Why Great Products Fail And How to Shorten the Adoption Curve

About this episode

Holley Miller discusses why great products fail to drive adoption and how to overcome market resistance to change.

In this episode of ThriveCast , we speak with Holley Miller, Founder and President of Grey Matter Marketing — a strategist who sits at the rare intersection of market behavior, messaging, and product adoption. With 30 years spanning medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and SaaS, Holley brings a cross-industry lens to one of the biggest blind spots in innovation: why great products fail to drive adoption — and what founders and growth leaders can do about it. In this conversation, she unpacks the psychology behind why markets resist change, how to identify the "disgusters" that actually make people switch, and why belief, not features, is the true engine of growth. Key Insights * “Build it and they will come” is a myth. Two out of three products in healthcare fail due to adoption failure and not product failure. SaaS sees the same dynamic, only faster and more brutally. * Human brains protect the status quo. Regardless of industry or role, people are wired to resist change. Getting someone to switch is genuinely hard, and most companies underestimate this. * Solve disgusters, not just delighters. A four-quadrant framework - Delighters, nice-to-haves, annoyances, and disgusters, shows…

People in this episode

Guest: Holley Miller

Topics covered

• product adoption
• market behavior
• innovation
• psychology of change
• growth strategies

Keywords

• adoption curve
• disgusters
• status quo
• loyalty
• switching behavior

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Grey Matter Marketing, ThriveStack AI

Products: medical devices, pharmaceuticals, SaaS

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