NOTES / 2025.09.29 · 4-post thread · 10 likes

True Disruption Is Extremely Rare

The Economist called disruption 'one of the most influential modern business ideas' — and yet the data stubbornly refuses to cooperate.

FIG. 01 — FROM THE ORIGINAL THREAD

@TheEconomist called the theory of disruption “one of the most influential modern business ideas”. And yet the data stubbornly refuses to cooperate. x.com

In hard drives, the 3.5” insurgent was bought by giant Seagate, which reinvented itself and quickly caught up. Similarly, Napster should have buried music labels, but they pivoted to streaming, turning piracy into profit.

True disruption is extremely rare, and incumbents catch up more often than we’d like to think. They control distribution, and inertia is a powerful selling proposition.

@arampell 4/ More on the innovation vs. distribution tension here: x.com

Originally published as a thread on X.