Every startup founders' dream is to grace the startup realm with an industry-dominating product. Sadly, most startups don't end with a victorious chronicle. The silver lining is that failed startups provide cautionary parables for entrepreneurs. Future startups can learn much from why others didn't succeed. One issue didn't emit as the primary cause of startup failure, but most startups pointed to a chain of reasons. It's a domino effect of the specific problems being symptoms of another problem. If a business model isn't sustainable or profitable, it'll blow cash quickly. Without money, the business can't grow. If it doesn't show signs of growth, it becomes difficult to get funding, and furthermore. Please look at why startups plummet their downfall and how to break the cycle.
Geoffrey Moore, Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm unravels the truth why most startups fail in the middle of their journeys. Initially published in 1991, a third edition emerged in 2015 updated most of the book’s examples and case studies to introduce the internet and mobile age. Tom Byers, faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, lauds the book as “the bible for entrepreneurial marketing.” Moore based his thesis on an idea known as the technology adoption lifecycle (TALC). This bell curve elaborates the process of how high-tech products become absorbed into the mainstream market. He depicts two cracks in the transition from “innovators” and “early adopters” to mainstream audiences. The Chasm is a gaping hole between early adopters and the mainstream; it is where successful startups die. The marketing and sales tactics and strategies that worked with innovators and early adopters before don’t function anymore. Most of his book describes strategies and tactics to bridge the gap. It introduces a three-step system that can be applied to face this daunting task.
Geoffrey Moore is a speaker, author, and advisor to startup companies in the Mohr Davidow portfolio and established high-tech enterprises and Salesforce, Microsoft, Intel, Box, Aruba, Cognizant Rackspace. Moore has a bachelor’s in American literature from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Washington. After teaching English for four years at Olivet College, he returned to the Bay Area and began a high-tech career as a training specialist. His life’s work has revolved around the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations. Moore’s first book Crossing the Chasm (1991), and latest, Escape Velocity (2011), addresses the challenges large enterprises face when they pursue to add a new business line had been the basis of his recent consulting. He is entitled chairman emeritus of three firms: The Chasm Group, Chasm Institute, and TCG Advisors. One theme that received attention recently is the transition in enterprise IT investment focus from Systems of Record to Systems of Engagement. This shift drove the deployment of new cloud infrastructure to complement the legacy client-server stack, creating massive markets for the next generation of tech industry leaders. John Chambers, Chairman of Cisco Systems, deemed Moore, the master at creating a vocabulary for a management strategy that captures the times’ competitive dynamics.
Mats Bäcklund is an Entrepreneur and founder of MeetApp and other companies. A business-focused leader with a solid drive to use IT to add business value. He started as an Accenture consultant and went on to be a CIO, and the Nordics had a media and tech company, Cision. Senior IT manager with experience in startups and consultancy ( Manager at Accenture) and inline position ( VP of IT at Cision). He then quit in 2011 to startup MeetApp as a side project and went full-time from 2014 to now. MeetApp is an easy-to-use event app and virtual venue (web platform) designed to create more fun and meaningful event experience by simplifying information distribution, enhancing audience interaction, and facilitating better networking for all events. With MeetApp, participants can access relevant information, messages, and interaction from their mobile phones. Mats bootstrapped the company to $1 million annual recurring revenue with a team of 6 based in Sweden. Also, 12 members in remote locations, including the USA, India, and Chandigarh. Bäcklund bridged the Chasm of failing startups with Moore's intelligence
Mats Bäcklund founder of MeetApp
Moore’s expertise and information delivery hit the mark in both the pool’s shallow and deep ends. This book is handy for anyone who wants to sell technology — the chasm concept and the insights gained can be applied to marketing and sales for startups and established companies. Crossing the Chasm is a good read for business owners of all sorts.
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