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title: The most effective way to disrupt an incumbent is to remove the problem
author: Giacomo Balli
published: 2026-05-26
url: https://BigBalli.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-disrupt-an-incumbent-is-to-remove-the-problem
tags: AI, Engineering, Product, Disruption, Security
---

# The most effective way to disrupt an incumbent is to remove the problem

*By Giacomo Balli* | *Published: May 26, 2026*

The most effective way to disrupt an incumbent is to remove the problem it was created to solve.

OpenAI Sites feels like another step in that direction.

For years, companies like Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow helped businesses overcome the complexity of building a professional web presence. Their value was reducing the gap between an idea and a working website.

AI is compressing that gap dramatically.

When a business owner can describe a business and generate a functioning site in minutes, the economics of website creation change. The conversation shifts from "How do we build this?" to "What are we trying to achieve?"

That does not make incumbents irrelevant. It changes where they create value.

The pattern is familiar. OpenAI is steadily attacking layers of friction that entire categories were built around. Content creation. Coding. Design. Now websites.

The risk for incumbents is rarely that customers leave immediately. The risk is that the entry point moves somewhere else.

If users start with OpenAI and only reach for specialized tools when requirements become more complex, customer acquisition, product adoption, and market power begin shifting upstream.

Web design agencies, Wix, and Webflow still solve real problems. The question is whether those problems remain the first ones users encounter.

That is where platform shifts usually begin.

[Discuss on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7467979786364305409)

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**Tags:** AI, Engineering, Product, Disruption, Security

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