The bottomless pit of pleasing strangers (and what it means for crossing the chasm)

Amazing timing as every by Seth - as we were "just" chatting about this with Justaxi - Manchester's cheapest taxi booking app. 

The bottomless pit of pleasing strangers

You will never, ever run out of strangers.

And so, the goal of perfectly pleasing an infinite number of passersby is a fool's errand. 

They come with their own worldview, their own issues, their own biases.

Since they don't know you or trust you and don't get you, they're not inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt or invest what it takes to understand you.

Sure, some of them will applaud or smile or buy. And if that's your mission, have fun.

But perfection in stranger-pleasing? Not going to happen, not worth the journey.

For some people, some of the time, the only response is, "it's not for you."

So for Justaxi Manchester's cheapest taxi booking service - we are wondering - how do we cross the chasm? 

Or with players like Uber in the market. Have we already? 

Crossing the Chasm: is a term and a  marketing book by Geoffrey A. Moore that focuses on the specifics of marketing high tech products during the early start up period. 

Moore's exploration and expansion of the diffusions of innovations model has had a significant and lasting impact on high tech entrepreneurship.

Crossing the Chasm is closely related to the technology adoption lifecycle where five main segments are recognized: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. 

For start up's like Justaxi this is amazingly important and knowing this theory and applying it is one of the reasons why they may well succeed. 

According to Moore, the marketer should focus on one group of customers at a time, using each group as a base for marketing to the next group. 

The most difficult step is making the transition between visionaries (early adopters) and pragmatists (early majority). This is the chasm that he refers to. And it is this chasm where I fear we are on the edge of with Justaxi. i.e. people have heard of both apps and taxis and now even Uber and our other competitors. But they will not have heard of Justaxi yet... 

If a successful firm i.e. like Uber can create a bandwagon effect in which enough momentum builds, then the product becomes a de facto standard. However, Moore's theories are only applicable for disruptive or discontinuous innovations. 

Adoption of continuous innovations (that do not force a significant change of behavior by the customer) are still best described by the original technology adoption lifecycle. 

Confusion between continuous and discontinuous innovation is a leading cause of failure for high tech products. 

It is in this area of confusion where I think Justaxi might be right now. That and trying to please strangers all the time.