And finally come to my last point, point number six. And this is a big one. So I'll spend some time on it. Allow the unit to develop a strategy that is appropriate for the unit, and not for the core business. To highlight this, I want to give you the example of Kodak. And perhaps you're familiar with this.
We all know that Kodak failed to make the transition into digital cameras, we should ask yourself, why is that? And it's interesting, because when you ask yourself, you know, who actually discovered the digital camera? It was Kodak. Kodak then delay the introduction of the digital camera into the market. No, not really. They weren't the first one.
But they were the second one after Sony. Did they underestimate the market? No, of course not. They've invested more than half a billion dollars into it. You look at the product that they introduced, it was actually a super product. It was a camera with has and had all the functionality that you expected from it.
And so despite all of this codec still failed. And why is that? When you look at that fantastic product That had all of those features that you see in modern cameras. It had one small flaw. And what is that flaw? Well, for a digital camera, it still required you to print out the pictures.
Without printing it on paper, you could not see the picture. And there was no way to store it on your computer or your iPhone or your iPod or whatever. And then you say, what sick mind which crazy person thinks of the idea of a digital camera where you still needs to print out the picture on a piece of paper before you can see it? And the answer, of course, is the mind of the Kodak executive. He's thinking how can I grow this disruptive innovation without cannibalizing my core without impacting coda, and this is my point, do not allow the managers of the core business to develop the strategy of the unit. You have to start thinking like an entrepreneur.
You have to start thinking from a market perspective. Number two, in developing the strategy You have the new unit, avoid the big trap. So what is the big trap? Imagine you are british airways. And you've seen the rise of EasyJet, you've seen the rise of Ryanair. And you'd say, this is interesting.
I should go into this budget airlines as well. And you create a separate unit, you call it go and you tell them go compete against EasyJet. What business models should go adopt? What is the most natural thing to do? Well, the most natural thing and the easiest thing to do is to imitate the EasyJet business model. After all, they've been successful.
And I'm telling you, this is almost always a mistake. And why is this a mistake? Well, the cardinal rule in entering a new market is that you should never attack the established player head on here or come back at a point I made earlier. If you see the new market as simply an extension of the original market, you don't look at EasyJet as it is stablish player, but if you see it as a new market and think about it as a new market, the cardinal rule is never attacked the established players head on. So what should you do? You should develop a business model that is differentiated a business model that is different from EasyJet, we should avoid the big trap, which is basically to imitate the disrupter.
So let me now summarize the key points. First of all, growing a disruptive innovation next to the core is very difficult. There are no clear cut rules on what to do. But let me repeat my six points. First of all, really spend time to sell the innovation to the organization. It really means the difference between success or failure.
Number two, on average, put a new unit in a separate unit, but that is on average, please consider the different scenarios and consider the synergies as well as the potential conflict. Decide carefully what to separate and what not to separate. Fourthly, make most of your strengths Try to think on how to exploit potential synergies with the core unit. This is what separates you from another startup. The fifth point, actively managed conflicts, don't ignore them, and actually develop strategies to minimize them. And lastly, develop the strategy by thinking like an entrepreneur, don't let the managers from the core business develop the strategy for the new unit.
And lastly, avoid a big trap, do not go and imitate the business model of the disrupter. And with that, I'd like to finish this presentation. I hope you found this insightful, and it will help you in making better decisions on how to grow a disruptive innovation next to the core business.