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Aaron Levie's Framework for Startups Competing Against Giants

By Aaron Levie · Leadership · 1 min read

Levie says the question isn't whether incumbents can copy you. It's whether copying you would be excruciatingly hard for them.

Key Points

Ask yourself: is what I'm doing something an incumbent will just replicate, or is it fundamentally too hard for them?
Incumbents can't respond if copying you means making less money
Study the org design of the companies you're attacking — bureaucracy is your advantage

Is what I'm doing something that's going to be incredibly and excruciatingly hard for an incumbent to do because they're going to make less money if they copy me?

The Real Question

Levie: If you're building a startup, you should think to yourself — is what I'm doing something that an incumbent isn't doing just because they haven't seen it yet, but the moment they see it they'll just put a team on it and replicate it?

Or is what I'm doing something that's going to be incredibly and excruciatingly hard for an incumbent to do? Because they're going to make less money if they copy me. They don't have the DNA or the resources or the internal ability to deliver this.

Is what I'm doing something that's going to be incredibly and excruciatingly hard for an incumbent to do?

Study Their Org Design

Levie: The org design of your competitor — you should understand it. A lot of markets right now have so much disruption potential. Look at banking. If you're a very large Fortune 50 bank and there's a massive digital threat, you might have a council of 30 parts of your organization that have to figure out how to even respond.

Being able to find these slower-moving, bureaucratic organizations — ideally those that are more political in nature — those are the areas where you're truly going to be able to disrupt.

Find slower-moving, bureaucratic organizations, ideally those that are more political in nature. Those are where you can truly disrupt.