From the library
Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey Moore, 1991
In one paragraph
Moore's account of why products that delight early adopters die before reaching the mainstream: the two groups buy for incompatible reasons, and the gap between them is not gradual. The bowling-alley strategy of dominating one beachhead segment is the practical core. Most useful at the point of early traction. Least useful earlier or later, and the technology-adoption curve is treated with more confidence than the evidence supports.
Also tagged
Where this sits in the operating system
Focus & Essentialism
Focus & Essentialism
Continuous Improvement & Feedback Loops
Key insights
Early adopters buy change; the early majority buys safety. They are not the same market and the gap between them is not gradual.
Dominate one narrow beachhead segment completely, then use it as the reference that makes the next one credible.
A whole product, not a better one, is what crosses. The mainstream buys the ecosystem around the thing.
Recognise it early
The failure and the correction sit side by side deliberately. Read the left column asking whether any of it is already true of you.
Trying to serve multiple segments simultaneously
Selling features instead of complete solutions
Expecting pragmatists to behave like early adopters
Competing without established market leadership
Expanding too early without solid reference base
The same idea, argued differently
Frank Slootman
George Stalk Jr., Thomas Hout
Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky
The full breakdown
Before you close this
Naming the specific moment you will act roughly doubles the odds you do.
Reference
- Author
- Geoffrey Moore
- Published
- 1991
- Category
- Business
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