After 3 years of the purchase, I finally finished reading Crossing the Chasm. It was one of my favorite reads in 2019. The book talks about types of customers, the journey of product development and crossing the chasm.
The author identifies customers in 5 different types, from my understanding I have shortened it to just 2 buckets.
Visionary
Visionary ones are the early adopters, ones who help with all their inputs in the early days of product development.
- Risk-taker
- Price Sensitive
- Early Adopter
- Likes the limelight
- Evangelist
- Happy with modular development
- Visionary will try out your product when it is still under development.
- Insights from visionary will take your product to the next stage.
- Fast product
- Easier to use
- Elegant architecture
- Unique functionality
Pragmatists
Pragmatists are the users who will pay for your product and the growth of your organization. They have the largest install base.
- Stick well-established products.
- Risk-averse, companies spend huge on marketing to lure them.
- Price incentive
- Want complete stack
- Seek for comparison with other existing products
- Requires training, hand-holding
- Act as a user, not evangelist
- Expect 3ed party integrations
- Quality of support
and crossing the Chasm
A phase, stage crossing the chasm defines you have survived all the hardship and arrived. You have got real users whose pain is solved via your product.
Crossing the chasm requires a lot of patience, persistence, and perseverance. On top of all this, you need believers as friends, peers, and family to support you through the journey. Do not forget the visionaries who took all the risk, bet on your and came on board to be your cheerleader as well as early adopters