Inside the Tornado

By: Geoffrey A. Moore

Narrated by: Geoffrey A. Moore

Whether you're marketing innovative technological products or managing the people who do, this guide will help you maximize your company's success and profits. Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm explained the gap in the "Technology Adoption Life Cycle" products must cross before reaching the mainstream market. Inside the Tornado advises strategies for those beyond the chasm. Using real life examples, he explores marketing, strategic partnerships, competitive advantage, positioning, organizational leadership, and effective employee management.©1995 Geoffrey A. Moore (P)1997 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Harper Audio, a division of HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"The Chasm is where many high-tech fortunes have been lost...the Tornado is where many have been made." (Steve Jobs)

Another must-read for technologists

I work in the technology industry, and have worked with every "stage" of customer Moore has listed here...from the visionary/enthusiasts to the laggards. His characterization of these customer stages is so spot on that it's actually funny.

Before the next technological marvel product comes around, get your basics right, so you can recognize which stage your particular product is in!

Crossing the chasm an inside a tornado or Classics

Unbelievable how old and how relevant these books are because if you think of the technology adoption curve and adapt it to other areas, other industries and other products follow the same patterns and just the level mastery the author has on the subject is unbelievable. Can you imagine what a delight it would have been to be in Silicon Valley in a marketing department of some te h company and all of a sudden Geoffrey Moore comes in as a consultant and starts calling the marketing shots —- 8 ball in the corner pocket off a two band ricochet…. Wow…

Still relevant and slightly confusing

The book has some decent longevity even with some of the companies and examples being a bit dated. The metaphors in the book are not well designed, so it is hard to understand the progression from one stage of the company to the next. However it is still a good read or listen, and it still raises some valuable points.

Good, but not "blown away"

Where does Inside the Tornado rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Somewhere in the middle. It's the content that counts, and Geoffrey Moore seems to have a vantage point on business that no one else has.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Inside the Tornado?

The little interludes of cheesy music. The music sounded dated.

That said, the information is extremely valuable for business leaders and marketers.

What does Geoffrey A. Moore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He is the author, so to hear him read it gives it a little extra weight I guess. He also has a friendly voice and talks at a nice tempo. I did not listen to this at 2X speed.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"Rated NA, Nerd Admission Only

How applicable it is to today even though the book is several decades old

Well even though the book is several decades old and the examples given our back to Andy Grove time but still is very applicable to our time to give him especially the great people in the world marketplace with artificial intelligence leaving ahead at a rocket team pace

Amazing timeless book

Learn everything about your tech growth strategy here.

Thanks for writing this, very interesting read

Misses the mark as compared to his Crossing the Chasm book

I was very interested in a follow-up book to Crossing the Chasm, which I thought was a really good book and guide for businesses. This book was painful for me to listen to. Moore loves analogies—nothing wrong with them, they are very helpful. However, one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard said something to the effect of ‘Use analogies sparingly, like a spice. You don’t make a meal out of a spice’ Moore really has tried to make a meal (book) out of spice.

I loved the Beachhead and even Bowling Alley analogies, but Moore in his first book related them to real situations (eg D-Day) which worked well because it helped the reader relate.

Sadly, Moore takes analogies and writes the entire storyline with them and magnifies it way too much in this book. Gorillas, monkeys, chimps, and on and on. There is a point of diminishing return on analogies, and he blew that point out of the water. He used real life examples so sparingly in this book, the points he was trying to cover were totally lost.

Crossing the Chasm I can recommend, sadly I wouldn’t recommend this book at all. I hope he re-works this book with many more real life experiences, case studies and THEM use his favorite analogies to cement it. It would completely change the book. The few examples he uses are older and outdated too and could be brought current at the same time.