Article · 10 min read

Disruptive Innovation Theory

Christensen Institute Free Beginner

A clean, free reference that defines the terms precisely, with the classic disruption diagram. If HBR is paywalled for you, start here to get the vocabulary straight (sustaining vs disruptive, low end vs new market). Good to bookmark and re read whenever you are arguing about whether something is really disruptive.

  • Sustaining innovations serve existing customers better and favor incumbents.
  • Disruptive innovations serve the ignored or the non consumers first.
  • The trajectory of improvement matters more than the starting point.

The question it answers

  1. Everyone says the next big thing looks like a toy. What does that actually mean?

Read with it

  1. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  2. The definitive short read on why disruptive ideas get dismissed as toys, and why that dismissal is your opening. It reframes... cdixon.org Article · ~5 min read The Next Big Thing Will Start Out Looking Like a Toy Chris Dixon
  3. India's best long-form podcast with B2B SaaS founders who cracked global GTM from India, hosted by a 2x founder and Neon Fund... The Neon Show (formerly 100x Entrepreneur) Podcast · podcast series (200+ episodes) The Neon Show (Indian SaaS founders on GTM & sales) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  4. Video · ~25 min How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas Jared Friedman
  5. Thiel makes the counterintuitive case that dominating a tiny market first is a feature, not a bug: every lasting monopoly... Penguin Random House India Book · ~224 pages Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
  6. A dominant player with 80 percent share is almost always over-serving its most profitable customers and quietly ignoring the... Harvard Business Review Essay · About 20 minute read What Is Disruptive Innovation? Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and Rory McDonald
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