Fostering Growth: Crossing the Chasm - Greg Jarboe, TIECON East 2024

Greg Jarboe's presentation on "Fostering Growth: Crossing the Chasm," which was presented at TiECON East 2024

1. Fostering Growth: Crossing the Chasm Greg Jarboe President, SEO-PR TiECON East 2024 September 13, 2024

2. First published in 1991, Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore has created an enduring myth The chasm concept was developed in the late 1980s at Regis McKenna , Inc., where Moore once worked. They claimed that marketers frequently encountered a gap or “chasm” between the Early Adopters of innovative new products and the Early Majority. The chasm concept borrows earlier ideas from Diffusion of Innovations by Everett Rogers. But Rogers said, “ Past research shows no support for this claim of a chasm between certain adopter categories .”

3. The chasm concept ignores the important role that o pinion leaders play in the rate of adoption The chasm concept ignored the important role of opinion leaders . These early adopters can informally influence other individuals’ attitudes or overt behavior by conveying innovation evaluation information that decreases uncertainty about a new idea. Rogers said,“The diffusion curve is S-shaped because once opinion leaders adopt and begin telling others about an innovation , the number of adopters per unit of time takes off in an exponential curve.”