Ripe for Disruption

Is anyone else a little upset to see that the "use 'fucking' in your title to get to the front page" tactic is still working? I understand that 'fucking' is in the original submission, but I really can't understand how a small 4-paragraph rant (by the author's own admission) makes it to the front page in <20 minutes except for the fact that HN seems to love the word 'fucking'.

[flash edit] I mean no disrespect to the author and the point he makes with the article.

Hey "brah"

There are indeed industries that are more ripe for disruption than others.

Count the amount of years it's been since there was true innovation in an industry. If it's over 10, it's ripe. If it's less than 10, it's not.

In other words, if the barrier to entry is extremely high due to constant innovation, it will be very difficult to disrupt, hence not "ripe" for disruption.

Additionally, you need to consider the capital investment required to enter a market.

Starting a car company: incredibly expensive, thus, the auto industry is not ripe for disruption.

Starting a higher ed tech company: small competitive landscape, potentially cheap entry into the market. Ripe for disruption.

P.S. Not sure if you noticed, but your hat's crooked.

Disagree.

Simply "doing something better" is not disruption - that's just business as usual. Disruption is radical change through technological innovation. The author seems to think that all industries are equality ready for that sort of shift.

I'd argue that Facebook didn't disrupt social media: it just overhauled MySpace/Bebo and expanded the online advertising "disruption" instigated by Google. eBay and Amazon disrupted the retail shopping industry, but building a better eCommerce site isn't more disruption.

There is also the question of how easily radical change can disrupt an industry. Weapons manufacturing could, for all I know, be swathed in unnecessary beaurocracy and be mired in ancient technology, outdated processes and unnecessary overheads. But it's fair to say that the industry is unlikely to be 'ripe' for anything without some sort of monumental policy changes at government levels. The exception that proves the point is the space industry: a shift of government policy lead to actual disruption by SpaceX.

Hard to hear the message over all the brogrammin' going down.

This blogs design is "ripe for disruption".

How is this crap front page?

That's not true. Most people who say that an industry is ripe for disruption have no clue how to disrupt it other than invoking magic fairy dust ("All you have to do is solve X!"). They're not talking about "ripeness"; they're talking about the amount of pain undergone by those interacting with the industry.