What are the most common misconceptions about pivoting for early-stage startups?

In the world of startups, it's often said, 'Show me a startup, and I'll show you a pivot.' Rarely does a business plan unfold precisely as written. We tend to learn more from our mistakes than our successes because the memory of pain lingers in the mind differently from that of a victory.

Startups get a lot of conflicting advice, should you test quickly, fail, and pivot, or should you stick to your guns and try until you succeed because things take time? The short answer is as always, you will never know which path is better, because you will never know where it would have taken you on your journey. I have seen both approaches work and both approaches fail. It depends on so many things with some being not within your control. I think surrounding yourself with experts, with a dedicated team, with the best information and having debates and push backs allows you to understand which path you should pursue and when. But 7 out 10 startups fail. Failure comes with the territory..

The potential of pivoting lies in its ability to allow startups to rapidly iterate and evolve in response to customer needs and market dynamics. It's not just about changing direction; it's about refining a vision based on learning and evidence. I envision pivoting will become an integral part of the startup culture, driven by an increased emphasis on lean methodologies and data-driven decision-making. Startups that master the art of the pivot will be seen as adaptable and resilient, qualities that are essential in the fast-paced and uncertain environment of early-stage ventures.

My experience of starting 3 businesses and investing is that almost always the first idea or product is not the one that scales the business. Fall in love with the customer unmet needs not the product, technology, etc. Hence, a pivot is finding that product-market fit. As for the pivot, it is very draining so push away your emotions and focus on the action. In short, a pivot is a behavior driven from failing forward not a plan. Good luck.

Pivoting is also about responding to new opportunities and innovations - to being agile enough to dodge seismic market shifts, unscathed (or, even better off). I find it helps to think of your business as an independent person (it is, in law), who, like your children, will thrive best if allowed to balance their natural talents and competencies with their passion. Your job as a CEO/Founder is to allow your business to grow to meet its' own potential - not some pipe dream you had about where it might end up. As with children - create an enabling and stimulating environment, be clear about what matters (your values) and be comfortable (hahaha) with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity.

Pivoting a startup is no small feat—it's a move that's as challenging as it is potent. The difficulty lies in acknowledging that the original plan is not hitting the mark, which often means setting aside egos and hard work. Yet, this bold stroke can be the very thing that propels a startup to new heights. A pivot repositions the business closer to genuine market needs, can open up untapped opportunities, and may align better with the team's strengths. It's about adaptive resilience; the willingness to shift gears can be the catalyst that transforms a fledgling idea into a thriving enterprise. In the startup world, the ability to pivot is not just about survival—it's about aligning to potential.

I don't believe there's a misconception here. I've never encountered a founder or a startup employee who found pivoting to be easy. In fact, it is one of the most challenging tasks for a founder. Founders often have a well-established business plan and strategy, but what they rarely have is a backup plan or a pivot strategy.

Pivoting is often seen as a walk in the park, but it's far from it. According to CB Insights, 70% of startups that pivot end up failing. In truth, it's a tough and risky process. Pivoting takes guts, creativity, and determination, along with a clear reason and a defined goal. Going through it without a plan or a purpose can result in chaos, resources going down the drain, and a loss of progress.

Absolutely. Pivoting is neither a retreat nor a defeat; it's a strategic repositioning. It's hard, like repositioning a spacecraft mid-orbit. You have to be quick and precise, with all thrusters firing in unison towards the new trajectory. And always remember, if the pivot is more about avoiding challenges than embracing new opportunities, it's probably not going to work.

Pivoting isn’t simple, it’s a prerequisite, in the startup journey it’s a crucial, strategic rewrite in the narrative of innovation. It calls for boldness, creativity, and resilience. Using your North Star—clear goals and rationale—a pivot is chaotic, where challenges are into growth opportunities. Embracing adaptability, frames pivoting as an optimistic endeavor, a testament to a startup's journey, agility and commitment to its vision. Each pivot, though daunting, is a recalibration towards success, ever aiming for an ultimate North Star. This guiding beacon ensures that every twist in the plot strengthens the story, leading to a summit where challenges are not just overcome but unified with the venture's rich unfolding epic.

There is no playbook for running a startup. There is no one right way to build one. In this context pivots are just another strategic exercise to move from one track to another one, in a way to achieve product market fit. Whether and when it is called for, depends on where the startup is in their journey and what all has been tried out before evaluating a pivot.

Pivoting isn't a cure-all. I've seen entrepreneurs pivot for the sake of change, thinking it's a magic formula. It's not. In fact, pivoting without solid rationale can send mixed signals to your team and your market. If you're pivoting too often or without a solid reason, you risk diluting your brand and confusing everyone involved. So before you make the move, be sure you've exhausted all avenues for your existing model. Sometimes, all your startup needs is a slight adjustment or a renewed focus, rather than a complete overhaul. A pivot should be a strategic move, backed by data and customer feedback, not a knee-jerk reaction to challenges.

It can also lead to employee churn. In the early days of a startup, it’s crucial to maintain high employee morale and loyalty. Pivoting requires the startup team to problem-solve and be creative - you can only do this a limited amount of times.

From our point of view it's vital to base decisions on data, not just react to challenges. At one point for example, staying the course proved beneficial for us, highlighting the importance of thoroughly validating strategies before making major changes.

Pivoting is often a consequence of a "validation" strategy. In validation, you start with a hypothesis and test it. As you get feedback through testing, it often becomes clear that there is room for improvement, but depending on the way the tests are constructed, it may not be clear how best to do this. An alternative strategy is "discovery". With discovery, you start with a broad idea and go have a dialogue with a group of prospective customers or, better, recent customers of a competitor. What was the problem that made them seek a solution, what were the alternatives, what solution would be ideal , what is wrong with existing alternatives? etc. After about 30 of these conversations clear patterns emerge. No pivot required.

I've often seen these terms confused, but they're not interchangeable. Iteration is like fine-tuning your guitar while you're playing the same song. You're making it better, but the core remains the same. Pivoting is like changing the genre of music you're playing altogether. It's a shift in direction based on a realization that you might be on the wrong path. Both are essential in the lifecycle of a startup but serve different functions. Iteration helps you refine your product within your current strategy, while a pivot is a strategy shift that often comes after you realize your existing plan isn't leading to the desired outcome. Knowing the difference helps you apply the right tool for the job at hand.

Pivots are not just another iteration, incremental experimentation fails. Pivots are what you need when iterations fails. Pivots are to think of entirely new use case for the same product, completely new product for the same segment, completely new segment or market for the same product and so forth.

Pivoting is a common process in startups and is sometimes necessary. Many believe that pivoting indicates failure, but it is a natural part of the startup process and can demonstrate a team's adaptability and willingness to learn from feedback. Another misconception is that pivoting always involves a complete overhaul of the core product or business model, but this is not always true. In reality, pivoting can involve minor adjustments or iterations, leading to more significant improvements. Finally, pivoting is not a quick fix. Pivoting requires careful analysis, team effort, and a strategic mindset. It is crucial to balance your core beliefs with agility and an understanding of the ever-changing environment and adapt as needed.

With startup epics, pivoting isn’t compulsory twist but a strategic plot development. A potent tool, yet not every twist in the tale warrants such a maneuver. Pivots must be judicious, scaled to the narrative's needs, with the audience as a critical gauge. Frequent pivots jar the story, diluting essence and distancing loyal characters—your audience. First, minor adjustments, use audience feedback as compass. Only expand these when your market affirms you've struck the right chord. Calibrating ensures pivots refine rather than rewrite your startup's journey, securing the integrity of the core value proposition. A startup's narrative unfolds in dialogue, not monologue, and into a complete picture through continuous customer engagement.

For our startup journey pivoting meant a fundamental shift, whereas iterating involved refining existing processes. Both equally important.

Pivoting is any adjustment made to a business model to reach a new or old goal. Which means it applies to everything. Product, Services, Environment, Region, Staff, bottom line EVERYTHING :-)

Pivoting can be for anything that generates growth for the business: 1. Service 2. Product 3. Culture 4. Business model 5. Target consumer Thinking that it is for product alone is looking at a very small piece of a very big puzzle.

Pivoting can be defined as any strategic change for a business. At base86, we have pivoted multiple times, including: - core market/vertical - product strategy - business model - customer segment - distribution strategy Product strategy pivots are usually the consequence of another core business strategy that was changed.

For a product, the product-channel fit is a lot more important than product-market fit - but both are critical. The way you acquire successful customers that don't churn should be subject to quantified experiments.

Pivoting is not a slight decision and must be studied well. Unfortunately, product pivots are often mistakenly implemented to solve other business problems. Especially in product-driven tech startups, this is misconception mostly comes from a lack of clarity on what is the issue and what are the customer needs.

In my startup Granimals we have pivoted 4 times in 2 years and we are getting ready to pivot again. And guess what? Pivoting never stops. Businesses that don't adapt die. It is no different than what we as individuals have to do. You pivot from middle school until you retire and sometimes continue to pivot even beyond that.

In an entrepreneurial narrative, a pivot is a climactic twist and an essential theme woven throughout the plot. At DealEngine, our story has been defined by a series of pivots, much like the chapters of life that transition from adolescence to maturity. Just as characters in a story must evolve or face their end, so must businesses. Pivoting at DealEngine was never a singular event but a cyclical process—a mindset of perpetual evolution and responsiveness to the ever-shifting landscape. It's about embracing the iterative cycles of change—test, learn, adapt, and repeat—as the heartbeat of a startup's life, ensuring that with each turn of the page, the story grows more affluent and more attuned to the unfolding marketplace.

Our experience shows that pivoting is an ongoing process of adaptation. It's about staying agile and responsive, embracing a mindset of continuous learning for long-term success.

Pivoting is not a one-and-done deal; it's part of the entrepreneurial journey. In my experience, the need to pivot can arise at various stages of a business's lifecycle. Markets change, customer needs evolve, and new opportunities appear. If you're not constantly evaluating and willing to make changes, you risk becoming obsolete. Think of pivoting like steering a ship: You make adjustments along the way, not just when you're off course. Each pivot should be seen as an opportunity to learn more about your market and refine your approach, rather than a sign that you've failed or deviated. Stay agile, keep learning, and don't be afraid to make the turns when needed.

In my experience, pivoting is an on-going process and essential to all businesses. If you are not thinking ahead re the next step in your business, you will perish. I have seen so many companies have an amazing concept, the ability to execute the concept and then die on the vine bc they were unable to pivot to what is next.

There are lots of different pivots: problem pivots - nobody thinks the problem you are addressing is worth solving solution pivots - customers don't believe the solution offered is good enough or will work Business model - different customers, propositions or routes to market The further down the list you go, the less painful the change in direction as there is an increasingly solid foundation to build on.

The only thing always true of a plan in a start up is that it's wrong. The team's agility to embrace this and move with market feedback will determine its success.

The best entrepreneurs start with a good idea and some view of the size and preferences of the target market. That’s not the challenge - the challenge is letting go of the initial ideas and plans when the underlying assumptions are no longer valid. With a clear eye to assumptions and how they evolved, a pivot can be much less scary.

Remember pivots are strategic narrative shifts, not mandatory plot twists. They are purposeful, proportional, and resonant with your startup’s core storyline. Impulse pivots; unnecessary or premature changes disrupt your journey. Your audience a critical gauge, start shifting subtly, escalating when validated by user feedback. Ensuring pivots are constructive, enhancing the tale not losing essence or alienating cast. Each pivot a dialogue with the market, a chapter refining your story, keeping it aligned with the audience's needs and the ultimate North Star of your venture. Remember, a well-considered pivot can turn a story around, but it should always be part of a larger, coherent narrative arc that leads your startup’s growth and success.

In my experience, irrespective of the business plan, market research and cashflow projections, it is going to take longer and cost more than you expect before the strat-up is profitable and generating positive cash flow. Make sure you stay nimble, continuously monitor the market feedback, and have the backing necessary to make further cash calls. Re-examine the strategy, make changes if necessary, be open with your backers and employees.