Warby Parker

Warby Parker launched in 2010 selling prescription glasses online for about $95 a pair, in an industry where the average ran into the hundreds. Behind those prices sat a quiet near-monopoly: one Italian conglomerate that owned the brands, a large slice of the retail chains, and the insurance arrangements. Four Wharton students bet that glasses cost too much not because they had to, but because one company controlled the whole chain. They sold direct, designed in-house, and let customers try five frames at home for free. The giant watched it happen and did not seriously respond.

For founders and operators, this is a case about choosing a position your largest competitor can see clearly and still cannot match. It sharpens the decision of how to design a model that an incumbent's own commitments, channels, and margins prevent them from copying. Why the dominant player stayed frozen, and what that reveals about the most durable kind of edge, is the part you'll have to open the app for.