datasets, to go beyond previous small-sample qualitative studies and understand the allocation of funding to digital entrepreneurship along the life cycle of firms.

The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 explains the definition and characteristics of disruptive technologies that are used throughout the paper. Section 3 explains the data sources and the methodologies used to identify disruptive technologies and the empirical Section 4 the main results of the the life of strategy. analyzes paper, including cycle disruptive technologies and the differences in securing funding, and section 5 concludes.

# **2 What makes firms disruptive, and where is the frontier?**

Disruptive technologies are those with the potential to create new markets and eventually overtake leading companies in mainstream markets (Bower and Christensen, 1995). The technological architecture embedded in these technologies starts to become a part of established technologies, and thus disruptive technologies show steep increases in performance. As explained by Bower and Christensen (1995) and Christensen (1997), even large established companies that are leaders in the market can be substantially affected by failing to implement these technologies, reducing their market share or, in some cases, even exiting the market. An example of disruptive technologies is artificial intelligence, which was started by creating a new and very specialized market. Furthermore, it has gradually been incorporated into other digital solutions offered to consumers and businesses.

A firm becomes disruptive with innovation or the adoption of new technologies that have the potential to alter the way markets behave. The disruption produced by these new technologies can propagate via input or output markets. For instance, firms with digital financial technologies, usually known as Fintech, use digital technologies to improve their interaction with clients through the use of mobile apps, ultimately expanding coverage because the interaction simplifies. This reduces the cost of market outreach, and the firm eventually expands in the output market. At the same time, the massive collection of data the mobile allows the to the characteristics of through app firm analyze its clients to provide services that are even more tailored to its customers, furthering the impact on the output market. But to analyze these data, the firm needs highly qualified data scientists, which ultimately influences the labor (input) market.

Not all cutting-edge technologies are disruptive technologies. Some products or services with high technological content are too specialized to change markets. On the other hand, there are products for which the technology is not necessarily new, but the potential for creating markets and overtaking existing technologies makes them disruptive. Take, for example, the case of the personal computer and Apple; as explained by Christensen (1997), the technology was not necessarily new but was disruptive because it could bring the existing computer technology to millions of households and businesses. Something similar was observed with the Ford Model T in the U.S., where the car technology was not new, but it was produced in a way that allowed the car to transition from a luxury product to a mass-market good (Eli et al., 2023).

Given the specific characteristics of disruptive technologies, it has been challenging to establish a rigorous classification of disruptive technologies. Bloom et al. (2021) use an innovative and systematic approach. They identify 29 disruptive technologies based on 4