How to drive disruptive change

HOTEL room by hotel room, and grocery order by grocery order, startups like Airbnb, Flocations, and RedMart are taking on giants in established industries, rethinking everything from hospitality to food distribution. What made these companies successful, even in spaces that are dominated by big players? They've hit on an unmet customer need, firstly, but they've also created a supportive environment in which their particular product can thrive.

Developing and adapting key start-up qualities can help big companies more consistently create growth through new ventures.

Get close to your customer. The start-up team at Fabulis.com, a now defunct social networking site, was close to the ground enough to see that a small feature in their product was driving huge customer interest. They flipped this feature, a design deal of the day, into a new iteration of their service, Fab.com, which went on to see much greater growth than their initial social networking platform.