Benedict Evans

Software ate the world. Uber and Airbnb didn’t sell software – they disrupted and redefined markets. But what kind of disruption are we talking about ?

Everyone knows about ‘disruption’, and it’s pretty common also to talk about redefining markets and ‘software eating the world’, and Airbnb and Uber are the perfect examples. Where previous generations of tech companies sold software to hotels and taxi companies, Airbnb and Uber used software to create new businesses and to redefine markets. Uber changed what we mean when we say ‘taxi’ and Airbnb changed hotels.