Perseverance and Disrupting Big Tech
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this author basically says that, if you have a disruptive technology and hang in there (with enough VC funding), you will win out over the incumbents. I'd add the research of his colleagues Brynjolfsson and McAfee who found that start-ups can act quickly, but if the incumbents can survive, they have the resources to later overpower the upstarts. The disruption occurs, but the winner can be either the upstart or the incumbent - depending on who executes a strategy better.]
I was talking with a founder/CEO of an enterprise startup about what it is like to disrupt a sizable incumbent. In the case we were talking about the disrupting technology was losing traction and the incumbent was regaining control of the situation, back on their feet, and generally felt like they had fended off the "attack" on a core business. This causes a lot of consternation at the disrupting startup as deals aren't won, reviews and analyst reports swing the wrong way, and folks start to question the direction. If there really is a product/market fit and the technology improves things, then hold on and persevere because almost always the disruption is still going to happen.
See the full story here: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140119170759-2293107-perseverance-and-disrupting-big-tech?curator=MediaREDEF