1.7
Crossing the Chasm
The claim that a discontinuity in buying logic separates early adopters from the early majority, crossed by dominating one narrow beachhead first.
Geoffrey Moore (1991)
What it does
Argues a discontinuity sits between early adopters and the early majority because they buy on different logic, and prescribes concentrating on one narrow beachhead until it is owned.
When it breaks
No empirical support for the chasm itself. Outside B2B technology the mechanism has little to stand on — the focus advice is good, the theory under it is not.
Case
On Moore's advice Documentum dropped broad document management for roughly 40 regulatory-affairs departments inside Fortune 500 pharma companies filing new-drug submissions — about 1,000 people. Revenue went $2m → $8m → $25m → $45m over three years before it expanded outward.
Lenny's Newsletter — Geoffrey Moore on beachheads ↗Diagram — not yet drawn
Not the chasm cartoon. Draw the beachhead instead: one tiny fully-shaded segment adjacent to several large empty ones, with the expansion order numbered.
In the wild
Unvetted · not part of the tier assessment
What has been written about this tool in the last twelve months. Machine-retrieved and unchecked — everything above this line was checked.
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