Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners
Source: Simon Wardley Published: March 2015
Source: Simon Wardley
Published: March 2015
Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners
Circulated: July 16, 2020
This framework describes a way of understanding the unique combination of characteristics and aptitude needed to bring products and services to life.
Pioneers
bold thinkers who come up with new, exciting ideas
fail often; you wouldn’t trust what they build
innovative ideas uncovered are passed onto the Settlers
example: Jack Kilby who invented the integrated circuit (aka microchip)
Settlers
they build trust and understanding by listening to customers
generate revenue while finding product-market fit
turn ideas from Pioneers into a product
example: Henry Edwards Roberts who invented the first PC (Altair 8800)
Town Planners
take the Settlers’ product and scale it to reach more customers
you can trust the quality of their product
utilize economies of scale to make things faster and more efficient
they operate the services that pioneers build upon
example: Apple Computer inventing the Macintosh