If you’re a startup with a disruptive business model, here’s what you need to do:

Map the order of battle

• Laughing at the dinosaurs and saying, “They don’t get it” may put you out of business. Expect that existing organizations will defend their turf ferociously i.e. movie studios, telecom providers, teachers unions, etc.
• Understand who has political and regulator influence and where they operate
• Figure out an “under the radar” strategy that doesn’t attract incumbent lawsuits, regulations, or laws when you have limited resources to fight back

Pick early markets where the rent seekers are weakest and scale

• For example, pick target markets with no national or state lobbying influence. i.e. Craigslist versus newspapers, Netflix versus video rental chains, Amazon versus bookstores, etc.
• Go after rapid scale of passionate consumers who value the disruption i.e. Uber and Airbnb, Tesla
• Ally with some larger partners who see you as a way to break the incumbents’ lock on the market. i.e. Palantir and the intelligence agencies versus the Army and IBM’s i2, / Textron Systems’ Overwatch

I thought all Startups have disruptive models?

These are good rules of thumb.