Early Adopters Help You, Then They Hurt You Early adopters have four characteristics that initially help, but then later hurt, your commercial success. Early adopters play a significant role in the beginnings of your high-tech company. In order for high-tech products to achieve mass market appeal, they must be refined and improved by a sequence of users, starting with innovators…
Why the Concept of a Gap in the Technology Adoption Lifecycle is so Widely Misunderstood? Survey and article by Warren Schirtzinger In my work with CEOs and their teams in high-tech companies, I am constantly surprised by how many people misinterpret the innovation-adoption curve and are confused by crossing the chasm. And after speaking with several hundred business leaders, investors…
In 1983 I was flying on a small regional airline when our landing gear got stuck…halfway between up and down. This experience taught me all about pattern recognition. I had departed from Memphis, TN and was flying to Mountain Home, AR on a tiny regional airline appropriately named “Mountain Home Airlines.” As we approached our destination, the co-pilot turned to me (the…
By Michael Applebaum and Warren Schirtzinger No technology is born ready to serve every use case. And the technologies behind clean energy innovation take time to develop and mature. But in the rush to acquire customers, it’s easy to shortchange the critical step of finding the right applications and segments for a startup’s technology. This can slow company growth, burn…
Hint: It's not by adding new features Many people believe that breakthrough innovations are automatically accepted and widely adopted throughout society. But that assumption is flawed. Whereas the systems for enabling, formalizing and managing the innovation process seem to be improving, the fact remains that more than 90% of all new products and innovations fail, even if they provide obvious…
The amount of product adoption in the marketplace is regulated by the product's cost benefit ratio. Which explains why Zoom and many other online services have seen a surge in paying customers and explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s because the perceived value of online services has changed and the benefit of using zoom, which includes avoiding the COVID…
In this age of artificial intelligence and natural stupidity, the concept called human-to-human interaction is alive and well and more important than ever. People still talk with other people before making important decisions…especially decisions related to buying new technologies or adopting new innovations. The approach called market relations is a proven method of achieving a superior market position by enabling…
A leadership position is achieved by delivering the differentiated benefits that are most important to customers at the lowest total cost of ownership. Done correctly it will establish credibility and make your product more valuable than alternative offerings. This also means your range of marketing claims and messages is limited by what people already believe. And perceptions are very slow…
High-tech market development requires the involvement of enthusiastic early adopters. These early customers are the second wave of product purchasers following innovators. Acquiring your first customers is a crucial step in the development and potential of an early-stage product or technology. Early customers are always looking for new technologies. Their goal is to achieve a revolutionary breakthrough that will lead…
Your most fundamental strategic decisions, including everything related to a product-launch and marketing, is based on the type of product or innovation you offer. So the key to the success of your new product is knowing how to classify it. There are several different ways to classify products, but the easiest one to use and understand is based on how…
We help high-tech companies use their commercialization strategy as a way to create exceptional value for customers while ensuring competitive advantage over a tsunami of new competitors.
