Who are laggards?
Laggards, in Everett Rogers’ diffusion-of-innovations framework, are the last segment of the market to adopt a new product or technology — typically 16% of the target market — characterised by tradition orientation, scepticism of change and limited risk tolerance.
Laggards are typically not the priority target for early-stage startups. Strategic value is in serving them eventually with mature, low-risk, low-cost versions of the product, often after mass-market adoption has driven the product into commodity status.