As someone who loves exploring how technology reshapes industries, I’ve noticed a pattern. Great enterprises aren’t wished into existence, and the ones who often are able to cut through the noise are those willing to reimagine the basics and disrupt.
2025 is here and the entrepreneurial world is brimming with companies that are rewriting the rules in their industries and solving old problems in new, exciting ways. In this piece, I will share five examples of some of the most disruptive startups doing meaningful work, as well as the lessons they offer for those ready to innovate.
Table of Contents
- What is a disruptive startup?
- 5 Disruptive Startups to Inspire You
- Lessons on Disruption for Entrepreneurs
What is a disruptive startup?
Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen describes disruption in business as “a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses” in his book, The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.
Since this theory of disruptive innovation was introduced in the pages of this book in 1995, it has continued to hold true for entrepreneurs and business leaders of big and small enterprises.
Today, however, this phrase has evolved into something broader. The original theory of disruption focused on smaller entrants challenging incumbents with simpler, cheaper alternatives that redefined market expectations.
Over the last decade, disruption often entails leveraging technology to reimagine entire industries, from customer experience to operational frameworks, making the word synonymous with scalable transformation rather than just market entry.
“This means that you must pair innovation with flawless execution to enable scale and sustained impact, ensuring new ideas can reach mass adoption and fundamentally reshape industries,” Avi Pardo, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at LeapXpert, shares.
In D-ID CEO Gil Perry’s words, “The definition has evolved to reflect speed and iteration. Disruption is no longer a singular event; it’s continuous. It’s all about moving faster than the market and staying ahead of the curve by creating moats that constantly evolve.”
I think this broader understanding of disruption has significant implications for how startups operate today. Now, it’s not just about the initial breakthrough. It’s about staying ahead, continuously innovating, and adapting to shifting market demands.
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5 Disruptive Startups to Inspire You
Without further ado, here are five examples of disruptive startups I found to inspire you.
1. Glean
What does Glean do?
This AI startup is building what it intends to be the “Google for Work,” which is both ambitious and timely, especially in an era where information overload hampers productivity. Founded in 2019, Glean is a workplace search and knowledge management platform designed to make finding information within organizations seamless.
By integrating with various tools such as Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, and other productivity software, Glean allows employees to quickly locate documents, messages, or answers they need across multiple platforms — all from a single search bar.
Why is it disruptive?
As of May 2023, the average American employee uses 11 different applications to carry out their daily responsibilities and spends an average of 13 minutes searching for information on each of these apps, bringing the total number of hours spent to 1.8 daily. In fact, 20% of the average work week is spent trying to find and understand information. This translates to a loss of productivity that could cost Fortune 500 companies as much as $12 billion every year.
According to its co-founder, the company was born out of this frustration.
“It becomes very difficult for companies today to organize all of their internal company knowledge and data, across hundreds of different applications, to make it easily accessible,” Arvind Jain shared with Fortune in a recent interview. With Glean, this process is simplified with intelligent search capabilities powered by AI.
The enterprise search market is projected to reach $8.4 billion by 2032, and Glean’s innovative approach positions it as a significant disruptor in this domain. In just five years, the company has achieved a valuation of $4.6 billion and recognition in the industry through its inclusion in prestigious lists such as Forbes AI 50 and Gartner’s 2024 Cool Vendors for Digital Workplace Applications.
With the data chaos the world has been thrown into, finding anything can reenact a literal needle-in-the-haystack scenario. This is why I believe solving this problem across industries and business functions will remain increasingly relevant as technologies advance.
Case in point: HubSpot’s free AI Search Grader helps brands and marketers understand how they show up in Large Language Models (LLM) and AI search.
2. Salvador Technologies
What does Salvador Technologies do?
Founded in 2020, Salvador Technologies provides a solution that ensures operational continuity for companies in the event of a cyber-attack, cyber-incident, or any kind of failure in the manufacturing market landscape.
The company’s platform allows these organizations to swiftly restore operations in case of a cyber-attack within 30 seconds — an incredible feat in the cybersecurity world. Relying on the Salvador platform means manufacturing organizations can continuously operate avoiding the huge financial losses associated with such attacks or costly interruptions to their operations.
Why is it disruptive?
Traditional recovery methods in manufacturing environments can lead to extended downtimes, often lasting days or weeks, resulting in substantial operational and financial losses.
Salvador Technologies’ solution disrupts this norm by offering a zero downtime platform, thanks to its 30-second recovery time. The company does this through its patented air-gapped technology that isolates backups, preventing unauthorized access to an organization’s valuable data and ensuring data integrity.
“We started from talking to potential customers, hearing their pains, what solutions they have today, and what they think we can help them with our technology. In parallel, we aligned our strategy with OT automation vendors who supply systems to our customers and have high interest to improve their cyber-resiliency,” Alex Yevtushenko, co-founder and CEO at Salvador Technologies, shared with me.
Today, Yevtushenko’s team has the strongest patented air-gap technology, but more than this, “we have the platform to give the feeling of resiliency to our users and be ready when a cyber-attack hits,” Yevtushenko says.
Since 2021, the Israeli startup has raised a total funding of $9.5 million led by Pitango VC and PICO Partner Ventures. Another noteworthy achievement for Salvador Technologies is their selection for a $2.2 million cybersecurity project funded by the BIRD Foundation. I think these investments underscore the industry’s confidence in its innovative approach to cyber-resilience.
3. Salva Health
What does Salva Health do?
Six years ago, Valentina, Isabela, and Cristina worked on a theoretical university project that has since metamorphosed into Salva Health today. Founded in 2019, Salva Health is a Colombian startup dedicated to enhancing early detection of breast cancer, particularly in underserved populations.
Their flagship product, Julieta, is a portable device that analyzes breast tissue to identify cancer risks. Leveraging artificial intelligence, Julieta accelerates diagnoses, making early detection accessible even in remote areas.
Why is it disruptive?
The stats are staggering: 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will face a breast cancer diagnosis in her lifetime. Yet, when detected in its earliest, localized stages, the survival rate is an astonishing 99%. This emphasizes the life-saving potential of early detection. However, the reality remains stark — the barriers to access to early detection diagnosis are still high for women in underserved communities.
This is where Salva Health’s Julieta disrupts the traditional paradigm. Unlike conventional screening tools that require expensive equipment, trained specialists, and established healthcare infrastructure, Julieta is portable, user-friendly, and AI-powered. It brings early detection directly to the communities that need it the most, effectively bridging a long-standing healthcare gap.
“Six years ago, nobody would have believed that it would be possible to create a device like Julieta,” Valentina Agudelo, founder and CEO of Salva Health, shared in an interview with Context. “So, in addition to believing it, it is about not resting until we know that we are making the best attempt to make this project, with which we want to generate impact, possible.”
Recently, the Salva Health team beat over 2,000 applicants to win TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield competition in San Francisco, earning a $100,000 prize. Competing against projects from 17 countries in 2023, they secured first place in the prestigious Global eAwards by NTT DATA FOUNDATION competition and also received an Unlock Her Future recognition out of over 900 projects.
I believe, like Salva Health, the startups that scale are the ones that embody the perfect blend of purpose and technology, changing lives in the most innovative ways possible.
4. LeapXpert
What does LeapXpert do?
LeapXpert is a business communication platform that enables enterprise employees to engage with their clients through popular messaging applications like iMessage, WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, WeChat, Signal, and LINE in a safe and secure manner.
The company’s solution helps to govern business communications, ensuring enterprise information security, data retention, and regulatory compliance.
Why is it disruptive?
If I had a penny for every time I stumbled on a debate about which messaging platforms are best suited to business communication, I would be making down-payments on a personal Optimus humanoid robot by now.
Even though 65% of consumers prefer to use messenger apps to interact with companies, businesses need to comply with regulations and maintain proper documentation. The challenge is finding a way to balance these competing demands, ensuring compliance while giving employees the freedom to interact with clients through their preferred messaging apps.
What LeapXpert steps in to do is to “...redefine enterprise communication by bridging the gap between outdated, secure-but-unloved legacy systems and modern, user-friendly messaging channels that were previously outside corporate control,” Avi Pardo shares. This, in my opinion, is wonderful as you can meet your customers and clients right where they are without jumping through regulatory hoops.
Recent company milestones include recognition by Gartner as a Cool Vendor, winning Microsoft Partner of the Year, winning the UC Awards for Best Unified Communication Platform for 2024, and being named in Deloitte’s Fast 500 as one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the U.S. and the 14th fastest-growing company headquartered in New York City.
5. D-ID
What does D-ID do?
Established in 2017 by innovators Gil Perry, Sella Blondheim, and Eliran Kuta, D-ID began its journey by developing the first facial image de-identification solution, aiming to protect individual privacy without compromising usability.
Over time, the company has evolved into a global leader in generative AI, using deep learning and image processing technologies to create solutions that animate photos, videos, and text. The company’s AI-powered Creative Reality technology transforms static images into dynamic, animated, and conversational media.
Why is it disruptive?
When D-ID started in 2017, it was navigating largely uncharted waters in generative technology, a market valued at nearly $17 billion in 2024.
“D-ID has consistently redefined what’s possible with AI and video, starting with our original core technology — protecting privacy by disrupting facial recognition,” Perry begins.
From there, Perry notes, the team turned to generative AI-powered creation, launching Deep Nostalgia, one of the first viral AI apps that brought still images to life.
“Our next leap was Chat.D-ID, which gave LLMs a face and voice, making digital interactions more human and engaging. Today, we’re focused on interactive Agents and Natural User Interfaces (NUI), building digital humans that feel intuitive and lifelike to interact with and enabling enterprises to connect with their users in an entirely new way,” Perry says.
D-ID’s innovative approach has garnered significant attention and investment, securing a total of $48 million in funding over seven rounds, with a notable $25 million Series B round in March 2022.
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Lessons on Disruption for Entrepreneurs
Before I close out this piece, I want to share some other nuggets of wisdom from the founders and leaders of the disruptive startups we just reviewed.
1. You’re not taking a safe path. Failure is an option. Learn from it.
“The biggest risk in disrupting an industry is that you’re not following the safe, incremental path — you’re betting big, often against the current market trends. Success requires conviction, but also resilience when things don’t go as planned,” says Perry of D-ID.
Beyond that, many of the entrepreneurs I talked to mentioned having a tolerance for failure. Ideally, these missteps will be small and require a pivot. Agility can get disruptors a long way.
“Be willing to fail, learn, adjust, and pivot when needed while always listening to your customers — both existing and potential — often to implement changes quickly,” Yevtushenko says.
Failure is ever present in the disruptor space, so much so that you may be learning from other’s faux pas, not just your own.
“Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn valuable lessons from the failures of past disruptors. These companies faced multiple setbacks, but each time, they picked themselves up by analyzing what went wrong and adapting. Learning grit from these stories is essential — understanding that failure is just a part of the process and can often be the best teacher,” Avi Pardo of LeapXpert notes.
2. Find a community that you can rely on.
Valentina Agudelo of Salva Health calls entrepreneurship a fascinating and scary journey. She notes that she often felt alone and overwhelmed when she was first getting started.
“As a lesson from this experience, it is very important to create a community and find allies in the system that can help you navigate the uncertainty of entrepreneurship,” Agudelo says.
I recommend talking to other founders and finding mentorship that can help you throughout your journey. Perry found podcasts to be another helpful avenue for guidance.
“I love listening to podcasts like ‘Acquired,’ where each episode breaks down how the world’s top companies were built and their stories. Their journeys and strategies are full of lessons you can apply to your day-to-day life and your management tactics. The more you understand how others took risks and succeeded, the better equipped you are to shape your own path,” Perry says.
3. Know what attracts (and retains) talent.
A big part of growing your disruptive business is growing your team.
“Disruptors excel because they create rigorous hiring practices focused on culture fit, complementary skills, and potential for growth,” says Avi Pardo, LeapXpert.
As a Chief Business Officer, Pardo notes that retaining talent should be just as important. “Retention is equally critical — they invest in developing their teams, creating environments that empower people to take ownership, collaborate, and innovate,” says Pardo.
4. Keep up-to-date with regulations.
Disruptive technologies or offerings often precede legislation. As a founder, you’ll need to understand changes to the legal landscape. That’s especially true when competing against established companies.
“Disruption often triggers resistance from established players, who may lobby for stricter regulations or slow adoption through fear and inertia. These challenges can be mitigated by aligning innovation with compliance, treating regulators as partners, and building trust with stakeholders,” says Pardo.
Learning from Disruptors
Exploring the stories in this article reminded me that the most transformative solutions often stem from a decision to look at a simple, pressing problem from a fresh perspective.
More than anything, disruption isn’t about how big the idea is; it’s about daring to think differently, challenging the status quo, and persevering through challenges to bring meaningful change.
“Disruption is more than just creating breakthroughs; sometimes it's even disrupting your own advances,” Gil Perry notes.
If you’re someone with a big idea waiting to take shape, don’t just wait for the perfect moment — start putting your thoughts into action. A good first step would be to use HubSpot’s free business plan template to organize your ideas, map out your goals, and make your vision plain.
To close with wise words from Alex Yevtushenko, “Always challenge the status quo.”
Entrepreneurship Trends Report
Unlock the future of entrepreneurship with this free report from HubSpot and The Hustle.
- 92% of entrepreneurs have no regrets about starting their business.
- 61% find customers through powerful word-of-mouth referrals.
- 37% of entrepreneurs are targeting higher ARR in the next year.
- And more trends!
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