The best innovation stories often include examples of disruptive innovation: challenging the status quo and creating something that is truly new. This type of breakthrough play creates whole new market categories or subcategories around customer needs that have been previously overlooked. In many cases, new businesses are built around a single idea originating with an individual or founder of a start-up company. Where do these ideas come from, why are they so powerful, and most importantly, how can we recognise them?
New category creation as a result of disruptive innovation
Disruptive innovation and new category creation is dominated by new entrants, start-ups, and individuals who identified an opportunity and built a business around it. That doesn’t mean established companies are unable to do this, but often they view the opportunity as risky, do not believe the current model can be easily disrupted, or have a vested interest in things remaining as they are.
One useful way to think about category creation (and new-market disruptive innovation) is this: it’s not “a better version of the old thing.” It’s a new promise to customers—something becomes newly possible, simpler, cheaper, faster, more enjoyable, more accessible, or more credible than before.
Why established companies struggle with new-market disruptive innovation
Established companies can create new categories—but they often get trapped by the logic of the existing business:
- Success metrics reward optimization, not exploration (forecasts, margins, share).
- The current customer base dominates decisions, even when a new audience is emerging.
- The organization protects the core, because the core pays the bills.
- Early demand looks small, so the opportunity is dismissed before it has a chance to scale.
This is why category-creating disruptive innovation often starts at the edges—then surprises incumbents once it becomes mainstream.
Disruptive innovation examples: four repeatable patterns behind new market disruption
Think of Nestlé who developed the home market for good quality espresso coffee, or Crest who created the market for their Whitestrips product. Regardless of size of company, taking a step back shows that most cases of disruptive innovation share a similar storyline that we can learn from.
Pattern 1: empathy-driven innovation that reveals unmet customer needs
Most ideas that result in new categories originate with the individual who personally experienced a problem or frustration and decided to do something about it.
In 1995, when Kevin Plank, a college football player, was frustrated with his sweat-soaked shirt under his equipment, he wondered why nobody had solved this problem before. Without any prior experience he developed a new undergarment that repelled moisture and offered it to his athlete friends. When they said they liked it and could he make more, the start of a new business—and a new category—was made.
What to take from this: category creation often begins with a sharp, personal “this shouldn’t be this hard” moment. The trick is turning that frustration into a clear definition of the job customers are trying to get done—and the barriers that make existing solutions fail.
Pattern 2: perseverance and experimentation that turns a niche idea into a category
It only took a comment from Hamdi’s father, who visited him in the US and commented on the poor quality of yogurt—and an ad about an old yogurt factory for sale—to come up with the idea for Chobani. Initially everybody around Hamdi thought he was nuts to buy a factory that Kraft had decided to divest and move into a very competitive market that was dominated by a few big players. But months of experimentation with recipes later, Chobani hit the shelves with a Greek yogurt that turned this niche category into a mainstream market.
What to take from this: new categories rarely emerge fully formed. They’re shaped through cycles of learning—product, positioning, packaging, channel, and pricing all evolve together. Early “failure” is often just data.
Pattern 3: start niche, then scale when the prize looks small at first
When Red Bull launched it wasn’t exactly considered the mass market product it has become today. Created in 1987, Red Bull avoided mass market advertising and was targeted at people who fell into the “thrill seeker” lifestyle, e.g. snowboarders, surfers etc. Over the years Red Bull has become socially more acceptable and moved from a niche product into the mainstream.
What to take from this: many market-creating innovations win by choosing a niche where they can be the obvious best choice, then expanding outward. The early niche isn’t the end goal—it’s the beachhead.
Pattern 4: business model innovation that makes category creation commercially viable
Contrary to popular belief, Nespresso wasn’t a quick hit. Invented as early as 1974 it took quite a while and a lot of experimentation before Nespresso became the success it is today. During those years Nestlé decided the opportunity would be better served as a separate business with leadership that was brought in from the outside. A fresh perspective on which customer Nespresso should target shifted focus from the office environment and restaurants to creating a new household category in gourmet coffee. Combine that with direct selling, word-of-mouth marketing, partnerships for the coffee machine development, and we can see that it took innovation at the business model level to make it work.
What to take from this: category creation is rarely only a product story. New-market disruption often needs a new go-to-market system—distribution, partnerships, pricing logic, onboarding, and repeat purchase mechanics.
From niche to mainstream: how new categories actually grow
A common misunderstanding about disruptive innovation is assuming the “big launch” creates the market. More often, markets are built through:
- A credible narrative (what’s newly possible and why now)
- Visible proof (before/after, social validation, simple demonstrations)
- A community or set of champions (early adopters who spread it)
- Distribution that matches the behavior change (where people already are)
- Iteration as adoption barriers appear (simplify, educate, remove friction)
If adoption requires customers to change behavior, your strategy has to include how they will learn, trust, and repeat—not just what you built.
Crossing the chasm: the moment category-creating innovation either scales or stalls
Geoffrey Moore’s concept of “crossing the chasm” is especially useful when the new solution requires people to change their behavior. Early adopters will tolerate rough edges, incomplete features, and new routines because they’re motivated by novelty, advantage, or identity. The early majority won’t. They need reassurance that the solution is proven, easy, and safe.
That gap between early adopters and the mainstream is where many category-creating innovations fail—not because the idea isn’t compelling, but because the support system around the idea isn’t ready.
Here are a few practical implications for new-market disruption:
- Solve the whole problem, not just the product. If customers must learn a new behavior, they also need onboarding, education, support, and sometimes complementary services or partners.
- Pick a “beachhead” segment and own it. Moore argues that you cross the chasm by focusing on a specific niche you can dominate (a credible reference market), then using those wins to expand.
- Build evidence the mainstream trusts. Case proof, third-party validation, peer recommendations, and visible metrics reduce perceived risk.
- Design for habit change. Make the first use easy, remove friction from repeat use, and create cues, rewards, and defaults that reinforce the new behavior.
- Translate your story for pragmatists. What excites early adopters (“new,” “different,” “disruptive”) may worry the early majority. The mainstream wants reliability, integration, and a clear ROI.
In short: if your growth depends on people adopting a new behavior, then “crossing the chasm” isn’t a marketing moment—it’s a strategy and execution challenge that spans product, business model, and go-to-market.
How to create a new market category: a practical checklist for disruptive innovation
Step 1 — Define the unmet customer need
Step 2 — Clarify the “category promise” (what becomes newly possible)
Step 3 — Choose the initial niche where you can win
Step 4 — Design the business model to scale
Step 5 — Build credibility (partners, proof, distribution)
Step 6 — Create demand (narrative, word-of-mouth, community)
Step 7 — Expand from niche to mainstream
It is true that new categories are mostly created by new entrants, start-ups and entrepreneurs who identify a pain point or specific need—something they can solve for the customer—and build a business around through experimentation along the different elements of a business model. From these and other stories, clear patterns emerge that can help others on their quest to identify and navigate disruption.
Common pitfalls that kill category-creation
To improve your odds, watch for these predictable failure modes:
- Copying incumbents’ language instead of naming the new value clearly
- Targeting “everyone” too early and losing focus on the first believers
- Over-building before learning (shipping certainty instead of testing assumptions)
- Treating business model choices as “later” when they are often the breakthrough
- Measuring with core-business metrics that punish early-stage learning
Questions leaders should ask when pursuing disruptive innovation
- What customer struggles are we solving that existing categories ignore?
- What becomes newly possible—and how do we prove it fast?
- Who is the best “first niche” to establish credibility and momentum?
- What must be true in the business model for this to be profitable at scale?
- What would cause us to quit too early—and how do we guard against that?
If you’re serious about disruptive innovation and building a new category (or defending your core from new-market disruption), the work starts with sharper choices: where to play, what to promise, and how to learn faster than competitors.
