Maples: Startups Defeat Incumbents Using 'Sword and Shield' Asymmetry
Mike Maples Jr. · #77 Mike Maples: Living in the Future · Mar 3, 2020 · at 53:20
Floodgate founding partner Mike Maples Jr. summarizes Clayton Christensen's 'sword and shield' disruption model for startups competing with incumbents.
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“The shield is, your go-to-market strategy is so different, and the customer context that you're targeting is so different, that the incumbent doesn't feel an incentive to attack you. They just say, ah, you can have that market. That's stupid product, stupid idea. And that, so that's the shield that gives you time to perfect the technology. The sword is the skills that you build through time that the incumbent lacks. And as you build the skills come up with a momentum by the time the incumbent realizes that you're a threat, the asymmetry of your skills compared to theirs. Is too overwhelming for them to respond effectively.”
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