Can Your Business Disrupt An Industry?

3 Questions to evaluate whether a startup can live up to the HYPE.

- Ernest North

Over the past few years, digital-native companies like Uber, Amazon, and Airbnb have redefined the rules of competition in their industries. Less often spoken about are the more conservative markets where digital disruptors have not yet managed to dislodge the incumbents or even win significant market share.

So, with startups emerging at a rapid rate, how does one predict whether the incumbents will transform themselves and ensure that they remain relevant in the future, or whether they will lose out to new market entrants?

Ernest North, one of the co-founders of Naked Insurance, believes there are three simple questions one can use to determine whether existing companies or startups in any industry are on track to dominate or not. These questions have guided Naked’s journey over the last three years as they have built their company from scratch, and North believes these guidelines can be can be applied to any business:

Q What do customers say after experiencing this business?

What are the things people love most about this business? What are the headline benefits? The flipside of this question is: What do people dislike about dealing with the current industry providers?

For example, relevant to us was finding out what people hated about the traditional insurance experience, which is the time-consuming paperwork and phone calls, the quibbling when they claim, and the need to regularly renegotiate premiums to get a fair deal. Plus, insurance is a grudge purchase. People resent spending money on it and want to get covered for the best possible price.