To pivot, or not to pivot, that is the question

I pivoted and turned a stagnating business into one that has grown 8.5x since (without raising money).

Here’s how to decide whether it’s time to pivot.

There are 2 types of pivot:

• You are early and have few or no users

• You are years in progress and have a team, traction, investors, etc.

We were in the second bucket, making it much harder to decide.

If you’re just starting, pivoting means changing the idea.

The biggest reason to pivot is to get more shots on goal to hit product-market fit.

If you don’t do this, you’re moving too slow. This is a toxic habit that you will take further. But we were much further in the progress. We had employees and a little bit of traction.

It is the worst scenario you can end up in.

If your idea completely failed — “F*ck it, moving forward”

If you have some traction — “What if I have to push it a little harder”

"A little bit of traction" made me completely blind.

We were at 200k GMV, a team of 15, lots of operations. But the growth was slow. Probably I thought that we were one of those stories, where they powered through, and it worked.

Another HUGE mistake.

We didn't shut down the first business model even when we tried another idea. I dragged my team this route for 6 months, and it was a nightmare.

Shutting down that business was hard, but it made future growth possible.

Most take too long to pivot.

If you are doubting whether to pivot, think like this:

You can only really work on one thing at a time. By working on something that's not working, you are taking the opportunity cost by not doing something else.

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Here’s what no one told you about a successful pivot:

1. Address fears and keep spirits high

It isn’t easy to admit that your infallible idea fell short or that you need to go back to the drawing board and start over from scratch. 

But your team is struggling too. 

Be transparent, talk them through every decision you make in detail, and make clear what you hope to achieve. 

2. Clean start and narrow focus

Pick your idea, test your hypothesis and move on.

3. Optimize — and I don’t just mean the team

When changing direction, you need to optimize and keep your burn rate low. Otherwise, it’s just not going to work, period.

4. Don’t assume — analyze

After a pivot, businesses need to set up proper analytics and pay close attention to all business dynamics. 

5. Seek help from those with experience

Share your ideas, ask around, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Don’t accept failure. Learn from it.