Quick snippets from our morning read on Friday, 26th February 2021
Yesterday we read about pivoting your reputation, today’s morning read which is an article by Martin Zwilling focuses on pivoting your business to kickstart growth.
Every entrepreneur I know starts out with a strong conviction that their solution is a perfect match for their target market, and yet almost every one later admits a need to “pivot” before finding their groove. Course corrections, or pivots, are normal for new ventures, so expect them and don’t make excuses. Failure is the unwillingness to learn and change based on better information.
Few entrepreneurs know that even the most successful startups had pivots, which rarely get mentioned. For example, you probably never heard that both Facebook and YouTube started out fully intending to be dating sites, but pivoted to something more unique when they found that dating had already become an over-crowded market. Their pivots were early but real.
The types of pivot are innumerable, but there are some more effective ones that I think every early startup should contemplate on a regular basis during their early growth period. Here is my list, based on my own experience as a startup advisor, talking to other angel investors, and derived from the lean startup principles of venture advisor and entrepreneur Eric Ries:
1. Strip the solution down to a focus on a key feature.
No solution can be everything to everyone, but your initial passion can make it feel that way. This confuses customers, and dilutes your marketing impact. I would call this the “less is more” or the “keep it simple” pivot. After initial traction, there is plenty of time to bring back more features.
3. Hone your definition of target customer demographics.
Facebook was aimed initially at college students, later aimed at consumers in general, and more recently found a lucrative growth path with businesses. Pivots thus are a normal and necessary process in expanding the market, and recognizing cultural shifts as well as kick-starting growth.
6. Consider alternative technology platforms for the solution.
Sometimes a startup has to pivot to a new technology to stay competitive or improve margins. Other domains like transportation have found the need to pivot, to meet environmental directives and alternative forms of energy. The world around us changes quickly, even for a startup.
8. Position your business as a social enterprise versus commercial.
I see many young entrepreneurs with a passion primarily for social change, who don’t realize that changing the world costs money. The best are able to keep their social focus while pivoting their business strategy to make money. These two objectives are not mutually exclusive.
Read the rest of the article here.
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