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0 pointsnavigatesol6y ago0 comments

>Because many of them created their market space years ago and are now so established that it's difficult for a competitor to stage a worthwhile effort

I find this opinion (which is common on HN) hard to reconcile with the idea that established companies are "old and slow" and susceptible to "disruption" (also common on HN).

Like, no one can take out Apple's AppStore stronghold, but Tesla is going to bankrupt a century-old trillion dollar auto industry with a global supply chain infrastructure? Which one is it?

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3 comments · 2 top-level

wtetzner6y ago· 1 in thread

Aren't these different things, though? Auto companies aren't platforms for the small guys to sell their things.

Nobody is saying it's impossible to sell your product without going through one of the big platforms, just that it's expensive and difficult to market your product without doing so.

Also, I don't think it's ever as simple as established companies being "old and slow" so startups can "disrupt" them. Some companies are old and slow in certain dimensions, but at the top of the game in other dimensions.

Further, established companies have inertia, which can work for or against them.

navigatesolOP6y ago

I do agree with you, mostly with the point that every company/industry is different.

But I have to point out we do hear things on this site like, 'the auto industry is old and slow", and I think it's false. Some of the companies are, and some are quite progressive. Industries are rarely homogenous.

sasasassy6y ago

Because there are business where it is natural for customers to cluster. It is not natural for car customers to cluster since nothing stops you from purchasing from a different brand, there is little or no vendor lock-in.

On a social platform or online marketplace there is a natural tendency to cluster, customers do not want to maintain multiple social profiles or bookmark 10 "amazons".

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