A Nerd Takes on the Geeks

Everyone needs a nerd, yet no one is looking for one. How should this tech founder enroll consumers in a membership model when they’re used to paying for support only when something breaks.

Leo Knight calls Amy and Hilary (bourbon in hand) with a situation that would be great to address before franchising: Neighborhood Nerds would be so much more successful if only customers would break up with the break/fix model of tech support and move to The Nerds membership model; so the problem must be about ‘education’. But is that really the issue?

The Brandsmiths get busy giving feedback about what it means to create a new category, how to ‘date’ a business before settling down, why Neighborhood Nerds may be harnessing the wrong message, and why what an owner wants and what customers perceive that they need are often two different things.