Crossing the Chasm
Description:
High-Tech Marketing Expert Identifies the Greatest Challenge Facing New Ventures and Shows How to Address It
Every year, according to high-tech marketing expert Geoffrey Moore, millions of dollars invested in high-tech entrepreneurial ventures are lost trying to "cross the chasm" from early market success to mainstream market leadership. Moore, President of Geoffrey Moore Consulting, identifies and addresses the key challenges facing such ventures in the long-awaited paperback edition of Crossing the Chasm: How to Win Mainstream Markets for Technology Products.
Targeted at venture capitalists, product managers, and tech marketers, Moore's book identifies a fundamental flaw in the standard high-tech marketing model, which postulates smooth sales growth through a series of well-defined, ever-larger markets. In fact, says Moore, there are really two, fundamentally separate phases in the development of any high-tech market: an early phase that builds from a few, highly visible, visionary customers; and a mainstream phase, where the buying decisions fall predominantly to pragmatists. Transitioning between these two phases is anything but smooth, and confidently assuming that success in the early market will translate into mainstream success is the fatal error that causes so many high-flying start-ups to crash into the chasm.
Crossing the Chasm grows from Moore's extensive consulting experience at Regis McKenna and at his own firm, working with hundreds of technology ventures struggling with these problems. The transition, he notes, is always perilous: typically, the new venture commits significant resources to modifications promised to secure its initial base of early market customers. The venture requires continued growth to support these commitments, growth into the lucrative mainstream markets. But these markets require a very different approach from that of the early visionaries; and if a company does not attack them properly, it will quickly fall short of projections and find itself in trouble. Moore's book presents specific strategies in marketing and all other areas of the business to help technology companies cross this critical chasm successfully. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Moore provides an invaluable service to high-tech entrepreneurs and investors: he has identified the weak link in the marketing chain which makes the success of such ventures so unpredictable, and he outlines proven, specific techniques to address this challenge. At a time when the high-tech community in the U.S. cedes much of its once-held manufacturing advantage to the Far East and elsewhere, it is critical that these U.S. enterprises must retain superior marketing as a competitive advantage. Crossing the Chasm provides critical information for achieving this end.
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