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Even if you don’t know Everett Rogers by name, you know his work. For decades, his theory on the Diffusion of Innovation has been taught as THE model for how new ideas (and products and startups and…) spread. If you’ve ever used the term “early adopter” then you know exactly what I’m talking about. But what if he was…wrong?
This week, we dig into how Rogers’ ideas can guide your GTM efforts — and where you should be careful not to put too much reliance on them as well.
Here’s what you’ll find:
This Week’s Article: Go to Market Is a Diffusion Problem,
Not a Sales Problem
Case Study: Quibi: Built to Spread, Failed to Stick
Share This: What if he was wrong?
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Go to Market Is a Diffusion Problem,
Not a Sales Problem
Most people overestimate how much their idea matters.
They underestimate how much its shape determines its survival.
If your product isn’t getting traction, the problem isn’t your pitch deck.
It’s that you’ve built something people can’t absorb, explain, or test.
You Can’t Sell Your Way to Adoption
Everett Rogers studied how humans accept change. His research wasn’t about startups or products. It was about how societies absorb new ideas. And yet we rely on Rogers' work to explain product and startup adoption every day.
Even if you don’t know Rogers by name, you certainly remember this diagram (Yeah, that guy ☝️ created this idea 👇):
Through his work, Rogers also identified five characteristics that determine whether, and how quickly something spreads. These five levers shape the way innovations reach people. They’re useful because they explain the structural friction in any go-to-market motion. And they still apply today, especially when you treat them as strategic design constraints, not academic theory.
Rogers’ five factors are:
Relative Advantage
Complexity
Trialability
Observability
Compatibility
Here’s what they mean in a go-to-market setting…
1. Relative Advantage → Make the win obvious
People only switch when the new thing is clearly better than what they already have.
How it shows up in GTM:
If a customer needs a meeting or demo to understand what makes your product better, it’s not better enough. Or your messaging is broken.
How to tune it:
Lead with outcomes, not features.
Benchmark against the real alternative (usually not your direct competitor, but inertia).
Make the win measurable, not aspirational. “20% faster workflow” beats “revolutionize your process.”
Ask yourself:
Can a customer explain your edge after reading your homepage for 15 seconds?
2. Complexity → Remove friction before you add features
The more complex something feels, the slower it spreads. Even if it works better.
How it shows up in GTM:
Lengthy onboarding, unfamiliar jargon, setups that feel like a commitment.
How to tune it:
Strip down your core offering to the minimum people need to experience value.
Speak in language your user already knows.
Hide complexity until it’s necessary. Default settings exist for a reason.
Ask yourself:
Can someone understand how this works without a sales call or training session?
