crossing-the-chasm

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 5015fcf4cde3 · 23 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishergetagentseal GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldergetagentseal/founder-playbook/skills/crossing-the-chasmThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict5015fcf4cde3A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 16 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Applies Geoffrey Moore's chasm-crossing strategy for B2B tech products moving from visionary early adopters to pragmatist mainstream. Use when a product has early traction but stalls before mainstream adoption, when…

---
name: crossing-the-chasm
description: "Applies Geoffrey Moore's chasm-crossing strategy for B2B tech products moving from visionary early adopters to pragmatist mainstream. Use when a product has early traction but stalls before mainstream adoption, when planning a beachhead/niche strategy, when designing whole-product offerings, when positioning against established competitors, or when scaling from innovator usage to industry standard. Triggers include 'stuck between early adopters and mainstream', 'we need a beachhead', 'pragmatist customers won't buy', 'how do we go from 10 to 1000 customers'. NOT for PLG/freemium SaaS (Slack, Notion, Cursor), pure consumer apps, two-sided marketplaces, or AI-native products with bottoms-up viral adoption - their dynamics break the visionary-to-pragmatist sequence."
---

> **Note:** This skill is independent analysis and commentary, not a reproduction of the original text. It synthesizes the book's core ideas with modern startup practice, surfaces where frameworks are outdated or incomplete, and integrates perspectives from adjacent disciplines. For the full argument and context, read the original book.


# Crossing the Chasm

> "The point of greatest peril in the development of a high-tech market lies in making the transition from an early market dominated by a few visionary customers to a mainstream market dominated by a large block of customers who are predominantly pragmatists in orientation." - Geoffrey Moore

## Should You Use This Skill?

```
Is your product targeting enterprise buyers (>$10K deals, multi-stakeholder)?
├─ YES → Continue to next question
└─ NO  → Pure consumer / PLG / marketplace?
        ├─ Pure consumer (TikTok, gaming) → SKIP this skill entirely
        ├─ PLG SaaS (Slack, Notion, Figma) → Use positioning + whole product concepts only; for adoption strategy, see **$100M Leads**
        ├─ Marketplace (Airbnb-like) → Two-sided dynamics don't map to TALC; use **Blue Ocean Strategy** for market creation
        └─ AI-native (Cursor, Claude) → Adoption patterns unprecedented; use **Four Steps to Epiphany** for customer discovery, this skill for enterprise positioning only

Do you have at least 10 paying customers or repeatable early-adopter revenue?
├─ YES → Continue
└─ NO  → You're still in Customer Discovery/Validation. Use **four-steps** and **mom-test** first. Come back when you have real traction.

Are you currently in early market (visionaries buying)?
├─ YES → This skill is for you
└─ NO, you're already mainstream → You're past the chasm. Use Inside the Tornado concepts (bowling alley, tornado, main street)

Do you have months/years for strategy execution?
├─ YES → Full framework applies
└─ NO (<6 months runway) → Apply tactical bits (positioning, beachhead) without multi-year choreography
```

---

## The Core Insight

Most tech adoption models show a smooth bell curve. **It's a lie.** The reality:

```
        EARLY                          MAINSTREAM
        MARKET     [ THE CHASM ]        MARKET
   ┌─────────────┐                ┌─────────────────┐
   │ Innovators  │     ░░░░░░     │ Early Majority  │
   │ +           │     ░ THE ░    │ +               │
   │ Early       │     ░ CHASM░   │ Late Majority   │
   │ Adopters    │     ░░░░░░     │                 │
   │ ~16%        │                │ ~68%            │
   └─────────────┘                └─────────────────┘
```

**The chasm exists because:**
- Early adopters (visionaries) buy a CHANGE AGENT - they want revolution
- Early majority (pragmatists) buy a PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT - they want evolution
- These motivations are fundamentally incompatible
- Visionaries are TERRIBLE references for pragmatists (different psychographic)

---

## The Technology Adoption Life Cycle (TALC)

| Segment | Approx % | Buying Behavior | Reference Source |
|---------|----------|-----------------|------------------|
| **Innovators** (Tech Enthusiasts) | "very onset, ~3σ from norm" | Pursue tech aggressively | Themselves |
| **Early Adopters** (Visionaries) | ~13.5% | Buy strategic vision, not products | Their own intuition |
| **Early Majority** (Pragmatists) | ~34% | Buy productivity improvements; want references | Other pragmatists in same industry |
| **Late Majority** (Conservatives) | ~34% | Buy established standards; want bundles | Established market leaders |
| **Laggards** (Skeptics) | ~16% | Don't want tech; only buy when invisible | Cannot be sold to |

### There Are 3 Gaps, Not 1 (Including the Chasm)

| Gap | Between | Cause | Severity |
|-----|---------|-------|----------|
| **First crack** | Innovators ↔ Early Adopters | Tech is cool but no compelling application | Medium |
| **THE CHASM** | Early Adopters ↔ Early Majority | Visionaries can't reference for pragmatists | **CATASTROPHIC** |
| **Late crack** | Early Majority ↔ Late Majority | Product remains too hard for non-competent users | Medium |

Detailed segment profiles: see [frameworks.md](frameworks.md#detailed-segment-profiles).

---

## Why Visionaries Don't Reference Pragmatists

Four characteristics of visionaries that ALIENATE pragmatists:

| Visionary Trait | Why Pragmatists Hate It |
|-----------------|-------------------------|
| **Lack of respect for colleagues' experience** | Pragmatists deeply value peer references |
| **More interest in tech than in their own industry** | Pragmatists want industry-specific expertise |
| **Failing to recognize importance of existing infrastructure** | Pragmatists' careers are based on those connections |
| **Overall disruptiveness** | Visionaries get out before disasters; pragmatists clean up the mess |

The catch-22:
- The only suitable reference for an early-majority customer is another early-majority member
- No early-majority member will buy without first consulting several references

---

## The D-Day Strategy

> "Cross the chasm by targeting a very specific niche market where you can dominate from the outset, force your competitors out of that market niche, 

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

1. 2026-10-23
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 5015fcf4cde3

Questions about crossing-the-chasm

• github.com/getagentseal/founder-playbook/tree/main/skills/crossi — the audited source at commit 5015fcf4cde3 and every finding aboveObserved · 23 Oct 2026

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