The Long Tail is a great image for a strategy to get the most out of large and mature markets like music and books.
But what about new and virgin markets? When a product is new and unknown and uptake depends on understanding, which is inherently slow? When the product "creates" the "new" market so to speak?
Like the car that did not "take off" until (with the T-Ford) 30 years after the first patented automobile. Like Lotus Notes that took about 7 years in the market and version 4 before they started to talk about "explosive growth".
What could be the image for this strategy be (if indeed any strategy existed)?
That's what I'd call "The Long Snout".
[Hat tip to Thomas who got me thinking this morning]
[Update: Not to be confused with the classic "Hockey Stick" that all start-ups show VCs - the snout has a "rather" longer time scale required to "create" a new market, not merely getting sales and distribution up to speed. Serving a "snout" would send the start-up packing.]
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