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Escape Velocity: Free Your Company's Future from the Pull of the Past – A Strategic Guide for Executives on Next-Generation Category Leadership
“Readthis book to learn how to create a company as powerful as Apple.”—Guy Kawasaki,former chief evangelist of Apple In Escape Velocity Geoffrey A. Moore, author of the marketing masterwork Crossingthe Chasm , teaches twenty-first century enterprises how to overcome thepull of the past and reorient their organizations to meet a new era ofcompetition. The world’s leading high-tech business strategist, Moore connectsthe dots between bold strategies and effective execution, with an action planthat elucidates the link between senior executives and every other branch of acompany. For readers of Larry Bossidy’s Execution ,Clay Christensen’s Innovator’s Solution , and Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It! , and for anyone aiming for the pinnacle of business success, EscapeVelocity is an irreplaceable roadmap to the top.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2011
171 people are currently reading
1840 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey A. Moore
14 books410 followersGeoffrey Moore is an author, speaker, and advisor who splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Mohr Davidow portfolio and established high-tech enterprises, most recently including Salesforce, Microsoft, Intel, Box, Aruba, Cognizant, and Rackspace.
Moore’s life’s work has focused on the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations. His first book, Crossing the Chasm, focuses on the challenges start-up companies face transitioning from early adopting to mainstream customers. It has sold more than a million copies, and its third edition has been revised such that the majority of its examples and case studies reference companies come to prominence from the past decade. Moore’s most recent work, Escape Velocity, addresses the challenge large enterprises face when they seek to add a new line of business to their established portfolio. It has been the basis of much of his recent consulting.
Irish by heritage, Moore has yet to meet a microphone he didn’t like and gives between 50 and 80 speeches a year. One theme that has received a lot of attention recently is the transition in enterprise IT investment focus from Systems of Record to Systems of Engagement. This is driving the deployment of a new cloud infrastructure to complement the legacy client-server stack, creating massive markets for a next generation of tech industry leaders.
Moore has a bachelors in American literature from Stanford University and a PhD in English literature from the University of Washington. After teaching English for four years at Olivet College, he came back to the Bay Area with his wife and family and began a career in high tech as a training specialist. Over time he transitioned first into sales and then into marketing, finally finding his niche in marketing consulting, working first at Regis McKenna Inc, then with the three firms he helped found: The Chasm Group, Chasm Institute, and TCG Advisors. Today he is chairman emeritus of all three.
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Moore’s life’s work has focused on the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations. His first book, Crossing the Chasm, focuses on the challenges start-up companies face transitioning from early adopting to mainstream customers. It has sold more than a million copies, and its third edition has been revised such that the majority of its examples and case studies reference companies come to prominence from the past decade. Moore’s most recent work, Escape Velocity, addresses the challenge large enterprises face when they seek to add a new line of business to their established portfolio. It has been the basis of much of his recent consulting.
Irish by heritage, Moore has yet to meet a microphone he didn’t like and gives between 50 and 80 speeches a year. One theme that has received a lot of attention recently is the transition in enterprise IT investment focus from Systems of Record to Systems of Engagement. This is driving the deployment of a new cloud infrastructure to complement the legacy client-server stack, creating massive markets for a next generation of tech industry leaders.
Moore has a bachelors in American literature from Stanford University and a PhD in English literature from the University of Washington. After teaching English for four years at Olivet College, he came back to the Bay Area with his wife and family and began a career in high tech as a training specialist. Over time he transitioned first into sales and then into marketing, finally finding his niche in marketing consulting, working first at Regis McKenna Inc, then with the three firms he helped found: The Chasm Group, Chasm Institute, and TCG Advisors. Today he is chairman emeritus of all three.
Visit The Infinite Staircase Website
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Geoffrey Moore Main Site
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 16, 2018
This book is another mixed bag. Some parts are worth a five star rating. But the book as a whole isn't put together well. First, it's very formal and technical in it's writing style--like a business school PhD paper. I say PhD because it's got real depth and insight, but also because he seemed to look for the longer, more complicated way of saying things. Also, one of the cool parts of the book is overdone--there are so many models for thinking about how to separate from the pack. I like lots of ideas in a book, but they lacked a unifying thread and some of the models were rushed through. Final concern, this book is largely focused on multi-regional, multi-product, tech companies. So, if you're not that then the highly specific advice (such as how to organize your sales force regions or how to communicate bug issues between engineers) won't do you much good.
But, if you are a large tech company and are willing to wade through formal language, this book is a brilliant read.
But, if you are a large tech company and are willing to wade through formal language, this book is a brilliant read.
March 6, 2019
Some good points but very enterprisey kind of book. Useful in organisations with many layers of managers.
April 19, 2020
Not as groundbreaking as Crossing the Chasm, but generally useful read.
Companies have a structural bias for investing in things today that cause it to starve out the new products and services that will generate growth in the next 2 -3 years.
Hierarchy of powers:
Category Power – the demand for a class of products, for example smart phones, fuel-efficient cars, or energy bars.
*Category maturity lifecycle
*Growth/Maturity Matrix
*Horizon model
Company Power – the relative status and prospect for your company compared with peers. For example: Nokia vs. Samsung, Honda vs. Ford.
*Competitive separation
*Two-business architecture model
*Crown Jewels model
Market Power – the company’s power relative to a market segment, for example Subway in Quick Service Restaurants.
*Nine point market strategy framework
Offer Power – the demand for a product or service relative to reference competitors.
*Retain or innovate model
*Six levers model
*Price/Benefit model
*Core/context model
Execution Power – the ability to outperform competitors under equal conditions
*The arc of execution
“The world is more powerful than you. The market is more powerful than you. Your customers are more powerful than you. And the sum of all your partners and competitors – the ecosystem – is more powerful than you. And just to put the cap on it, nobody really cares about you except you.”
“To free your company’s future from the pull of the past, to escape the gravitational field of last year’s operating plan, and to complete the round-trip by returning with next year’s operating plan, you need to apply a force that is greater than the inertial momentum of current operations.”
Companies have a structural bias for investing in things today that cause it to starve out the new products and services that will generate growth in the next 2 -3 years.
Hierarchy of powers:
Category Power – the demand for a class of products, for example smart phones, fuel-efficient cars, or energy bars.
*Category maturity lifecycle
*Growth/Maturity Matrix
*Horizon model
Company Power – the relative status and prospect for your company compared with peers. For example: Nokia vs. Samsung, Honda vs. Ford.
*Competitive separation
*Two-business architecture model
*Crown Jewels model
Market Power – the company’s power relative to a market segment, for example Subway in Quick Service Restaurants.
*Nine point market strategy framework
Offer Power – the demand for a product or service relative to reference competitors.
*Retain or innovate model
*Six levers model
*Price/Benefit model
*Core/context model
Execution Power – the ability to outperform competitors under equal conditions
*The arc of execution
“The world is more powerful than you. The market is more powerful than you. Your customers are more powerful than you. And the sum of all your partners and competitors – the ecosystem – is more powerful than you. And just to put the cap on it, nobody really cares about you except you.”
“To free your company’s future from the pull of the past, to escape the gravitational field of last year’s operating plan, and to complete the round-trip by returning with next year’s operating plan, you need to apply a force that is greater than the inertial momentum of current operations.”
February 10, 2021
It feels too vague except some realistic examples, but the end it doesn’t feel you’d understand what’s needed to escape the velocity
August 1, 2020
It provides a series of frameworks for big companies to continue investing in linear and non-linear growth and innovation projects. It focuses on companies having outside-in focus vs many established companies who tend to start solving problems for themselves after a period of time.
January 12, 2023
Boring business book with some good nuggets.
June 22, 2017
Geoffrey Moore is the Rainer Maria Rilke of business authors. So much insight is packed into each sentence that you have to read each chapter very slowly to ensure you absorb everything. Fortunately for the business executive, this book is only about 200 pages long. It's stuffed to the brim with Moore's no-nonsense roadmap for achieving escape velocity, that is, overcoming inertia ("we've always done it this way; why change?") at companies both large and small.
The challenge is not in getting executives to understand the material. It's in getting them to act on it. Moore definitely throws down the gauntlet by referring to executives who fail to take strong, sometimes iconoclastic positions, as managers and not leaders. True leaders, at great personal risk to themselves, their careers, and sometimes their companies, take the risky paths, often in defiance of their board, their investors, and indeed, sometimes their employees. Moore makes a compelling case that making asymmetrical bets in risky areas is the only way for companies to achieve escape velocity.
This is perhaps the best business book I've read all year, as it's packed with actionable frameworks and rubrics to plan and measure progress. All company leaders and influencers alike inside an organization, no matter what its size, would be well-served by reading this book.
The challenge is not in getting executives to understand the material. It's in getting them to act on it. Moore definitely throws down the gauntlet by referring to executives who fail to take strong, sometimes iconoclastic positions, as managers and not leaders. True leaders, at great personal risk to themselves, their careers, and sometimes their companies, take the risky paths, often in defiance of their board, their investors, and indeed, sometimes their employees. Moore makes a compelling case that making asymmetrical bets in risky areas is the only way for companies to achieve escape velocity.
This is perhaps the best business book I've read all year, as it's packed with actionable frameworks and rubrics to plan and measure progress. All company leaders and influencers alike inside an organization, no matter what its size, would be well-served by reading this book.
July 1, 2021
Moore Models for "Take-Off!" - In "Escape Velocity" (EV), Moore takes off with the metaphor of a company getting beyond the gravity and inertia of its current products / services and organization to introduce needed innovation.
This book succeeds Moore's previous ones on "Dealing with Darwin" and "Living on the Fault Line" (LFL) that treat the criticality of business adaptation and addressing the vulnerability of mature to "end of life" offerings. In fact EV updates and extends these works as well as incorporating his earlier ones on the introduction of new technologies, e.g. "Crossing the Chasm" and "The Gorilla Game."
Moore presents 13 different frameworks or models in EV for examining present positioning as well as opportunities for charting and pursuing new trajectories. For example, he discusses the "Four Modes of Execution" harkening back to the modeling of "Four Cultures" in LFL. Moreover, he cleverly recasts these traits as elements of an "Arch of Execution" in explaining the moves a company can make to achieve its "escape velocity."
This book succeeds Moore's previous ones on "Dealing with Darwin" and "Living on the Fault Line" (LFL) that treat the criticality of business adaptation and addressing the vulnerability of mature to "end of life" offerings. In fact EV updates and extends these works as well as incorporating his earlier ones on the introduction of new technologies, e.g. "Crossing the Chasm" and "The Gorilla Game."
Moore presents 13 different frameworks or models in EV for examining present positioning as well as opportunities for charting and pursuing new trajectories. For example, he discusses the "Four Modes of Execution" harkening back to the modeling of "Four Cultures" in LFL. Moreover, he cleverly recasts these traits as elements of an "Arch of Execution" in explaining the moves a company can make to achieve its "escape velocity."
June 10, 2024
I listened to this because our new CEO recommended it. It’s inoffensive as far as business self help books go and has moments of real insight. Very applicable to businesses that are well established and don’t effectively reallocate resources to make big enough bets on the right things. It’s a bit dense though and not a super enjoyable read. Also, this narrator reads so many business audiobooks and yet never seems to look up the pronunciation of words like opex, capex, or Schlumberger. It’s bizarre.
March 25, 2022
Not my favorite book. Moore repeats a lot from book to book.
I did like that Moore repeatedly found that executives were trapped by short-term, performance-based compensation schemes. The result was critical decision-makers over-weighting their legacy commitments, an embarrassingly low success rate in new-product launches and a widespread failure to sustain any kind of next-generation business at scale.
I did like that Moore repeatedly found that executives were trapped by short-term, performance-based compensation schemes. The result was critical decision-makers over-weighting their legacy commitments, an embarrassingly low success rate in new-product launches and a widespread failure to sustain any kind of next-generation business at scale.
February 23, 2018
It's a thought provoking book and will give you a lot of tools to tackle specific problems as well as a general framework for when you need a vision, strategy or better execution.
It's designed to be more of a manual, something you pick-up again in 4 months and start applying the frameworks.
Best phrase I've learned from the book = "majoring in minors"
It's designed to be more of a manual, something you pick-up again in 4 months and start applying the frameworks.
Best phrase I've learned from the book = "majoring in minors"
October 21, 2023
This won't have the impact that Crossing the Chasm has had as it's very much a mixed bag and isn't broadly applicable. It is very much focused on large enterprises, especially in tech, with multiple business units. The chapter on Category Power is probably the most useful for those leaders looking to expand or pivot into new areas.
August 16, 2018
First couple chapters are a little dull, but once you get tot he meat of it and the case studies, it is pretty good. I am not a business person (I am a software engineer), but a lot of people in my company are reading this book and I learned quite a bit about differentiation.
October 21, 2017
Interesting, but aside from the five powers framework, it's knowledge in many other startup-centric books.
May 28, 2018
A traditional strategy framework based on a 9-points plan, covering the process of innovation from target customer identification, to marketing positioning. Quick read and easy to follow.
October 29, 2018
Excellent, will need to reread a few times to fully grasp it, though.
August 11, 2019
LOTS of great information in here about innovation and overcoming the innovator's dilemma.
December 18, 2022
Couple generic business nuggets, but didn't find anything original or that useful. Very focused on tech companies (which was disclosed).
October 20, 2013
The best strategy book I've come across in a long time.
The challenge with strategy is like that with other fields such as technology, is that a new paradigm emerges often once a decade or so, and in-between, while publishing or press ink does not slow-- the field focuses on refining the field's philosophy and toolkit. This 'in-between' state is where I'd argue the field of strategy has been since Chen's Blue Ocean Strategy.
Escape velocity is one of those once in a decade books. While written with the CEO in mind, the book is a useful bridge between organizational theory and behavior to strategy and competitive dynamics. Escape velocity is most easily understood by looking at a company such as Amazon.
Amazon regularly launches new businesses - from AWS to Amazon Instant Video,
Each of these businesses is at a different stage of maturity:
Emerging, Growth, Mature and Declining. Each of the business stages. Corresponds to a different horizon. Horizon 3, are the businesses just about to launch that are development (on the path to emerging). In this case, perhaps Amazon's Kindle Phone (a yet to be launched but rumored to be in development product). Instant Video, being a Horizon 2 business-- on the journey from emerging to growth. And Horizon 1 businesses are businesses such as Amazon's Online Retailing of physical dvds and blu-rays.
Each of these businesses have different needs and contribute to the long term and current cash flow and returns of the organization. Escape velocity details the role of the organization and leadership in shepherding these businesses through the various stages. And the diverse strategies and strategic options available to each business. The book is useful and insightful summary of the act of managing innovation initiatives through a large multinational organization.
The challenge with strategy is like that with other fields such as technology, is that a new paradigm emerges often once a decade or so, and in-between, while publishing or press ink does not slow-- the field focuses on refining the field's philosophy and toolkit. This 'in-between' state is where I'd argue the field of strategy has been since Chen's Blue Ocean Strategy.
Escape velocity is one of those once in a decade books. While written with the CEO in mind, the book is a useful bridge between organizational theory and behavior to strategy and competitive dynamics. Escape velocity is most easily understood by looking at a company such as Amazon.
Amazon regularly launches new businesses - from AWS to Amazon Instant Video,
Each of these businesses is at a different stage of maturity:
Emerging, Growth, Mature and Declining. Each of the business stages. Corresponds to a different horizon. Horizon 3, are the businesses just about to launch that are development (on the path to emerging). In this case, perhaps Amazon's Kindle Phone (a yet to be launched but rumored to be in development product). Instant Video, being a Horizon 2 business-- on the journey from emerging to growth. And Horizon 1 businesses are businesses such as Amazon's Online Retailing of physical dvds and blu-rays.
Each of these businesses have different needs and contribute to the long term and current cash flow and returns of the organization. Escape velocity details the role of the organization and leadership in shepherding these businesses through the various stages. And the diverse strategies and strategic options available to each business. The book is useful and insightful summary of the act of managing innovation initiatives through a large multinational organization.
September 21, 2016
The best portfolio management books I have read so far. As an operation lead for a Fortune 500 high-tech company, this is exactly what I need.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is in the position of portfolio managing over $1B Complex-system (high-tech) company. It provides the prescription for generating sustainable future growth within an established enterprise. All the frameworks explained in the book are not just theories, they are practical guide. I worked for the C company that Moore mentioned a few times in his books, where I was the operation manager following the best practices led by Moore's team. Now I am the operation lead in another fortune 500 company, and we are going thru the exact transformation effort.
Established enterprises can innovate and can escape from the pull of the past, the question is, do you have the precision and muscle to execute on it? Would like to see more from Moore on tools or quantifiable checkpoint on how enterprise access its own status quo on 'Escape Velocity'.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is in the position of portfolio managing over $1B Complex-system (high-tech) company. It provides the prescription for generating sustainable future growth within an established enterprise. All the frameworks explained in the book are not just theories, they are practical guide. I worked for the C company that Moore mentioned a few times in his books, where I was the operation manager following the best practices led by Moore's team. Now I am the operation lead in another fortune 500 company, and we are going thru the exact transformation effort.
Established enterprises can innovate and can escape from the pull of the past, the question is, do you have the precision and muscle to execute on it? Would like to see more from Moore on tools or quantifiable checkpoint on how enterprise access its own status quo on 'Escape Velocity'.
May 19, 2012
This is a really interesting book for someone who is looking at a mature & successful organization and who is interested in helping it continue to evolve and innovate. Ultimately success breeds complacency, and this is even more likely with organizations than with individuals. How to utilize the organization's strengths to break its current form is a subtle and interesting process when described by Moore.
This sounds like the usual business book fodder, but Moore mixes many insights into every chapter. The end result is the same as with most books of this sort; the reader says, "I knew this already." However, with Escape Velocity I would wager the reader is unlikely to have actually thought about the conflict between today's and tomorrow's organization in such a thoughtful way.
Definitely an important read to those who can influence how their organization (of any sort) views future success.
This sounds like the usual business book fodder, but Moore mixes many insights into every chapter. The end result is the same as with most books of this sort; the reader says, "I knew this already." However, with Escape Velocity I would wager the reader is unlikely to have actually thought about the conflict between today's and tomorrow's organization in such a thoughtful way.
Definitely an important read to those who can influence how their organization (of any sort) views future success.
November 16, 2011
As with Moore's other books, this one is full of good wisdom culled from personal experience and research. The content is rather focused on technology companies, and large ones at that, but it is not difficult to distill lessons that can be applied to most, if not all, types and sizes of businesses. I run a small Internet marketing firm and I found plenty of relevant points.
A lot of the content will fit right in for those who are fans of Clayton Christensen and the Innovator's Dilemma and Innovator's Solution books. This works out to be something of a more specific handbook for avoiding the Dilemma. A good follow up for anyone who has read those books.
A lot of the content will fit right in for those who are fans of Clayton Christensen and the Innovator's Dilemma and Innovator's Solution books. This works out to be something of a more specific handbook for avoiding the Dilemma. A good follow up for anyone who has read those books.
May 1, 2013
THE "playbook" for growing you mid-large business... if leading by playbook is your sort of thing. This book goes into amazing detail about the strategies of growing you business by taking over niches, dominating the mainstream, and optimizing the old stuff. This book is so detailed that I wonder if it cannibalized the consulting firm's business that is behind this book.
If you need marching orders on how to grow your business, this is the book for you.
If you need marching orders on how to grow your business, this is the book for you.
November 14, 2015
Great book to have on your book shelf, the one in your office, if you want to be seen as thrustworthy and vigorous. Also useful for curing mild insomnia, and/or tossing at someone to get their attention.
Yes there is some useful stuff in the book, but you have to wade through a lot of repetition to get to those suggest of wisdom.
Seriously, this is the book to buy the brother-in-law that you don't like, but have to be nice to.
Yes there is some useful stuff in the book, but you have to wade through a lot of repetition to get to those suggest of wisdom.
Seriously, this is the book to buy the brother-in-law that you don't like, but have to be nice to.
March 3, 2020
Great insight into strategic thinking in the technology sector. Very informative and useful case studies at the end of each chapter.
I am sure I will reference the book again and again especially for the suggested frameworks.
That’s my first book for Geoffrey Moore. Looking to a get another book for sure.
I am sure I will reference the book again and again especially for the suggested frameworks.
That’s my first book for Geoffrey Moore. Looking to a get another book for sure.
June 19, 2015
Fairly interesting and modern business studies. I actually liked this a lot more than most business model generation books I've read, it feels a lot more relevant to the current technology market. There are a LOT of frameworks, though.
August 9, 2016
Excellent read for business noob
My copy is full of highlights. Worth re-reading. Gives a great vocabulary for concepts otherwise hard to articulate. A bit dense, but not too much.
My copy is full of highlights. Worth re-reading. Gives a great vocabulary for concepts otherwise hard to articulate. A bit dense, but not too much.
October 5, 2011
Started off a bit slow for me, but it picked up. Seems like decent advice although I thought some of his analysis on Apple was suspect.
December 25, 2011
新しい取り組みを、過去のしがらみ（引力）からどのように解き放ち、会社を成長に導いていくか、みたいな内容。最初に5つの経済的な力、力の階層（カテゴリー力、企業力、市場力、製品力、実行力）を紹介。その力の階層ごとに、力の伝わり方や周囲環境の把握からフレームワークを用いた改善策などを解説して、それらの力をどのように組み合わせてアプローチしていくか、というところに到達する。
March 9, 2012
Simply fantastic. Geoffrey Moore has a real talent and voice when it comes to business books. This is a MUST READ for any executive or board member.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews