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Start free trial →The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway · Tech Strategy & Big Tech · November 2026
A listener asked how to build a product in a market dominated by incumbents. Galloway argues that entering such a market can still pay off, because incumbents buy their threats.
Welcome back. Question number three comes from it's Christian Reese on Instagram. How do you build a meaningful product and service in an industry dominated by incumbents? Hmm. Thoughts?
…first, the second, or the third best company. Um, so you don't, and he even says, like, you don't even have to be better. His, his happened to be different and better, but you can build a business just by being different. So, that would uh, I think that's the way that he would answer that question.
…looked at a whiteboard and said, Oh, I'm going to open a low-cost retailer that has supply chain competence in small towns that aren't being served by department stores. It just, I think you probably decided I have, I have these skills around this. I've always, I think, as an entrepreneur, you want to say, What am I really good at? Because even in industries that are dominated by big incumbents, the great thing about big incumbents is they have a tendency to overpay for anyone that seems like a threat. You don't have to go public and be Google. You just might want to be a company that Google acquires. So, I would more focus as an entrepreneur. I mean, if you say, I want to start a search engine, you may want to check in with some people around, can you raise the kind of capital to start a search engine? But Walmart comes in, okay, retail's over. And then Amazon comes on, Amazon's over, no, especially retail, whether it was Lululemon or Sephora, carved out incredible niches because they…
I agree with your point wholeheartedly. This idea is like, I'm going to put it on a whiteboard. I'm going to be like, oh, this is the TAM. Sam Walton is a perfect example. Obviously, he gave away the equity to his kids before it was valuable. But if let's say, you know, all the wealth came from one…
We'll be right back after a quick break.
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