the.com/disruption
a polite word for breaking things until someone calls it a business model
means A disturbance that interrupts the normal course or flow of something, breaking continuity or order.
from From Latin disruptus, the past participle of disrumpere, 'to burst apart' or 'shatter' — built from dis- ('apart') and rumpere ('to break'). That same rumpere shows up in 'rupture' and 'erupt,' which all share the sense of something violently giving way. English took 'disruption' in the 17th century to mean a literal tearing-apart; the boardroom sense — breaking an industry rather than a bone — is a modern stretch of the same idea.
- origin
- From Latin disrumpere, literally to burst apart
- coined theory
- Christensen's 1995 framework, since wildly misused
- irony
- Most self-proclaimed disruptors disrupt nothing but capital
- plot twist
- Christensen said Uber wasn't actually disruptive
- buzzword tax
- Survives every pitch deck despite meaning almost nothing now
netflix streaming — disrupted video rental market, grew from 2m to 230m+ subscribers since 2007
uber ridesharing — disrupted taxi industry in 70+ countries, valued at $72b by 2021
airbnb accommodation — disrupted hotel industry, over 7m listings globally as of 2024
bitcoin cryptocurrency — disrupted finance/banking, reached $1 trillion market cap in 2021