Crossing the Chasm
2006 • 211 pages
Ratings14
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings14
Average rating3.8
Crossing the Chasm (1991; rev. 1999) demonstrates the existence of distinct marketing challenges for each market segment in the life cycle of new technology-based products. A significant gulf -- the "chasm" -- exists between the market made up of early adopters and the markets of more pragmatic buyers. To cross the chasm, a product team must identify the needs of pragmatic buyers and deliver a "whole product" that more than meets those needs. This landmark book, part of the HarperBusiness Essentials series, shows just how to do that.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book was recommended to me by a mentor as a means of helping me with business forecasts for new products. In that sense, it was modestly helpful; it's a solid guide to bridging early markets to mainstream ones. However I erroneously purchased an old edition published in the early aughts, so the case studies were embarrassingly old. I did appreciate the author was kind of funny/more charismatic than most business writers but at the end of the day, it's still a business book and therefore pretty dry.
My rating of 3 reflects my point of view coming from the engineering side. That is, I did not feel this book was overly helpful when I was working mostly as an individual contributor. I might well find a reread more useful being more on the management side.
