Crossing the Chasm

This was the book that got me into thinking about technology and adoption.

It introduces a framework for thinking about the major groups of people who adopt new technologies. It pays particular attention to the chasm, a difficult adoption challenge that occurs after early adopters accept a technology but before mainstream adoption. Entrepreneurs need to understand these concepts.

This book particularly resonated with me because of my days as an early adopter of the Ruby programming language, and later the Elixir programming language. 

I spent years on the conference circuit speaking about programming language adoption, and this book helped me… show more.

The original version of this book was written over 30 years ago; the current edition was published in 2014. When I heard Moore interviewed on NPR after the publication of the latest edition, I bought the book and realized that his message is even more compelling 30 years later—don’t mistake early enthusiasm for your product for widespread acceptance. Just think Google Glass or Segway. No question, this book is the most important book for marketers that I can think of when it comes to understanding the challenges of marketing and selling disruptive products to mainstream audiences.