[rm_-rf_slash]

It's not startups that are losing their luster, it's tech-for-tech's-sake companies. Now that we pretty much have everything we need to be connected, we have to look beyond technology and to the strongest fulcrum of society: culture.

Culture companies are the future. When you can get anything anywhere, the brand matters far more than the product. Anyone can make a burger or a pizza, so why are McDonalds and Pizza Hut crushing it across the globe, especially in China?

We're already seeing this with news. Traditional media companies are struggling to adapt while media outlets with personality like Vice (and Slate, and Quartz) are doing better than ever.

When all the gold is mined, when all the tech is made, the only thing that's left is to sell yourself.

[manmal]

I agree with you that brands will grow even more important.

Though, all tech has not been made yet - I suspect tech is taking a short time-out right now before the next big disruptions are enabled by:

* VR (cinema, anyone? could even make some 3d printing obsolete)

* order-of-magnitude faster mobile internet

* cheap(er) robotics

* abundant energy supply thanks to fusion or <insert yet unknown source>; also, perhaps break-through battery tech?

* self-driving cars (obvious, but I think that in itself will enable a lot of disruptions, like cheap grocery delivery)

* cheap(er) drones (= flying cars eventually?)

[rm_-rf_slash]

Clarification: tech as in tech for this computational generation (i.e. Smartphones). Pretty much everything there has been done, and it won't be until new platforms that exist (like drones and VR like you mentioned) that interesting things will be made.

That being said, such shifts do not often treat incumbents well. Microsoft dominated the PC market in the 90s and early 00s, but their smartphone/tablet is barely a footnote in the market.