LiveCode Forums

One devastatingly effective technique an established competitor can use is to question the business risk of a new competitor, and concurrently promise similar functionality in their new product, which will be available in just six month's time.

At the end of six months, the new product is just another three months away from completion, and then it is just around the corner. Most mainstream customers will choose to wait and see, while the new company, having educated the market, finds itself unable to clsoe sales.

This leads to a pattern of high customer interest with lots of "noise" (request for information, demonstrations, proposals written), but these almost certain prospects unexpectedly fail to buy at the last moment. In the meantime, these sales have been included in budgets and the failure to close leads to sudden cash flow crisis.

Innovators = Technology enthusiasts (techies)
- Technology eventually helps improve lives; No money; Have influence; Gatekeepers to the life cycle; If they hate it implies trouble

Early adopters = Visionaries
- Believe in competitive advantage via discontinuous innovation; Bring $$ to table & demand modifications; Techies explore-visionaries exploit

Early majority = Pragmatists
- Do not love technology for its own sake; Believe in evolution not revolution; Want to improve organizational effectiveness; Difficult to convince them to shift paradigms; Prefer to buy from market leaders

Late majority = Conservatives
- Technology skeptics; Price sensitive; Demanding consumers; Largely untapped opportunity for high tech

Laggards = Skeptics
- Gadflies of high tech; Challenge the hype; Need to sell around them

The Adoption “Stairwayâ€