However, the "bowling pin/alley" strategy mentioned in the articles applies in the slightly different context of a disruptive product. A peep hole is not a disruptive product.
Isn't that just what Facebook did? Got one notable school to adopt it, and then used that as social proof of its value to expand?
"A peep hole is not a disruptive product."
It is if you're a door-to-door salesperson. Big difference if people feel they can quietly ignore you after peeping out the hole, versus having to make some sort of contact and then trying to turn you away.
No, it's not. You could social proof Facebook using Harvard students all you like and it still won't appeal to an old guy who lives in Australia. The key thing is that Facebook is only useful when you've got some friends using it. That's why it made sense to start with a big cluster of friends the founders were part of.
Geoff Moore's theories apply to disruptive or discontinuous products that force customers to make a significant change in behavior. A peep hole may force door-to-door salespeople to make significant changes in behavior, but the customer doesn't make a significant change in behavior. The "disruption" or "discontinuity" refers to the changes in behavior of the consumer.
Usually, he would get 2-3% of the houses he knocked on to buy his services. He would install the peep holes in 15 minutes and be off.
He later managed to get this 2-3% to 20%. What he did was revisited the houses that had refused his offer during the first time - and told them: so and so of your neighbour installed it. Would you want to install it too?
He later on bumped that 20% to an insane 90%! How? Got endorsement letters from the local fire houses. And from the homeowner's association.
The strategy teachers may call this the Bowling Pin strategy. He simply called it "saturating an area." And getting approvals from the influentials.