Startup Pivots Are Bad and the Initial Idea Matters More

Startup pivots are bad, actually.

Interesting take from Ben at Village Global recently arguing that the initial idea is often more important than many investors expect. Even more heretical, he adds that exceptional founders working in the wrong space tend to fail.

(Now some investors might say "the fact they failed proves they weren't exceptional founders" but I think that's far too presumptive)

Which brings us to pivots.

𝟰 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁𝘀 from Elad Gil's blog "A Brief Guide To Startup Pivots"

𝟭) 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹.

Most common, most likely to fail

𝟮) 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁/𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 (𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺, 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵).

Sometimes a single part of the original idea catches on while the rest of the product lags. Should you strip away everything about the original product that isn't working or should you keep the legacy product alive?

𝟯) 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 (𝗬𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿, 𝗦𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸).

Something you used to build your original ideas becomes the whole company. Slack is the clearest example (chat functionality inside a video game becoming the big idea). May require resetting the employee base, not easy.

𝟰) 𝗗𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄 (𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗚𝗢𝗔𝗧).

Same team, totally different thing. Really hard to actually pull off, may be better to shut down and restart as the new entity.