Lead user is a term developed by Eric von Hippel in 1986 (Von Hippel 1986). His definition for lead user is:
- Lead users face needs that will be general in a marketplace – but face them months or years before the bulk of that marketplace encounters them, and
- Lead users are positioned to benefit significantly by obtaining a solution to those needs.
In other words: Lead users are users of a product or service that currently experience needs still unknown to the public and who also benefit greatly if they obtain a solution to these needs. Because lead users innovate, they are considered to be one example or type of the creative consumers phenomenon.
Read more about Lead User: Lead User Method Introduction, Review of Existing Literature, Potential Disadvantages of The Lead User Method, Examples of Lead User Method
Famous quotes containing the words lead and/or user:
“Dance then wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.”
—Sydney Carter (b. 1915)
“A worker may be the hammer’s master, but the hammer still prevails. A tool knows exactly how it is meant to be handled, while the user of the tool can only have an approximate idea.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)