Earlyvangelists

Definition

Earlyvangelists are visionary customers who will buy an unfinished, unproven product because they can already see it solving a critical, immediate problem — not because they're persuaded by polish or references. Blank identifies them by a five-point escalating scale: (1) has a problem, (2) is aware of having it, (3) is actively searching for a solution, (4) has already cobbled together a homegrown fix out of "piece parts," and (5) has, or can quickly get, budget. His claim is blunt: "earlyvangelist customers will be found only at points 4 and 5."

In the Book

Chapter 3 builds this scale through a recurring example: a bank president facing an hour-long teller line. A president who says "What problem?" is a late adopter with a latent need — useless for feedback or sales. One who hands out water cups on hot days recognizes the problem but hasn't acted — a future "mainstream" sale, not a now sale. Only the president who has already had IT cobble together a crashing, jury-rigged internal system, and has budget lined up, is a genuine earlyvangelist: someone with enough pain to have self-funded a bad solution already. The book explicitly distinguishes earlyvangelists from Moore's "technology enthusiasts," noting enthusiasts "very rarely buy anything" even though the adoption curve visually groups them with paying early customers — a distinction Blank says the curve obscures.

Why It Matters

It converts "who is our target customer" from a demographic or persona question into a behavioral filter: has this person already spent effort or money faking a solution to the exact problem you solve? That test travels well beyond product launches — it separates people who talk about wanting change from people whose existing improvised workarounds prove they need it badly enough to act, which is where any new offering, policy, or intervention should look first for adopters.