The Innovator's Solution
Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
by Clayton M. Christensen · first published 2003
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical follow-up to The Innovator's Dilemma on applying disruption theory: choosing underserved markets, avoiding commoditization, and fixing it inside a company. Suits startup founders and strategy-minded engineers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…For all of the reasons why existing companies will not be able to modify their technology and business structure to what is needed to compete with Tesla, I highly recommend Clayton's followup book, The Innovator's Solution.
on ““The Tesla Model S is our top-scoring car”” ↗Anyone who wants to try to create a new market (as opposed to get into an existing one) should read The Innovator's Solution. I say this because of the excellent chapters explaining all of the ways in which over-investment can kill a startup in a small market which is likely to have a big future potential. (The preceding…
on “Death By Revenue Plan” ↗…economic theory of pricing software products is OK. Or a classic on managing software developers like Peopleware is OK. Some other general business books I like include The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution and First, Break all the Rules. A non-software specific design book I highly recommend is The Design of Everyday Things. Even though it is geared towards manufacturing related industries, I'm also very…
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗…lower risk problems and will crush undercapitalized startups. Which is why "not disruptive, and proud of it" sounds like bad advice for startups to me. Clayton Christensen's books (Innovator's Dilemma, Innovator's Solution) talk a lot about these issues. I will be adding them to my Startup Lore (http://www.deyanvitanov.com) as well in the next few weeks.
on “Not disruptive, and proud of it” ↗…will insist on handsome returns on investment rather than just making their money back. For a detailed explanation of the dynamics by which over funding prevents success, I highly recommend reading The Innovator's Solution. It is written in the context of an existing company doing a spin-off, but it applies in spades to startups as well.
on “No, that is not a competitive advantage” ↗I highly recommend the books "The Innovator's Dilemma" and "The Innovator's Solution" by Clayton Christensen. They basically provide answers to all of your questions. Christensen is the one who coined the term "disruption" as it applies to technology and innovation. The premise of the…
on “7% of Americans Subscribe to Netflix, Now Larger than any Cable Company” ↗Have you read The Innovator's Dilemma and its followup The Innovator's Solution? I'm pretty sure that Kodak was one of the cases discussed. If not, it deserved to be because it was a classic example of the perverse incentives that destroy incumbents. Kodak realized the future.…
on “Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class” ↗The most important part of the article is easily missed unless you've read The Innovator's Solution. Which is the follow up book and spends a lot of time looking inside of organizations to see why it is so darned hard to catch the disruptive train. A company with a profitable niche and a profitable…
on “Intel made a huge mistake 10 years ago” ↗…and again that whenever people said all progress has been made, so much more progress unfolds. I liked this book so much that we gifted this book at my startup to the entire team of 170 people! 2. The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor. This is a sequel to the popular Innovator's Dilemma book. I like the sequel much better because it tries to give solutions to the dilemma. The book packs…
on “Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2016?” ↗…vehicles, it is amazing how much air pollution goes away. Now you may say that electric vehicles aren't going to be adopted. If you think that, go read The Innovator's Dilemma and its follow-up The Innovator's Solution. One of the case studies is the car industry. Based on technology curves the prediction in the mid-90s was that hybrids would be brought out in this decade, and electric cars would become fully competitive…
on “Global warming: Moral vs Economic solutions” ↗My list, categorized: Business & Management 1. Innovator's Dilemma and Innovator's Solution by Clayton Christensen 2. Built to Last and Good to Great by Jim Collins. Built to Last is more applicable for startups. 3. Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks. Anyone who has to manage a team of programmers…
on “Startup founders, what books did you find most helpful?” ↗Solid list. I've read maybe 1/5th of those. There were some glaring omissions though: -Strategy & Innovation: to leave off Clayton Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma" and "Innovator's Solution" books is sacrilege -Psychology: Roger Dawson's "Power Negotiating" audio series is a must-listen for pysch and negotiating tactics -Business History/Ref: Founders at Work by YCombinator's own Jessica…
on “Best Business Books” ↗…Even though in other circumstances it could have been perfectly appropriate for that company. For an interesting book that covers the dynamics of how over-funding kills success, I highly recommend The Innovator's Solution. It is a follow-up to The Innovator's Dilemma, but the discussion of how money distorts organizational dynamics is only in the sequel.
on “Kleiner Perkins' first fund was $8M -- less than most companies raise today” ↗I've been waiting for this. Clayton Christensen predicted the coming decline of the MBA several years ago in The Innovator's Solution (very good book BTW). The financial bubble has extended the popularity of MBAs, but it is a net loss to take several years out of your career to gain information that you could gain on the side while…
on “The decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit” ↗Read The Innovator's Dilemma for a number of examples of how following the data lead companies off of nasty cliffs. (The follow-up, The Innovator's Solution, had a lot more useful detail.)
on “Why did so many successful startups come out of PayPal? Answered by Insiders” ↗