5 ms·

Ripe for Disruption

61 points by lsinger 12y ago

tempodox 12y ago
If anyone is Ripe for Disruption, it's data carriers, especially on mobile. Those crooks practise legalised piracy at the highest level. And they are entrenched all right. Any ideas?
- Ihmahr 12y ago
  Mesh networks. But I think those don't have a business model.
  - gerbal 12y ago
    And it's very low throughput/high latency.
    - Ihmahr 12y ago
      I actually don't think so. If it is just for contacting people in your neighborhood, then it works fine. If it is for people in the same city, then the city could organize something as a utility. Mesh doesn't have to mean 'on every users' device' or even p2p.
- bindley 12y ago
  The hard thing is that most successful disruptions come from startups who are ignored by incumbents. In data they're motivated to keep even the lowest profit clients, so startups face their wrath from the beginning. It isn't pretty.
mark_l_watson 12y ago
That was a pretty good article that appealed to me because I don't like the trend of fewer but much larger companies crowding out competitors. Google is a particularly interesting case because their income stream from ads really might not work long term on mobile. I have never been much of a fan of Facebook but seeing how most of my family's use of the Internet is wrapped up in Facebook, they might be around for a very long time.
- koj 12y ago
  Yes. I don't see my none-IT friends/family jumping off the Facebook/ebay/Flickr ship even if a better alternative came along no matter what the benefits. I agree with the article but Myspace and Yahoo are commonly used examples of ousted market leaders but the market was young(er) when they were disrupted.
davidw 12y ago
I'm not so sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation To actually disrupt an industry, there has to be a change that makes it possible, or some new niche or angle to attack a problem from. I don't really see that in a lot of these examples.
- far33d 12y ago
  There's a pretty good case that "mobile" is the 10x force and major change that opens up basically every early web property to disruption. Payments / bitcoin innovation is a second likely 10x factor (in particular for ebay).
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    Agreed on mobile, not sure about payments/bitcoin at the present time (but it could very well become something like that).
- btrombley 12y ago
  Agreed, the author is using "disruption" to mean "compete with". Microsoft did not really disrupt IBM, it just changed the competitive landscape. The Innovator's Dilemma has a much more nuanced view of disruption: an inferior product that ends up beating the entrenched player because of a side-benefit. It's pretty relevant if you want to take on eBay, LinkedIn, or Google: you're not going to build a better search engine than Google, but you can build one that respects privacy, runs without ads, etc. if that's what users really care about.
  - davidw 12y ago
    Crossing the Chasm also talks about this: it's very, very difficult to beat an established company at their own game. You're more likely to do so by attacking a niche they are not interested in, or are weak in, and growing from there.
    - jacquesm 12y ago
justncase80 12y ago
Cable Television. Please, for the love of science, someone disrupt this soon :(
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- josephlord 12y ago
  Isn't Netflix already doing this? The disruption is surely TV without channels and relying on the Internet for distribution. How do you picture Canle TV disruption looking?
- GFischer 12y ago
  Someone did. Netflix (and Youtube and Twitch.TV and Hulu...). For my use case, it just needs mainstream sports :) (and I find the Twitch.TV acquisition interesting because of that ). I just suscribed to Cable TV to watch the (football/soccer) World Cup, I wouldn't have considered it otherwise.
21echoes 12y ago
wait... ads, photos, and niche social networks, are "ripe" for disruption? haven't those three industries been the focus of some 90% of startups for the last 10 years at least?
general_failure 12y ago
I am kind of surprised facebook has not been disrupted. Even more surprising is that nobody is even trying. People just throw their hands in the air and say nobody will leave facebook and all the existing people are well and truly settled there.
- sosborn 12y ago
  It can be discouraging when a company with the resources of Google tries and fails.
burkestar 12y ago
Disruptive innovation is often more about a superior business model than better technology. Technology is an enabler.
w_t_payne 12y ago
Other companies ripe for disruption: * SAP * PTC * EMC (Please! please! please! please!)
- pm 12y ago
  Not sure who PTC or EMC are... I worked at Bridgestone Golf for a few months (a tyre company that also made golf items, go figure), and because we were situated in their manufacturing plant, we were lucky enough to use SAP for our sales and distribution. It was the most horrendous experience of my life, and I sat there thinking that surely there would be a part of this beast that could disrupted. However, SAP is such a sprawling mess that where would you start?
beat 12y ago
I think EBay will be death by a thousand cuts... niche sites offering similar functionality (national/international auctions, community trust rating), but targeted a particular interest. My example here is Reverb.com, an online auction site for musical instruments and gear (particularly rock instruments, not classical). Reverb.com provides a gorgeous, Etsy-like interface, terrific targeted marketing, etc. It's backed by a major used instrument vendor (Chicago Music Exchange), and is quickly gaining momentum. Once sellers can have the same chance of sale and the same kinds of prices that EBay fetches, and buyers have enough selection to make the site really sticky (it's practically designed for window-shopping), some people will simply stop using EBay altogether in favor of Reverb. Etsy is another case in point. They've been around for a while, but they offer a far superior customer and vendor experience within their fairly narrow niche of handmade crafts. I'm sure we'll also see custom car seller sites (most of the old ones are as antiquated and ugly as EBay), toy collector sites, all the things EBay covers in its one-size-fits-all approach. EBay is lousy for window-shopping, but that's what collectors and nerds want to do. That's where the disruption will happen.
andrewljohnson 12y ago
LinkedIn just isn't for Jacques, it's not actually ripe for disruption. People like to condemn LinkedIn's tactics for engagement, and devoted indie + company salarymen like to condemn it for being a useless spammy recruiter hell. But, end of the day, LinkedIn is still a beast, has a tremendous network effect to defeat, and actually works for its millions of users: * many developers actually like to get the various recruiter and big co contacts * for business guys, LinkedIn actually works to make credible cold contacts with people who would be interested in doing business * the emails that tell you when your friend switches jobs are useful and important in the same way Facebook's birthday reminders are * LinkedIn is doing a decent job further managing the product - it has gotten more useful over the years So what if you think endorsements are lame and sometimes LinkedIn accidentally tells you a profile update means a new job, when it doesn't. So what if you are a special snowflake who, with hundreds of thousands of others, doesn't find LinkedIn useful, and too aggressive? It's those very engagement tactics that make sure the network is complete and the metadata is fresh.
- crisnoble 12y ago
  Wait, why are Facebook's birthday reminders important?
  - pawn 12y ago
    Some people like to be told "Happy Birthday" even if they know most people only "remembered" because of a notification. Sometimes, it can be useful to be reminded of a birthday for somebody you actually want to get a gift for.
  - xerophtye 12y ago
    Its gives you an excuse to remind someone that you exist in their friends list. Socializing/Networking is actually more important on LinkedIn than on FB, because people usually have (or have had) social relations with FB people IRL, but on LinkedIn you need those excuses because otherwise you msotly just have business relations
justinpaulson 12y ago
I would not say these very large and engrained services are "ripe for disruption" unless you totally revolutionize the feature-set of such products. I think things that are ripe for disruption are things like traditional IRL services...like how Uber is greatly disrupting taxi services, for instance. I would like to see disrupts in grocery stores, point-of-sale systems, and other tangible services that can be revolutionized with new technologies. I think disruption is more about an industry than taking on a single company.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
pbreit 12y ago
I can't take someone seriously who says "I don’t see the value of LinkedIn". That's obtuse or willfully ignorant. You don't have to like LinkedIn but it's immense value as the world's resume database is patently obvious.
greendata 12y ago
Google Adwords is absolutely ripe for disruption. Actually all of Google's services, except Mail and Search, are not great.

61 points by lsinger 12y ago

If anyone is Ripe for Disruption, it's data carriers, especially on mobile. Those crooks practise legalised piracy at the highest level. And they are entrenched all right. Any ideas?

Ihmahr 12y ago
Mesh networks. But I think those don't have a business model.
- gerbal 12y ago
  And it's very low throughput/high latency.
  - Ihmahr 12y ago
    I actually don't think so. If it is just for contacting people in your neighborhood, then it works fine. If it is for people in the same city, then the city could organize something as a utility. Mesh doesn't have to mean 'on every users' device' or even p2p.
bindley 12y ago
The hard thing is that most successful disruptions come from startups who are ignored by incumbents. In data they're motivated to keep even the lowest profit clients, so startups face their wrath from the beginning. It isn't pretty.

mark_l_watson 12y ago

That was a pretty good article that appealed to me because I don't like the trend of fewer but much larger companies crowding out competitors. Google is a particularly interesting case because their income stream from ads really might not work long term on mobile. I have never been much of a fan of Facebook but seeing how most of my family's use of the Internet is wrapped up in Facebook, they might be around for a very long time.

koj 12y ago
Yes. I don't see my none-IT friends/family jumping off the Facebook/ebay/Flickr ship even if a better alternative came along no matter what the benefits. I agree with the article but Myspace and Yahoo are commonly used examples of ousted market leaders but the market was young(er) when they were disrupted.

davidw 12y ago

I'm not so sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation To actually disrupt an industry, there has to be a change that makes it possible, or some new niche or angle to attack a problem from. I don't really see that in a lot of these examples.

far33d 12y ago
There's a pretty good case that "mobile" is the 10x force and major change that opens up basically every early web property to disruption. Payments / bitcoin innovation is a second likely 10x factor (in particular for ebay).
- jacquesm 12y ago
  Agreed on mobile, not sure about payments/bitcoin at the present time (but it could very well become something like that).
btrombley 12y ago
Agreed, the author is using "disruption" to mean "compete with". Microsoft did not really disrupt IBM, it just changed the competitive landscape. The Innovator's Dilemma has a much more nuanced view of disruption: an inferior product that ends up beating the entrenched player because of a side-benefit. It's pretty relevant if you want to take on eBay, LinkedIn, or Google: you're not going to build a better search engine than Google, but you can build one that respects privacy, runs without ads, etc. if that's what users really care about.
- davidw 12y ago
  Crossing the Chasm also talks about this: it's very, very difficult to beat an established company at their own game. You're more likely to do so by attacking a niche they are not interested in, or are weak in, and growing from there.
  - jacquesm 12y ago

justncase80 12y ago

Cable Television. Please, for the love of science, someone disrupt this soon :(

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
josephlord 12y ago
Isn't Netflix already doing this? The disruption is surely TV without channels and relying on the Internet for distribution. How do you picture Canle TV disruption looking?
GFischer 12y ago
Someone did. Netflix (and Youtube and Twitch.TV and Hulu...). For my use case, it just needs mainstream sports :) (and I find the Twitch.TV acquisition interesting because of that ). I just suscribed to Cable TV to watch the (football/soccer) World Cup, I wouldn't have considered it otherwise.

21echoes 12y ago

wait... ads, photos, and niche social networks, are "ripe" for disruption? haven't those three industries been the focus of some 90% of startups for the last 10 years at least?

general_failure 12y ago

I am kind of surprised facebook has not been disrupted. Even more surprising is that nobody is even trying. People just throw their hands in the air and say nobody will leave facebook and all the existing people are well and truly settled there.

sosborn 12y ago
It can be discouraging when a company with the resources of Google tries and fails.

burkestar 12y ago

Disruptive innovation is often more about a superior business model than better technology. Technology is an enabler.

w_t_payne 12y ago

Other companies ripe for disruption: * SAP * PTC * EMC (Please! please! please! please!)

pm 12y ago
Not sure who PTC or EMC are... I worked at Bridgestone Golf for a few months (a tyre company that also made golf items, go figure), and because we were situated in their manufacturing plant, we were lucky enough to use SAP for our sales and distribution. It was the most horrendous experience of my life, and I sat there thinking that surely there would be a part of this beast that could disrupted. However, SAP is such a sprawling mess that where would you start?

beat 12y ago

I think EBay will be death by a thousand cuts... niche sites offering similar functionality (national/international auctions, community trust rating), but targeted a particular interest. My example here is Reverb.com, an online auction site for musical instruments and gear (particularly rock instruments, not classical). Reverb.com provides a gorgeous, Etsy-like interface, terrific targeted marketing, etc. It's backed by a major used instrument vendor (Chicago Music Exchange), and is quickly gaining momentum. Once sellers can have the same chance of sale and the same kinds of prices that EBay fetches, and buyers have enough selection to make the site really sticky (it's practically designed for window-shopping), some people will simply stop using EBay altogether in favor of Reverb. Etsy is another case in point. They've been around for a while, but they offer a far superior customer and vendor experience within their fairly narrow niche of handmade crafts. I'm sure we'll also see custom car seller sites (most of the old ones are as antiquated and ugly as EBay), toy collector sites, all the things EBay covers in its one-size-fits-all approach. EBay is lousy for window-shopping, but that's what collectors and nerds want to do. That's where the disruption will happen.

andrewljohnson 12y ago

LinkedIn just isn't for Jacques, it's not actually ripe for disruption. People like to condemn LinkedIn's tactics for engagement, and devoted indie + company salarymen like to condemn it for being a useless spammy recruiter hell. But, end of the day, LinkedIn is still a beast, has a tremendous network effect to defeat, and actually works for its millions of users: * many developers actually like to get the various recruiter and big co contacts * for business guys, LinkedIn actually works to make credible cold contacts with people who would be interested in doing business * the emails that tell you when your friend switches jobs are useful and important in the same way Facebook's birthday reminders are * LinkedIn is doing a decent job further managing the product - it has gotten more useful over the years So what if you think endorsements are lame and sometimes LinkedIn accidentally tells you a profile update means a new job, when it doesn't. So what if you are a special snowflake who, with hundreds of thousands of others, doesn't find LinkedIn useful, and too aggressive? It's those very engagement tactics that make sure the network is complete and the metadata is fresh.

crisnoble 12y ago
Wait, why are Facebook's birthday reminders important?
- pawn 12y ago
  Some people like to be told "Happy Birthday" even if they know most people only "remembered" because of a notification. Sometimes, it can be useful to be reminded of a birthday for somebody you actually want to get a gift for.
- xerophtye 12y ago
  Its gives you an excuse to remind someone that you exist in their friends list. Socializing/Networking is actually more important on LinkedIn than on FB, because people usually have (or have had) social relations with FB people IRL, but on LinkedIn you need those excuses because otherwise you msotly just have business relations

justinpaulson 12y ago

I would not say these very large and engrained services are "ripe for disruption" unless you totally revolutionize the feature-set of such products. I think things that are ripe for disruption are things like traditional IRL services...like how Uber is greatly disrupting taxi services, for instance. I would like to see disrupts in grocery stores, point-of-sale systems, and other tangible services that can be revolutionized with new technologies. I think disruption is more about an industry than taking on a single company.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

pbreit 12y ago

I can't take someone seriously who says "I don’t see the value of LinkedIn". That's obtuse or willfully ignorant. You don't have to like LinkedIn but it's immense value as the world's resume database is patently obvious.

greendata 12y ago

Google Adwords is absolutely ripe for disruption. Actually all of Google's services, except Mail and Search, are not great.