Engines of Disruption

THEORY DRIVEN C O N S U LT I N G

IOX PRESENTS

Title

Section

Introduction

1

What is your product/idea/technology?

Overview

2

What problem is your product/idea seeking to solve?

Deliverables

3

How does your product/idea solve this problem?

Advantage

4

What are the unique aspects of your product or service that provide you with a sustainable competitive advantage?

Capital

5

How do we get started?

Revenue

6

Where will it go?

Team

7

Who is on your team?

What are the engines of disruption?

By applying formal economic models to the question of technological competition, we have created a broader definition of disruption that is applicable to a wide variety of industries and technologies. Our model can be used to identify and analyze which attributes and characteristics facilitate and hinder disruption. Fundamentally, our model can be applied to: 1) Determine if and when a new technology poses a legitimate threat 2) Strategically help both new and established technologies compete more effectively

What problems do the Engines of Disruption Solve?

Every new start up dreams of disruption, but most fail. Worse – some technologies that could improve lives prematurely collapse, never managing to break out of small, specialized market segments. The phenomenon of disruption has grown beyond Clayton Christensen’s theory, and leading experts have identified shortcomings in applying his theory ubiquitously. Exactly when is a new technology disruptive?

While the original theory was revolutionary at the time, a new theory is needed to address disruption as it exists today. Many companies have attempted to accurately evaluate the disruptive threat that a technology poses, but few have succeeded.

By implementing our model, we offer a degree of certainty in this uncertain industry.

How do the Engines of Disruption address this?

By using a demand-based view of disruption, we have created a set of equations that can be used to analyze a wide range of technologies, from computer hard drives and Google Glass to Uber and Apple Music. An innovation’s potential for disruption is its potential to compete with what already exists.

When will a consumer choose to purchase the new technology instead of what s/he is accustomed to?

PRODUCTION COSTS

1. Evaluate the disruptive threat your company poses

2. Strategically develop and position your product to maximize the possibility of disruption

PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES

3. Identify which market segments to target

MARKET SEGMENTS

4. Identify which of the product dimensions/ attributes to focus on

5. Market your product most effectively

We use formal economic theory, allowing us to create a set of equations that result in definitive, concrete solutions derived from mathematically sound logic. These equations are based on a set of very loose assumptions: that firms are profit maximizing and consumers maximize their utility.

Furthermore, with each opportunity we have to employ the model by applying it, the more data and evidence we gather to refine the model and enhance its predictive powers.

How much capital will you need and how will you use it?

More important than capital are opportunities to employ the model, with access to detailed data. An incubator is a perfect place to begin refining the model and demonstrating its usefulness. We can use the model to analyze potential applicants and current members while developing relationships with VC firms to which we could potentially sell our services to. We will need enough capital to pay salaries to allow and justify the time investment required.

We estimate that we will need between $60,000 and $120,000 to cover expenses and support our team while we refine the model and develop relationships with VC firms and startups.

How do you plan to generate revenue and when?

We plan to generate revenue by charging a fee for our services initially.

It is paramount that we find clients within the tech sphere working towards disruption in order to test and refine the model; this is why we believe that an incubator environment would be ideal for testing.

Moving forward, we expect that by working with VC’s and early stage startups in our initial push, we will learn exactly which inputs are critical to generate useful visualizations, which outputs provide meaningful insights, and how to generate this quality of data consistently. By applying what we learn in the initial stages, we aim to develop software that will provide a client facing dashboard, and sell it as a subscription service coupled with consultations based on our experience interpreting this data.

TEAM

Economist

Nikhil Kalathil is a Research Professional at the Hoover Institution and has been working with Professors Edward Lazear (former Chief Economic Advisor to the President) and Kathryn Shaw at Stanford University. He graduated from Oberlin College in 2014 with a triple major in Economics, Mathematics, and Politics. He earned high honors in economics for his research about technological competition and the process of disruption. He presented his research at the Carrol Round at Georgetown University, a premier conference for undergraduate economics research. His research was also accepted for presentation at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He also consults for OpenStudy, an online education community, applying statistical models and economic theories to study questions about user incentives.

Designer + Developer

J. Garrett Sibinga is a Designer, Developer and Serial Entrepreneur. After founding his first company at 21, he has been involved in three startups, focusing on UI / UX, product design, and cutting edge web technologies. He studied Print Design and Computer Science at Oberlin College, and spent a year at Columbia University GSAPP studying Architecture and Visual Programming. Garrett’s infographics have been featured in the New York Times, his product designs are for sale on top of the new World Trade Center, and he designed and built congressman Charlie Rangel’s 2014 winning reelection campaign website. He currently runs a small web design studio, and lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

THANK YOU! team@disruptionengine.io