Crossing the Chasm

Editorial review

Moore's chasm model is one of the few frameworks that still shows up in boardrooms because it matches how adoption actually feels: enthusiasm from early adopters, then a terrifying lull before pragmatists buy. Dated examples; underrated diagnosis.

AI-generated summary

Moore argues there is a gap — the 'chasm' — between visionary early adopters and the pragmatic early majority, and that crossing it requires a disciplined beachhead strategy, whole-product thinking, and referenceable wins in a narrow niche.

Key takeaways

• 1

  Early adopters are not a scaled-down version of the mainstream market.

• 2

  A beachhead segment should be big enough to matter and small enough to dominate.

• 3

  Reference selling beats feature selling for pragmatists.

• 4

  Bowling-pin expansion beats spraying horizontal marketing spend.