Kiva The Disrupter

When Mick Mountz set out to build Kiva Systems, he knew he was attempting to disrupt long-standing incumbents in the material-handling industry-and he succeeded. There is no question that the company's armies of mobile robots upend the normal pick-and-pack process in an online retailer's warehouse.But Mounts explains that it wasn't enough to envision the novel approach, invent the required technology, and make it commercially viable-he had to do much more to help customers take on the risk of buying an unprecedented solution. He had to price it in a way that made his company, not the customer, bear the risk. He had to provide all components of the solution so that Kiva would be 100% responsible for its performance. And he had to design his organization to deliver the entire customer experience-from initial marketing contact to after-sales service.It all adds up to a daunting proposition for a new company-and begins to show why disruption is so hard to pull off. When a company must defy so many of its industry's norms to change the game, it's out there to sink or swim on its own. HBR Reprint R1212E