Milken 2014: 'Disruptors' shake up industries

LOS ANGELES -- Just as startup Uber is shaking up the taxicab industry and Apple's iPad turned the world on computing on its head, the next wave of disruptors on on the prowl to bring wholesale change to many industries.

Which one is next? Look for ideas that offer the "simple solution" instead of the complex institutions that have grown up around many services that people take for granted, says Kimbal Musk, brother of entrepreneuer Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, at the Milken Institute Global Conference.

"Over many years, the solution gets completely lost," says Musk. He pointed to electric cars, a simple idea that got its start at the beginning of the 20th century only to be discarded in favor of gas. Now electricity is back to power cars because it's a simple way of solving the world's energy and pollution woes.

He says SpaceX also focuses on the simple. It's rocket launches are conducted with a crew of only 20 or 30, a tenth of as many as it closest private competitors need to put a rocket into space.

Starting a business that disrupts the standard procedure of an industry isn't easy. Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, says he saw what happened first-hand in bringing a digital revolution to the hidebound, studio-dominated film industry.

He says disruptors will first be ignored, then ridiculed. As they emerge, established businesses will then fight back and finally accept reality.

But they keep going. Often, disrupters succeed because they are willing to create rather than simply accept the status quo. They know they can do better, says Will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas performer. He sayts he tired of hearing the same music and vowed to write better music, his own.