The Innovator's Dilemma
The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensenby Clayton M. Christensen and L J Ganser and Don Leslie
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 6 of 24 business books by recommenders
Widely recommended for explaining how established companies miss market changes; one critic says its thesis is descriptive rather than predictive.
Widely recommended for explaining how established companies miss market changes; one critic says its thesis is descriptive rather than predictive.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 10 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Explains how incumbents miss market shifts
“For an excellent view on how established players miss market changes, check out The Innovator's Dilemma”
Comment from 31 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?” “The book describes a common real life business situation and explains it really well.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Google, Nvidia, and OpenAI” Widely recommended on this topic
“I highly recommend the book "The Innovator's Dilemma" on this topic”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Gov.uk goes Dutch on payments as it dumps Stripe” “"The Innovators Dilemma" is a good book on the topic.”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Microsoft offers mass buyouts for roughly a quarter of its workforce” “A good book on this is "The Innovator's Dilemma"”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Tesla Roadster” Influential, highly regarded business book
“one of the 4 or 5 business books actually worth reading”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “Successful Companies Go Blind” “this book was hugely influential”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Are consumers just tech debt to Microsoft?”
Other business books people recommend
The four most recommended other business books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gervais Principleby Venkatesh Rao | 32 | 6 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Lean Startupby Eric Ries | 32 | 6 | 84% | 5 | 10 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Incorruptibleby Eric RIES | 23 | 11 | 68% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Goalby Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox and Ensemble cast and Dwight Jon Zimmerman | 21 | 3 | 88% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Innovator's Dilemmaby Clayton M. Christensen and L J Ganser and Don LeslieThis page | 10 | 1 | 91% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“"The Innovators Dilemma" is a good book on the topic.”
“A good book on this is "The Innovator's Dilemma"”
“For an excellent view on how established players miss market changes, check out The Innovator's Dilemma”
“one of the 4 or 5 business books actually worth reading”
“it's worth skimming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma to understand”
“I highly recommend the book "The Innovator's Dilemma" on this topic”
“+1 for mentioning Christensen & Trout and Reis.”
“large corporations have totally different goals and incentive than startups”
“The thesis has no predictive power, no explanatory power. Merely descriptive.”
“The book describes a common real life business situation and explains it really well.”
“this book was hugely influential”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.