Geoffrey A Moore, 53, believes in the net. He remained bullish during the recent "corrections" in the e-economy and, on the publication of his book Living on the Fault Line, he had a few words for the traditionalists. "Old economy companies cannot use the recent sell-off [of hi-tech stocks] as an excuse for writing off the internet," he told the Wall Street Journal in July.

As managing director of the Chasm Group, a Silicon Valley consultant, Mr Moore has been an expert (or in its preferred parlance "guru") on the new economy since its inception. His first book, Crossing the Chasm (1991), introduced the idea of a gap or "chasm" which innovative companies must cross to reach the lucrative mainstream market. The sequel, Inside the Tornado (1995), shows how to capitalise on the potential for "hypergrowth" beyond the chasm.

Before founding the Chasm Group in 1992, Mr Moore was a partner at hi-tech marketing company Regis McKenna, and in the 1980s was a sales and marketing executive at three different software companies. On his way to the new economy he took bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a PhD from the University of Washington (both in literature) and served as an English professor at Olivet college.

He is a frequent speaker and lecturer at industry conferences and his books are required reading at Stanford, Harvard, MIT and other US business schools.