Geoffrey Moore

AI products exist across all stages of the adoption lifecycle simultaneously, requiring different strategies for each.

"From a customer's point of view, there's AI in the early market, there's AI in the bowling alley, there's AI in the chasm, there's AI in the tornado, and there's AI on Main Street."

Product-led growth (PLG) is most effective for expansion and low-risk adoption rather than crossing high-risk chasms.

"Where product-led growth plays really interestingly, is in the land and expand phases of the market... product-led growth, which is really good at is expand because it prompts the user to get more inv..."

Discounting is ineffective when crossing the chasm because the buyer's primary concern is risk, not price.

"The discounting model makes sense when something's commoditized... But chasms are based on risk bearing decisions. Basically that's the problem that creates the chasm. I have to make a risk bearing bu..."

The ideal initial target market for a disruptive product must be large enough to sustain growth but small enough to dominate quickly.

"You want to have a target segment that is big enough to matter, small enough to lead and a good fit with your crown jewels."

Effective positioning for pragmatists emphasizes domain specialization over general technology superiority.

"We are the technology leaders who have specialized and committed to solve this problem. And by the way, we have huge respect for your incumbent vendor. We're not asking you to kick them out. They just..."

GTM success depends on becoming a market leader in a small segment to attract the ecosystem partners necessary for scaling.

"The Crossing the Chasm model is, 'Can you create a viable repeatable business?' And in order to do that, you need to have an ecosystem of partners work with you in order to consolidate your position...."

Go-to-market playbooks must shift from technology-centric to problem-centric to market-share-centric as the category matures.

"In the early market, you know you're there because first of all, the story is the technology... In the bowling alley one then the playbook is, 'No, where's the problem?'... In the tornado... this is w..."

User discovery should mirror a medical diagnosis, where the interviewer's credibility is built through the quality of their questions.

"Just like going to a doctor, you don't want the doctor to come and say, 'Hey, can I show you a movie of the operation I just did?'... What I would like to do is talk to you about this pain I have in m..."

Early sales to pragmatists should be diagnostic and focused entirely on the customer's pain rather than product demos.

"Shut the God damn laptop. Just don't open it and start with... 'We're here because we've been working with some people in your industry and we understand there's this really serious problem... and we..."

Active listening and physical note-taking build trust with pragmatic buyers who feel their problems are unique.

"Your goal in that call is to get them to talk as much as possible and for you to take notes. And by the way, this is a place where you probably still want to remember to use a pen because you actually..."

The sales profile needed to cross the chasm is more technical and diagnostic than a traditional enterprise account executive.

"Enterprise salespeople are not good chasm crossers because they're used to doing horizontal coverage model... You want somebody that looks more like a sales engineer than a salesperson. You want someb..."