Book · ~240 pages

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

Geoffrey A. Moore Paid Intermediate

Moore's beachhead idea is the definitive case for winning one narrow segment before you touch the broader market, which is precisely how you compete when big players already own the mainstream. He argues you pick a target segment big enough to matter but small enough to lead, then dominate it before expanding. In a crowded market that focus is not timidity, it is the only way a small team gets a foothold.

  • Win a single beachhead segment completely before spreading resources across a broad market
  • Choose a niche big enough to matter but small enough to lead, and concentrate everything there
  • Mainstream, pragmatic buyers need a compelling, proven reason to switch, which a narrow focus lets you deliver credibly
Open on geoffreyamoore.com ↗

It answers 15 questions

  1. What is an ideal customer profile and how do I define mine?
  2. How specific should my target customer be when I'm just starting?
  3. How do I pick which niche to go after first?
  4. What's the difference between an ICP, a buyer persona, and a target market?
  5. Isn't picking a tiny niche going to limit how big I can get?
  6. Should I focus on one customer segment or serve everyone who'll pay?
  7. How do I find a defensible niche in a market full of big incumbents?
  8. My beachhead niche is too small to hit even a few lakh in revenue. Did I pick wrong, or do I just expand?
  9. How do I estimate a market size when the product I'm building doesn't have a category yet?
  10. Should my ideal customer be the person who pays or the person who uses the product?
  11. How do I define an ideal customer for a product no one is searching for yet?
  12. How do I define my ideal customer when I'm a domain expert who thinks everyone in my industry needs this?

And 3 more across the hub.

Read with it

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  2. The author of Crossing the Chasm explaining beachhead selection in plain, modern language, the fastest way to absorb the... Lenny's Podcast / Lenny's Newsletter Podcast · ~75 min Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market Lenny Rachitsky & Geoffrey Moore
  3. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
  4. Market size is meaningless until you know exactly who you're for, and Lenny turns that into a concrete, repeatable ICP exercise... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP) Lenny Rachitsky
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  6. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
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