Crossing the Chasm is the bible for entrepreneurial marketing (book review)

Crossing the Chasm, 3rd edition

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore is one of those rare books that every aspiring tech entrepreneur should read right before going to that first luncheon with soon-to-be co-founders.

Moore’s third edition of Crossing the Chasm brings it up to date with dozens of new startup successes and failures. It also includes fresh marketing tactics for a modern digital world. Tom Byers, faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, laudes the book as “the bible for entrepreneurial marketing.”

Moore’s thesis is based on an idea known as the technology adoption lifecycle (TALC), a bell curve that breaks down the process of how high-tech products become absorbed into the mainstream market. Crossing the Chasm categorizes tech consumers into the following segments:

Innovators

These people are the technology enthusiasts and they are the smallest group of people in the TALC. They were the very first to join LinkedIn, get their hands on the first iPhone, test out Google Glass, and download Instagram. They have few qualms with early bugs in systems, so long as the product is the newest one on the market and they are the first to get it. Moore says innovators are crucial because they act as the gatekeepers to the mainstream market. He also highlights how important it is for startups to impress them, as approval from this group will ultimately decide a product’s fate.

Early adopters

This group is second in line. Moore refers to early adopters as “visionaries.” They are often industry professionals who are looking for the next breakthrough product to give their business a competitive edge. The book claims these people’s importance lies in their ability to fund development as well as publicize the product within key industries.

The Chasm

According to Moore, this stage is the danger zone of the TALC – the gap between visionary acceptance and that of the early market majority pragmatists (ie: consumers at large). This stage is the focal point of the book, and serves as the playground for Moore’s marketing advice. Highlighting the difficulty of traversing the Chasm, he writes:

Pragmatists do not see a complete solution to their problem, plus there is no group of references that have formed that they trust. In addition, they want to see the solution working live at customer sites. Revenue growth ceases or even recedes in the Chasm. The length of this market lull is uncertain.”

Moore’s advice for startups entering this “Chasm” is to target a “beachhead niche” in the mainstream market (similar to the Western Allied forces invasion of Normandy in World War II). Within the chasm, Moore stresses the importance of carefully gaining a foothold to survive.

Early majority

The book calls this market segment “the bowling alley.” Here, a product’s momentum picks back up, as early pragmatists in certain segments overcome their reluctance toward discontinuity and adopt the new tech to solve niche problems. The term “bowling alley” is appropriate as it describes the idea of knocking down one specific “kingpin” (capturing one powerful segment) in order to cause a domino effect. The book suggests that by dominating several of these segments, your company may start to emerge as a sector leader.

Late majority

This segment is much more conservative than the early majority. They don’t see value in technology just for technology’s sake. They tend to stay out of the market as long as they can, finally making the leap because they fear being left behind. Conservatives are sensitive to price and demanding of value. Moore says the key to success in this segment is to offer the add-on products that can command a price premium from conservative customers.

Laggards