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Crossing the Chasm
by Geoffrey A. Moore
Published: 2014
Recommended by Peter Fogelsanger
Categories: go to market, partnerships
Why should you read it?
Early in my sales career, a VP of Sales required our team to read Crossing the Chasm. It ended up being one of the single most informative sources for understanding how B2B sales actually works, especially targeting prospects and selling differently across lifecycle stages. As Partner Managers, we need this same insight for building our IPP and activating partners through that same lifecycle logic.
What is the book about?
The technology adoption lifecycle moves through five customer segments: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. Most tech companies fail not because their product is bad, but because they can't cross from the first two groups into the profitable mainstream. There is a big gap, the Chasm, between Early Adopters and Early Majority. Early Adopters buy on vision and potential, while the Early Majority buys on proven, practical value. These are fundamentally different buyers with different motivations, and the strategies that win the first group often repel the second.
Best takeaway
Mainstream buyers won't take a risk on a product unless they see peers like themselves already succeeding with it, so you need social proof within a specific community before you can scale. This is foundational for building a partner strategy: it's the reason early-stage companies can't immediately target GSIs and Hyperscalers, and would be better served targeting Innovators and Early Adopters first. It shapes how you build your IPP and Activation strategy around where your company sits in the market and which partner segments to target.
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