Geoffrey Moore opens Crossing the Chasm by identifying a significant, often underappreciated gap — "the chasm" — existing within the technology adoption lifecycle between early adopters, who readily tolerate imperfection and incompleteness in exchange for being among the first to access new technology, and the pragmatic mainstream majority, who require considerably more complete, proven solutions before adopting a new technology or product.

Moore's foundational argument:

• He builds on the established technology adoption lifecycle model — innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards — but argues a significant, often catastrophic gap exists specifically between early adopters and the early majority, distinct from the more gradual, continuous transitions the standard adoption lifecycle model might suggest exist between all adjacent adopter categories
• Moore argues this chasm exists because early adopters and the pragmatic mainstream majority have fundamentally different purchasing psychology and requirements — early adopters seek innovative, potentially transformative capability and will tolerate considerable rough edges, while the pragmatic majority requires proven reliability and completeness before committing to adoption, particularly for business-critical technology purchases
• This foundational chasm concept sets up the book's overall project: examining why many promising technology products successfully attract early adopters but then fail to successfully cross this chasm into broader mainstream market adoption, and providing a specific strategic framework for successfully achieving this transition

This foundational framing establishes Moore's distinctive contribution to technology marketing strategy: identifying and specifically addressing this particular transition point as deserving distinct strategic attention beyond more generic technology adoption lifecycle marketing approaches.