What It Means to Be an Early Adopter
Early adopters are a critical component to any startup environment. This particular demographic is unlike any that a company will face in the future. It’s the early adopters who are first to interact with a company’s initial product or service. It’s the early adopters who represent a company’s first fan or first critic. It’s the early adopters who can open the eyes of the closed-minded entrepreneur. It’s the early adopters who have the ability to drive a company into unforeseen directions. It’s the early adopters who tell it like it is. So what does it mean to be an early adopter? Quite frankly — it means a lot.
For many technology enthusiasts, being an early adopter comes naturally. This crowd eagerly jumps on beta releases, private invites, and all other forms of limited activation events — commonplace within the dot-com arena. In an industry with so much transparency and so many options (the closest industry to being barrier free), it’s easy to see how powerful this group can be. Twitter is a great example of how a group of early adopters transformed a fledgling company into super-stardom. I doubt even the most ambitious Twitter founder could have predicted how the early adopting community would utilize the simple messaging platform.
Where Do Early Adopters Stand?
The early adopter crowd represent the gatekeepers between the firm and the “early public”. Needless to say, a positive reaction at this stage in the game can only improve the firm’s strategic position. However, the early adopter crowd seem to possess a powerful double-edged sword. Along with boosting company and product awareness through praise, the early adopters can bring user adoption to a halt through negative rants and dismal product reviews. Although representing only about 5% of the target audience, (according to my not-so-scientific math) this group’s influential capacity is off the charts.
Should Companies Cater to their Early Adopters?
Despite the massive influence that early adopters possess, I advocate against catering to them. Instead, companies must focus their energy on constantly improving upon their core competencies (which is what every business should do). It’s in the best interest of the company to utilize the early adopter crowd, taking advantage of real-world interaction and early customer dialogue. For it’s this crowd who you must ultimately impress. Without “the approval” from these dedicated customers, your company will likely remain hidden from the masses. Since early adopters possess a deep understanding of the marketplace, they know what type of offering a given company should be delivering. Startups should listen to these smart consumers, but let me stress this one more time: never cater to any particular crowd — doing so will cause the firm to lose focus as well as their true identity.
Bad PR is Still Bad
There’s a misconception that there is no such thing as bad PR. Maybe that’s true for a moment or two, but eventually, bad press will catch up to any company. I cannot think of one impactful company who has made their name off of negative press. Long-lasting, innovative firms are built from within, not through marketing budgets, advertising campaigns, or a few abusive headlines. Entrepreneurs must keep this in mind at all times, especially throughout the infancy of their struggling startup ventures.
In case there were any contradictions or misunderstandings throughout the post, these three bullet points should summarize the fundamentals:
- The early adopter crowd is an important demographic in any upstart, however:
- Companies must learn to utilize this crowd instead of catering to them.
- Startups must always remember that success is produced internally, never externally.
