Guerilla Warfare

Guerilla warfare is the strategy of the weaker side: avoid pitched battle, strike where the strong cannot concentrate, and turn time and terrain into advantages. The strong want a short, decisive fight; the guerilla wants a long war of attrition in which the strong pay a steady price for holding ground while the weak stay mobile and choose the time and place of contact. Mao, Giap, and others codified it — the fish in the sea (population, terrain, support) and the ability to disappear after each strike. In business and markets, the parallel is the insurgent who does not take the incumbent head-on: they take a segment the incumbent ignores, move faster, and compound small wins until the balance of power shifts.

The model applies when you are outgunned on conventional metrics — capital, brand, distribution — but can win on speed, focus, or a niche the leader will not defend. Startups vs incumbents, challenger brands vs category leaders, and new platforms vs entrenched ones all have guerilla dynamics. The strategic question is where the strong are weak: which segment, which geography, which use case? Attack there. Do not fight the main force on its terms.

Use it to find the beachhead the incumbent will not defend, to move faster in that space, and to expand only when you have local dominance. The discipline is choosing the fight.