“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt.

Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness.

No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.

To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

“At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio.

Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.”

“On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

De alli salieron martes, a las nueve y media de la manana, y con distar Montevideo solas cincuenta leguas de Buenos Aires, no pudieron tomar su puerto hasta el lunes 13, que a las once y media del dia dieron fondo en medio de su ensenada. Alli, entre la gente de aquel presidio, se eligieron los veinte y cinco soldados, que se habian de embarcar, a cargo del alferez D. Salvador Martin de Olmo: porque, aunque deseaba el Senor Gobernador de Buenos Aires

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.”

Section 1.10.32 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum”, written by Cicero in 45 BC

“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

De alli salieron martes, a las nueve y media de la manana, y con distar Montevideo solas cincuenta leguas de Buenos Aires, no pudieron tomar su puerto hasta el lunes 13, que a las once y media del dia dieron fondo en medio de su ensenada. Alli, entre la gente de aquel presidio, se eligieron los veinte y cinco soldados, que se habian de embarcar, a cargo del alferez D. Salvador Martin de Olmo: porque, aunque deseaba el Senor Gobernador de Buenos Aires

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum

Early adopters are also very vocal when it comes to product feedback; they are never short on suggestions to help you make your product “better.”

Conventional wisdom from TechCrunch, Scoble, or any other big name startup profiler is to treat your early adopters like enlightened sages, to understand that the synergy of their various experiences, their passions, and your company will take your technology across Geoffrey Moore’s chasm.

I don’t question the notion that a technology needs early adopters in order to eventually cross the chasm, that the manufacturer needs the evangelism of passionate early adopters to help get just enough momentum to start attracting mainstream consumers.

But there is one major issue that I take with the sacred value of early adopters: the recommendations of early adopters for your product’s technology can almost certainly prevent you from crossing the chasm, and I’ll explain why.

An Anecdote

Over at the blog that I run for my employer, I published a screencast which demonstrated an important feature in our software. The subject matter of the screencast was crucial; it demonstrated a feature unique to our product that every single one of our users needs to know. However, the feature itself is simple to the point of being trivial - it’s a single button that eliminates what used to be a ton of work. In short, I published a screencast that showed our customers how to click on one button; seems pretty obvious, but what’s the #1 rule of UI design? Nothing is obvious enough.

Anyway, the screencast was incredibly well received; by the numbers it was the most popular screencast that we’ve ever published. However, it was also the first screencast to receive a strikingly negative comment from one of our own customers.

This customer, someone with obvious technological expertise, was angry that we’d waste his time trying to show him how to do something so simple and, to him, unimportant. “Why don’t you show me how to do something tricky with your software, like how all of the Excel and PowerPoint tutorials do!?”

I explained my reasoning behind producing such a trivial screencast, which is that many of our users don’t know about the feature (it can be easy to miss) and they find that spending one minute learning how to use it and how it works is well worth it. What’s “painfully obvious” to many early adopters can be valuable to many mainstream users.

Later I had a discussion with the User Experience Manager for our product about the fine line that we have to walk on; this “fine line” boils down to balancing two equally important concerns:

* Do we keep the product simple for first time users and infrequent users (mainstream users)
* or do we allow for more features, more customization, and more content for advanced users (early adopters) at the expense of the a steeper learning curve for mainstream users?

The answer to this question is the life or death of the company I work for.

A Reality Check - Your Most Valuable Customers Might Be the Least Vocal