Curriculum in Focus: New Course Examines Three Decades of Industry Transformation

Yale School of Management is offering students a front-row seat to understanding how digital innovation reshapes entire industries with the launch of Digital Disruption, a new course debuting in spring 2026. The course is taught by Kyle Keogh, an experienced business leader whose career spans leadership roles at Google, McKinsey & Co., and J.P. Morgan.

Keogh currently serves as the Interim Chief Executive of Chautauqua Institution, which convenes global thought leaders and audiences around cutting-edge topics like AI. Previously he served as the Chief Business Officer at Cover Genius, a venture-backed insurtech company. Before that, he spent 16 years at Google in senior leadership positions. His diverse background also includes roles at IBM and experience as a Chartered Financial Analyst. Keogh teaches as an adjunct professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Digital Disruption takes students on a journey through the evolution of the digital economy, from the first wave of internet-based companies in the 1990s through today's emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. The course examines how new digital innovations, legal changes, and shifting consumer preferences create windows of opportunity for both startups and established companies.

"The end user—consumer or business—almost always wins in digital disruption driven by innovation built on new disruptive technology that can leverage existing ecosystems," says Keogh.

The course explores critical inflection points across multiple industries, analyzing why some companies like Amazon, Google, and Expedia thrived while others like eToys and Excite faded. Students will examine the second wave of "Born of the Web" companies including Facebook, Airbnb, and Uber that transformed specific verticals, as well as more recent disruptions in food delivery, streaming entertainment, electric vehicles, and online gambling.

A key component of the course focuses on helping students develop frameworks for identifying technology changes that can create disruption opportunities and determining which opportunities are worth pursuing. Keogh emphasizes thinking about primary, secondary, and tertiary effects. "For example, driverless cars will likely change auto companies and taxi drivers, but also parking, air travel, real estate, and the downtown areas in towns across the world," he explains.

The course also examines disruption from dual perspectives—both from startups and established companies. "Startups with people outside the impacted industry often drive the initial disruption, but then there are significant opportunities for established firms to compete, collaborate, or acquire," Keogh says. This balanced view is particularly valuable for students who may find themselves on either side of the disruption equation in their careers.

With digital transformation accelerating across sectors, Digital Disruption equips students with the analytical tools to identify emerging opportunities, assess competitive dynamics, and develop strategies for navigating—or creating—the next wave of industry change.