a bow to Silicon Valley and the palate of professional possibility became wired and well-connected . Much has changed since then . Gone are the days when any 20-something with a computer science degree could dream of a bidding war for their talents , followed by a six-figure salary and free lattes in offices where chair massages and nap rooms are the norm . No longer do investors throw millions at anything with dotcom at the end of its name , and many of those early pioneers -- who gambled that we were ready to buy pet supplies or order our groceries from an awkward adolescent called the internet -- are no more . But the spirit lives on , in dorm rooms and garages , shared offices and coffee shops with WiFi . It 's a fragmented , competitive and constantly changing world . But in 2013 , the state of the startup is strong . Today , CNN Tech highlights that world with CNN 10 : Startups . Our inaugural list looks at 10 emerging companies we think are poised to make a splash in the coming months with new and innovative ideas in fields such as medicine , computing , transportation and video games . Now more than ever , computing and technology move fast , and the best technology startups are the ones that get in on a trend before it blows up . There are a few hot categories on the horizon for consumer technology , including collaborative consumption and the sharing economy , the so-called Internet of Things , crowdsourcing , 3-D printing and the maker movement . Older institutions like education , finance and health care are also undergoing big changes , with online courses , BitCoin and peer-to-peer lending . The biggest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley are busy putting money into promising startups making their mark in these fields . Services that tap into the sharing economy are closest to being mainstream . Ride-sharing service Lyft , home-rental site Airbnb and labor marketplace TaskRabbit , are taking off around the world , catching on one city at a time . These startups are focused on using resources more efficiently -- filling empty car seats , bedrooms and hours of the day in exchange for money . `` Most people on all of the services are both hosts and users , so it 's a two-way market , which makes this very exciting , '' said Brian Singerman of the Founders Fund , a San Francisco venture capital firm . `` This is for the masses ; it 's not just for rich people who want to use a service . '' Some of the startup world 's cooler emerging gadgets fall under the umbrella of the Internet of Things . Smaller sensors mean that everyday objects will soon be collecting data about your life and habits . This category already has some big successes , like the Nest smart thermostat and wearable fitness devices . The field is still young , but it will grow exponentially as more objects get connected . `` The value of a fax machine is more valuable when another fax machine gets on the network , '' said Navin Chaddha of the Mayfield Fund . `` Massive opportunities are going to be created . '' The way we use and interact with our computers is also changing , with devices that use gestures and movement to control what 's on a screen , like the MYO wristband and the Leap Motion controller . `` What Leap Motion is trying to do is make the interface between man and machine disappear , '' said Singerman , whose company is an investor in Leap . In 2013 , though , a successful startup might be one you 'll never hear about . Chris Dixon , of Andreessen Horowitz , says historically 80 % of venture capital investments are in enterprise technology -- the companies that build the behind-the-scenes technology like networks and storage . You do n't hear about these companies as much because they can be technically complicated , but without them the consumer apps , services and gadgets would n't exist . For these companies , a happy ending may be when the Oracles , Googles , Facebooks and Microsofts of the world come calling , offering a big-dollar buyout . But nothing is certain in startups . For every Mark Zuckerberg in a dorm room or pair of Steves ( Wozniak and Jobs ) in a garage , there are many ventures that , despite good ideas and hard work , never take hold . And it could be a while before even the best products being developed today show up in a Best Buy or the hottest tech trends have any meaningful impact on the lives of the average consumer . `` One of the hardest things in technology , '' said Dixon , `` is predicting when these things are going to happen . ''
In 2013 , the startup world is competitive , fragmented and fast growing . GPS - enabled devices , wearable tech are hot trends . Motion control and other new ways of interacting with computers also emerge . With CNN 10 : 10 , CNN also highlights tech companies .