Own the Disruption
Partner with the technologies that could replace your advantage
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 91%
Huberman's response to disruption is to become a partner and owner in the companies changing his work rather than fight them as competitors. Hawke Media began investing in marketing and ecommerce technology, then used those tools inside its own operating environment. This creates a reinforcing mechanism: domain expertise helps the company identify useful innovation, client work supplies a testing ground, successful products improve the agency's offer, and ownership lets the agency participate in the disruptor's upside. Huberman contrasts this with the music industry's repeated resistance to formats and distribution technologies, which left outside companies owning major platforms. The framework does not mean investing blindly; it begins with technologies the operator knows, can test, and can integrate into real customer work.
Origin
Huberman says a successful early startup investment changed his resistance to angel investing. He later connected the approach to lessons from the music industry's history of fighting innovation.
Core principles
- 01Industry change is easier to benefit from than to resist
- 02Ownership aligns the incumbent with the disruptor
- 03Operational adoption creates insight before investment
- 04Long-term positioning matters more than defending the current delivery model
How to run it
- 1
Map the disruption
Look for technologies that could reduce demand for the current way you deliver value. Focus on changes close enough to your expertise to evaluate honestly.
Pro tip Ask which tools customers may adopt with or without you.
Watch out Do not confuse novelty with a useful industry shift.
- 2
Test in real work
Put the product in front of your team and suitable customers. Evaluate whether it produces a practical improvement rather than relying on a pitch.
Pro tip Use existing client work as a controlled proving ground.
Watch out Do not invest before you understand how the tool performs.
- 3
Partner and participate
When the technology works, build a relationship with the company and consider ownership exposure. Align your success with the innovation instead of protecting the old process.
Pro tip Prefer companies where your distribution or domain expertise also adds value.
Watch out Keep high-risk investments to a level the core business can withstand.
- 4
Embed the winner
Integrate useful technology into the service so customers benefit and the operating company becomes more innovative. Let adoption strengthen both the core offer and the portfolio company.
Pro tip Train the sales team to explain the customer outcome, not just the software feature.
Watch out Ownership without operational adoption does not improve the core business.
In the wild
Hawke Media invested in marketing and ecommerce tools including Klaviyo, Postscript, and Tapcart. Huberman says these innovations became tools the agency could introduce to clients while the company also owned exposure to their growth.
→ The agency participates in technology change while using it to strengthen its marketing offer.
Huberman recalls the music industry resisting successive innovations, including online and streaming music. He uses the absence of a major label as the owner of iTunes or Spotify to illustrate the cost of fighting the tide.
→ The cautionary example supports partnering with disruption before outsiders capture the new layer of value.
Common mistakes
Fighting the tide
Protecting the current model can leave the most valuable new platforms to outsiders.
Investing outside your knowledge
The advantage comes from testing products in a domain you understand, not from treating every technology trend as investable.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for established operators with enough domain knowledge and customer access to evaluate emerging tools.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for companies that cannot test products directly or absorb venture-level losses.
From the transcript
“I'd rather be a partner and owner in the companies that'll disrupt what I do and change what I do than a competitor”
“let's not fight the tide of like things are shifting what we do will change”
“why don't we just as things are disrupting be a part of them”
From the episode
Dominating the Marketing Industry ft. Erik Huberman
Erik Huberman