“You would think that disruption would come when a company is weak and vulnerable. It doesn't. … Most companies are disrupted at their most successful point.”
Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · October 2026
Asked for the early warning signs that a company is vulnerable, Cole points to the music industry: 1999 was its best year ever, and then Napster arrived. He argues that success breeds the complacency that lets a disruptor in.
Transcript
…an enormous amount in medicine, but also in business organization, in transportation, logistics, where quantum's capable of is really pretty darned exciting. And except for cracking codes, it's not quite clear where the negative or dark side of quantum might come from. I'm sure people will find it.
When we're thinking about an industry that might be vulnerable to disruption, but specifically companies, and obviously there's a few examples you've given, what are kind of the early warning signs that a company might be vulnerable that investors. Well,
first, one of the most interest, you would think that disruption would come when a company is weak and vulnerable. It doesn't. It comes if actually most companies are disposed. Disrupted at their most successful point. Talk about the music industry, an industry that has always fascinated me, an industry that the consumers wanted to be disrupted because most of us grew up, you know, with a music industry whose business model was extortion. You want two songs? Great. You have to buy 12 songs and spend $17. But Napster…
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