Worries about loss of progress or lost advantage, relying on an unproven vendor, and the absence of peer-level support hold many people back from adopting new products and innovations. Here’s how to create an innovation that accounts for the human need for safety.

Crossing the Chasm is an innovation-adoption model that was first recognized and described by Lee James and Warren Schirtzinger, both of whom worked for Regis McKenna Inc. in the Pacific Northwest. The chasm model describes a market’s acceptance of a new product in terms of the types of users it attracts throughout its useful life.