From book Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore
“The fundamental rule of engagement is that any force can defeat any other force—if it can define the battle.”
“Making the commitment to a niche market can be challenging, especially for entrepreneurs who are technology enthusiasts or visionaries, because they personally don’t have the pragmatist response and thus have trouble trusting in the market dynamics outlined in this book. This is a defining moment for them. The start-up company must either cross or die, but what value is life if to gain it one has to go against one’s best self? Not an easy question to answer. When faced with such nasty decisions, it is usually best to make them quickly, get into the new flow, and plan to course-correct going forward. This is a white-water rafting strategy, where hesitating on a split decision is the one behavior guaranteed to capsize the boat. When you do pick, go hard in the direction chosen, regardless of doubts. Just so with crossing the chasm. The good news in this is that you do not have to pick the optimal beachhead to be successful. What you must do is win the beachhead you have picked. If there is a genuine problem in the segment, you will have the target customer pulling for you. If it is a hard problem, and the segment is reasonably small, you probably will not have competition to distract you. This means you can focus all your attention on the whole product, which is where it needs to be. Nail that and you win. ”
“Companies just starting out, as well as any marketing program operating with scarce resources, must operate in a tightly bound market to be competitive. Otherwise their “hot” marketing messages get diffused too quickly, the chain reaction of word-of-mouth communication dies out, and the sales force is back to selling “cold.””