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Startup Funding Espresso – Stages of Technology Adoption

Investor Connect Podcast

Release Date: 01/08/2026

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Stages of Technology Adoption

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Technology adoption goes through several stages over the life of that technology.

Here are the steps of adoption:

Unknown -- no one knows the technology.

Awareness -- some hear about it but don’t know what it is.

Understanding -- those who know it understand how it works but don’t know what to do with it.

Belittlement -- those who know it consider it an underperforming technology and discard it as a toy.

Usefulness -- some users find use cases for it.

Repeat usage -- more users find it helpful and use it repeatedly.

Designed in -- the tool becomes embedded into the workflow and is used constantly.

Locked in -- the tool is something the user has no choice but to use.

Regulated -- the tool becomes so prevalent that it attracts regulatory oversight.

In building your product, consider these stages for marketing the technology behind your product. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

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