Disrupting the disruptors, San Francisco VC Dave McClure wades in with his own version of Disruption Theory.
This is worth a read, and shows some interesting insights into what it takes to make it in the startup world, and also the fact that taking on the big boys is still within the reach of small time startups…
Clayton Christensen Responds to <em>New Yorker</em> Takedown of ‘Disruptive Innovation’ http://t.co/lPfK0V3kQ5 via @BW
— Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
1/ the real “anti-Disruption” story in Tech isn’t a Clayton Christensen takedown — rather, it’s that *incremental* innovation is winning. — Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
2/ while many “big” VC dollars go into [necessarily] capital-intensive “disruptive” co’s, it’s not actually a great bet for the founders.
— Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
3/ in fact, the *REAL* disruptive story over past decade is how unnecessary big VC dollars are 4 founders 2 start businesses & make money. — Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
4/ while it’s true that some startup founders can & may *choose* to raise tens of millions, most cant / dont need to do that 2b successful.
— Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
5/ today, smart bet 4 founders is 2 raise <$1M (prob $25-250K, or even ZERO!), & build a co that breaks-even in a year or two on $1M+ rev. — Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
6/ while many big, successful startups (Uber, Pinterest, AirBnB) still choose to raise shit tons capital, this isn’t the default scenario.
— Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
7/ better, smarter model 4 founders is to raise nothing at all, or certainly less than $1M, & take their time building a solid business. — Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
8/ this of course, isn’t a sexy story — neither press nor big VCs like “SmallBall”, & neither do self-important founders w/ too much ego.
— Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
9/ which is why people continue to shit all over the incubator/accelerator, crowd-funding, bootstrapping story, even tho it’s working well. — Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
10/ anyway i’ll stop ranting now & let everyone get back 2 ripping Christensen, but he’s hardly the villain in the “anti-Disruption” story.
— Dave McClure (@davemcclure) June 21, 2014
Learn more about Disruption Theory over at Wikipedia.
