Can My Startup Transform an Industry?

Buddy, you've hit the nail on the head with that question. Every aspiring entrepreneur harbors this drive, wanting to achieve something significant. But "changing an industry" – those words carry a lot of weight. Let's talk about something more practical.

Trying to change an industry is essentially like trying to steer a small speedboat through a shipping lane full of massive tankers and change all their courses. Is it theoretically possible? Yes. But in reality, the odds are heavily stacked against you.

First, you need to ask yourself: what's your "weapon"? This weapon isn't about how clever your idea is, but whether you have the ability to launch a "dimensional reduction attack" on existing players.

What is a "dimensional reduction attack"?

1. Technology/Product Dimensional Reduction Attack: Just like digital cameras rendered film obsolete. What you create makes others' current bread-and-butter tools instantly become "antiques." For instance, while everyone was still using complex PC software, you developed a minimalist mobile app that accomplished the same tasks in just a few taps on a phone.
2. Cost/Model Dimensional Reduction Attack: Like how 360's free antivirus software disrupted paid antivirus solutions. Your service delivery model makes others' pricing strategies seem "foolish." For example, if an industry's service quotes are generally high, you use technology to reduce costs by tenfold, offering a price that competitors simply cannot match.
3. Experience Dimensional Reduction Attack: Like how Taobao/JD.com disrupted brick-and-mortar stores. You provide a level of user satisfaction that others simply cannot compete with. Things that used to require endless running around and persuasion can now be done with a few clicks, or even proactively handled by you.

As an IT engineer, this is a huge advantage, because all three types of attacks rely on technology. However, this is also a common "trap." Many founders with a technical background easily fall into "tech self-indulgence," believing their algorithms are brilliant and their architecture is elegant, but users simply don't care. Users only care if you've solved their "pain points."

So, you need to ask yourself again:

• Are you solving a "pain point" or a "scratch point"? Pain points are things that must be addressed, like a company losing money due to accounting errors. Scratch points are "nice-to-haves," like giving a document a prettier skin. To change an industry, you must target the most acute pain point and hit it precisely.
• Who exactly are your competitors? Don't just focus on companies making similar products. Your real competitors might be "Excel spreadsheets," "WeChat groups," or even users' habit of "doing nothing at all." You're trying to change deeply ingrained user workflows and habits, which is much harder than defeating a direct competitor.
• Why you? Why now? What unique resources, background, or insights do you possess? Is the market timing ripe, or has a new technology just emerged? If an idea failed ten years ago, you need to clearly understand what makes your current situation different from that person's ten years ago.

Finally, some practical advice:

Don't make "changing an industry" your initial goal; that's too abstract.

Your goal should be: Find an extremely small, specific, and painful scenario, use your product to perfect it, serve your first 100 users exceptionally well, making them love you so much they're willing to actively recommend you.

If your solution truly has the potential for a "dimensional reduction attack," it will spread like a virus on its own, gradually infiltrating from niche markets to the mainstream. By then, you won't need to constantly declare your intention to change the industry; the industry will have already been changed by you.

Remember, if you can build a company that is sustainably profitable, provides decent income for its employees, and satisfies its customers, you've already surpassed 95% of entrepreneurs. That in itself is a remarkable achievement. Changing the world is an ideal, but survival is fundamental.