Disruptive Innovation

A process by which a product or service initially appeals to a niche or underserved market with a simpler, cheaper offering, then improves over time until it displaces established market leaders.

Disruption rarely looks dangerous at first. Incumbents dismiss early disruptors as too simple or low-margin. Founders can exploit this by entering overlooked segments and improving rapidly.

Online courses were once dismissed as lower quality than university degrees. They disrupted professional training from below, eventually reaching a quality level that made them the default choice for many skill-based learners.