Evil EntreKnievel This side of the chasm: a few geeky clients. The other side: everybody. Ready to jump?

They call him the Chasm Guy, because he can leap over one in asingle bound. But the chasm that mild-mannered Geoff Mooretraverses is on the edge of the technology world. If you own ahigh-tech firm and want to market to low-tech people, you'llwant to see more of Moore, the founder of The Chasm Group, aconsulting firm in San Mateo, California. He's also a venturepartner at Mohr, Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, California, andthe author of books like-what else?-Crossing the Chasm (HarperBusiness).

Explain what this chasm is, and whyentrepreneurs should care.

Geoff Moore:"Chasm" comes from the technology-adoption/life-cyclemodel. The early adopters, whom we call the technology enthusiastsand visionaries, love to buy something before anybody else does.They're before the chasm. The next adoption strategy ispragmatism-which says, "I want to buy when I see everybodyelse doing it." That creates a lull in the market, because thepragmatist is waiting for the other pragmatists, and they'rewaiting for him. So you have this effect we call the "juniorhigh dance" problem-who's going to get on the dance floor?Crossing the chasm becomes a really critical point in developinghigh-tech markets.

So how can entrepreneurs persuadecustomers to get on the dance floor?

Moore: What we'velearned through our research is, we need to focus on findingpragmatists in significant duress, and typically it's abusiness problem and not a consumer problem. For instance, adepartment manager in charge of a broken mission-critical businessprocess may have realized none of his options is going to work, andthat makes him susceptible to adopting new technology, even thoughhe'll be the first pragmatist to do it.

Is the uncertain economy in the wake ofthe dotcoms making it difficult for entrepreneurs to reach thesepragmatists?

Moore: I would argue thatit's even more important to fix a problem in a bad economy thanin a good economy. But if you're an entrepreneur who's pastthe chasm, you might have problems. The next phase is the bowlingalley. You win one segment of consumers, but does that segment helpyou win the next segment? If it does, it's like pins knockingover pins. Then there's the tornado, the mass-market adoptionwhere everybody gets a cell phone or a laser printer. When theeconomy is in an uncertain period, the people in the tornado, whodon't have a pressing need to make a purchase, say things like,"Well, that can wait." If you're selling to thoseconsumers, you'll just have to buckle down, cut costs and watchyour cash burn.