5 ms·

Sorry that's terrible advice. If everyone had that attitude, nothing would ever get disrupted.

kolbe 9y ago
There's a pretty clear realm in which tech VC has been successful over the past couple decades: utilizing large digital networks (which is the new object that SV understands how to work with) to either improve existing businesses (reservation booking, media viewing) or create new ones (social networks, ride sharing). And when they do break out of that mold, it's with very experienced entrepreneurs that have a thorough understanding of what the industry is, and how it can be improved. The model of hurling "20 year old dropouts" at industries with well-established practices like medicine is a bad model. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for very knowledgeable and experienced entrepreneurs to disrupt medicine, but it'll probably be thanks to someone with two PhDs, an MD, and a decade of research experience. It's not the same thing as some kids molding a new industry from scratch with few prior entrants (e.g. Gates/Jobs/Zuck).
- jedberg 9y ago
  In this particular case, they are applying a very digital solution (machine learning and vision processing) to an old industry (medicine). So it makes a lot of sense. And also, there are plenty of cases in the past of 20-somethings disrupting established industries. Einstein developed his first disruptive theories in his 20s, for example.
  - mikeash 9y ago
    Einstein was already highly knowledgeable in physics and part of the broader physics community, though. Certainly young people can disrupt established industries, but young outsiders doing so with little knowledge of the industry in question is a lot less common.
mikeash 9y ago
Implying disruption can only be done by 20-year-olds with little knowledge of the industry being disrupted? I don't think that's even remotely true.
- FilterSweep 9y ago
  SV ageism is a blight that spreads globally fast. I've seen some very bright minded people in just their mid 20s think they're too old already to find their calling.
wolfram74 9y ago
not if you replaced "easily" with "considerable thought and effort". Musk definitely didn't disrupt rocketry by assuming everything Boeing was doing was dumb. They had some good ideas and some bad existing habits like any established community.
rhizome 9y ago
What are your favorite things that have been positively disrupted? I'm not sure there are very many. VisiCalc was disruptive, but I don't think putting a company's FileMaker screens on the web is. YouTube? Sure. YouTube recommendations? Not so much. Uber/Lyft/etc. only leapfrogged the taxi industry by automating dispatch, not much else about the business is seismic compared the past (medallions aside). Adtech doesn't seem to be any more effective than print/broadcast strategies were a generation ago.

There's a pretty clear realm in which tech VC has been successful over the past couple decades: utilizing large digital networks (which is the new object that SV understands how to work with) to either improve existing businesses (reservation booking, media viewing) or create new ones (social networks, ride sharing). And when they do break out of that mold, it's with very experienced entrepreneurs that have a thorough understanding of what the industry is, and how it can be improved. The model of hurling "20 year old dropouts" at industries with well-established practices like medicine is a bad model. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for very knowledgeable and experienced entrepreneurs to disrupt medicine, but it'll probably be thanks to someone with two PhDs, an MD, and a decade of research experience. It's not the same thing as some kids molding a new industry from scratch with few prior entrants (e.g. Gates/Jobs/Zuck).

jedberg 9y ago
In this particular case, they are applying a very digital solution (machine learning and vision processing) to an old industry (medicine). So it makes a lot of sense. And also, there are plenty of cases in the past of 20-somethings disrupting established industries. Einstein developed his first disruptive theories in his 20s, for example.
- mikeash 9y ago
  Einstein was already highly knowledgeable in physics and part of the broader physics community, though. Certainly young people can disrupt established industries, but young outsiders doing so with little knowledge of the industry in question is a lot less common.

mikeash 9y ago

Implying disruption can only be done by 20-year-olds with little knowledge of the industry being disrupted? I don't think that's even remotely true.

FilterSweep 9y ago
SV ageism is a blight that spreads globally fast. I've seen some very bright minded people in just their mid 20s think they're too old already to find their calling.

wolfram74 9y ago

not if you replaced "easily" with "considerable thought and effort". Musk definitely didn't disrupt rocketry by assuming everything Boeing was doing was dumb. They had some good ideas and some bad existing habits like any established community.

rhizome 9y ago

What are your favorite things that have been positively disrupted? I'm not sure there are very many. VisiCalc was disruptive, but I don't think putting a company's FileMaker screens on the web is. YouTube? Sure. YouTube recommendations? Not so much. Uber/Lyft/etc. only leapfrogged the taxi industry by automating dispatch, not much else about the business is seismic compared the past (medallions aside). Adtech doesn't seem to be any more effective than print/broadcast strategies were a generation ago.