Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers (Collins Business Essentials) Paperback – January 28, 2014

This wonderful book creatively combines three business school concepts at the crossroads of the innovation adoption lifecycle (diffusion curve), market segmentation, and customer satisfaction.In brief, the main chasm for the adoption curve is the interval between the “early adopters” and the “early majority.” This is due to the different psychographics of these two distinct market segments and what satisfies each market. The “early adopters” are more or less difficult-to-please but well-funded visionaries who are willing to spend whatever is necessary to reshape their companies with futuristic technology. The “early majority” are those cautious pragmatists who want their companies to quickly benefit from proven technologies. They won’t buy because of your success with the “early adopters.” However, they will buy when enough customers in their own market segment are satisfied with the product but won’t buy without positive word-of-mouth. The main problem here is that the “early majority” exists in a “catch-22” trap. So, who among them will be the first to buy? A good answer is a definite requirement for “crossing the chasm” and getting a new product from one segment to the next.To address many fascinating, mostly high-tech B2B questions such as this, the author takes a deep dive into the frequently overlooked mechanics of what gets a successful product from inception to sustained success at each segment of the adoption curve. One major takeaway is seeking, finding, and using the target customer’s compelling reason to buy. Another is the need to capture one-half of the market segment within a year, a segment big enough to matter yet small enough to lead, and one that fits well with your crown jewels.The book is a relatively easy and enjoyable read, as the author makes a myriad of otherwise deep, dry issues come alive with analogies, similes, and metaphors. He also includes real-world examples of how and why companies did and didn’t cross the chasm, summarizing his strategic advice along the way with to-do and to-don’t lists. At least one major proof of the author’s theory is the amazing, continued best-seller success of his own book! Bottom-line, it’s a must-have, must-read for any good business library!If interested in more information about strategy in general, consider reading the following book, which distills and integrates the works of 87 master strategists: Strategic Advantage: How to Win in War, Business, and Life

Even the book is high level, it provides a concise overview connecting the dotted lines around starting new tech companies and blind sides. Good overview and a good refresher for people who are already in this industry. For startups, the road is a bit more complex and pivoting along the way to different requirements and strategy is the norm.

This is an excellent book for B2B companies to "cross the chasm" that sets apart early adopters of a new, innovative product from the mainstream market. It brings original and insightful ideas that have been tested (and being the 3rd edition of the book, it even includes examples of companies that deployed the ideas of the 1st edition). The broken bell curve of Enthusiasts, Visionaries, Pragmatists and Conservatives, the Compass of Competitive Positioning and the Whole Product model by Theodore Levitt are just the main highlights that make this book mandatory for anyone learning about startups and marketing in general. Very relevant, interesting and even entertaining.

I loved this book - it's not boring or slow paced. It's an excellent read for anyone trying to bring out a new technology or working at a technology company. I worked at a small software company and this book was recommended by a coworker from his previous role at a different software company. It was really eye opening to me and helpful. The author has excellent insights (I love his pioneer / settler reference). It really explains the lifecycle and why you may hit a wall after initial success and how to push through and overcome. I highly recommend this book.

The book adressed a lot of issues relevant to my current company directly.First of all, the chasm model applies in B2B scenarios. This is not a b2c marketing book even if some ideas do apply.What I found interesting was that this book provides this model describing 5 different types of customers. Then we find ways in which to address these customers, the proper timings, the proper sales pitches, the product pricing, the competitors, the strategic partnerships, the development team, and even the compensation appropriate for the team, in order to attack each of the 4 market segments (1 market segment, or psychographic, as the author calls it, being pretty unapproachable).Awesome book.For me it would be an honest 4.5, as I didn't see a lot of references to more formal papers, but just to a few other books, and I don't want to just trust the author's wisdom on this, even if the book seems full of good ideas, and great explanations, and showcases nice ways of thinking about problems.I recommend this to anyone living in a capitalist system, seriosly....But more seriously indeed, this is very good for developers that work in product companies. All of the marketing, sales and management stuff will make a hell of a lot more sense after this book! For marketing and sales people I'm not sure what to recommend, but the book does claim to create a common vocabulary for the different departments of an organization, so dunno, maybe try it, marketing/sales/management folks!Enjoy!Also, if anyone knows a good B2C marketing or sales book, feel free to recommend!