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Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market

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Jan 25, 2024

Guest

Geoffrey Moore

Geoffrey Moore, a renowned author and speaker known for his influential book 'Crossing the Chasm,' shares essential insights on navigating market dynamics for disruptive innovations. He explains the importance of targeting specific audiences for successful launches and highlights critical strategies like winning marquee customers. Moore discusses the differences between visionaries and pragmatists, along with the common pitfalls to avoid in market adoption, such as premature discounting. Tune in to uncover actionable go-to-market playbooks tailored for various stages of business growth.

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insights

INSIGHT

Focus on Small Segment Dominance

Focus on achieving dominance in a small market segment to gain power and attract partners.
This focused approach allows startups to control their future and build a strong ecosystem.

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ADVICE

Narrow Target Audience

Start with a narrow target audience to establish a strong foothold.
Pragmatists buy from market leaders, so focus on becoming number one in your niche.

insights

INSIGHT

Visionaries vs. Pragmatists

Visionaries adopt technology for its own sake, while pragmatists seek solutions to existing problems.
Understand these different motivations to tailor your messaging effectively.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Understanding the Misconceptions of Disruptive Innovation

03:54 • 2min

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Navigating Market Segments for Success

05:58 • 10min

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Targeting Success: Navigating Market Entry

15:46 • 20min

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Navigating Organizational Decision-Making for Software Purchases

36:05 • 4min

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Compelling Reasons to Purchase in Today’s Market

39:41 • 2min

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Navigating Market Phases and Buyer Focus

41:37 • 22min

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Navigating Strategic Pitfalls in Market Adoption

01:03:13 • 17min

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Exploring Meaningful Living and Ethical Foundations

01:20:43 • 4min

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Crossing the Chasm

Geoffrey Moore

In 'Crossing the Chasm', Geoffrey A. Moore explores the Technology Adoption Life Cycle, which includes innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. He highlights the significant gap or 'chasm' between early adopters and the early majority, where early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, while the early majority waits for evidence of productivity improvements. The book provides strategies for narrowing this chasm, including choosing a target market, understanding the whole product concept, positioning the product, building a marketing strategy, and selecting the most appropriate distribution channels and pricing. The third edition includes new examples, strategies for digital marketing, and connections to Moore's subsequent works like 'Inside the Tornado'.

Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win.

April Dunford

The infinite spiral staircase

Chris Hardy

Geoffrey Moore is an author, speaker, and advisor, widely known for his seminal book Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers, which many consider the most important book ever written on go-to-market strategy. Moore’s work is focused on the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations, and how one overcomes the challenge of transitioning from serving early adopters to the mainstream. In this episode, we discuss:

• What “crossing the chasm” means

• What steps to take before you try crossing the chasm

• The importance of winning a marquee customer

• The role of executive sponsors in the sales process

• The differences between visionaries and pragmatists, and how to build for each

• Geoffrey’s four go-to-market playbooks based on stage: Early Market, Bowling Alley, Tornado, and Main Street

• The problem with discounting before crossing the chasm

• “Deadly sins” to avoid when crossing the chasm

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/geoffrey-moore-on-finding-your-beachhead

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Where to find Geoffrey Moore:

• X: https://twitter.com/geoffreyamoore

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreyamoore/

• LinkedIn posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreyamoore/recent-activity/articles/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Geoffrey’s background

(04:03) What people often get wrong about Crossing the Chasm

(05:58) Finding your beachhead segment

(09:29) The four inflection points of the technology adoption lifestyle

(15:45) Geoffrey’s bonfire and bowling alley analogies

(18:36) Steps to take before trying to cross the chasm

(22:19) Signs you’re ready to cross the chasm

(25:19) Advice for startups on where to start

(27:31) Thoughts on venture capital

(27:53) A general timeline for crossing the chasm

(30:52) What exactly is the “chasm”?

(32:35) The difference between visionaries and pragmatists

(36:05) Finding the compelling reason to buy

(43:45) The Early Market playbook

(45:46) The Bowling Alley playbook

(48:39) Different sales approaches for early market and bowling alley

(51:26) Changing the value state of the company

(53:28) The Tornado playbook

(57:35) Why combining playbooks doesn’t work

(59:10) Using generative AI in different market phases

(01:03:02) The risks of discounting

(01:04:21) Other “deadly sins” of crossing the chasm

(01:09:09) Positioning in crossing the chasm

(01:10:36) Product-led growth and crossing the chasm

(01:13:54) The challenges of software and entrepreneurship

(01:16:35) How Geoffrey’s thinking has evolved

(01:19:30) The importance of entrepreneurship and impact

(01:20:42) His book The Infinite Staircase

(01:23:58) Connect with Geoffrey Moore

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Referenced:

• Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986

• Oracle: https://www.oracle.com/

• Documentum: https://www.opentext.com/products/documentum

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Notion: https://www.notion.so/

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/

• Intel: https://www.intel.com/

• Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking-on-fundraising-goals-growth-and-more/

• The Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/

• Coda: https://coda.io/

• An inside look at how Figma ships product: https://coda.io/@yuhki/figma-product-roadmap

• Dylan Field on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/

• Regis McKenna on Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/regis-mckenna-inc

• Andrew Grove: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Grove

• A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting-a-sales-pitch-that-wins-april-dunford-author-of-obviously-awesom/

• Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Pitch-Craft-Story-Stand/dp/1999023021

• B2B Go-to-Market Playbooks and the Technology Adoption Life Cycle: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/b2b-go-to-market-playbooks-technology-adoption-life-cycle-moore/

• Juniper: https://www.juniper.net/us/en.html

• Sal Khan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khanacademy/

• Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

• How the Star Wars Kessel Run Turns Han Solo Into a Time-Traveler: https://www.wired.com/2013/02/kessel-run-12-parsecs/

• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

• Martin Casado on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincasado/

• The Infinite Staircase: What the Universe Tells Us About Life, Ethics, and Mortality: https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Staircase-Universe-Ethics-Mortality/dp/1950665984

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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