How many times have investors heard startups start their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” What entrepreneurs forget or don’t realize is that most customers are initially wary of any technology, that educating the market on new technology is expensive, takes a long time, and people buy problem solutions rather than technology anyway. Investors will wait for more traction.
The concept of disruptive technology was first introduced by Clayton M. Christensen in “The Innovator’s Dilemma” way back in 1995. Such technologies, like the digital camera and mobile phones, introduce such novel concepts that they displace existing technology quickly by societal standards. Unfortunately this “quickly” may be too slowly to save initial startups in the space.
To read the original article: Startup Professionals Musings: Startups Should be Wary of Disruptive Technologies
