30 Apr The Art of a Startup Pivot From a Founder – CTO Point of View
Here’s an excellent article on the art of a startup pivot by Yann Lechelle, a startup founder with direct experience in pivoting. I particularly like the way that Yann breaks down the affects and responsibilities of pivoting on what he calls the three main pillars; Product, HR and Capital.
“Pivots are a fact of life in the startup world. Yet, very few founders, especially first-time founders, will provision for it. The founder mindset is typically focused on a single go-to-market strategy. The investors are sold on the potential based on that initial strategy, signing off a budget calibrated accordingly. Everyone sings the same tune until the shareholders realize, hopefully before it’s too late, that the strategy is going nowhere, and that a radical change is required. This scenario occurs more often than not, over 65% of the time according to Fred Wilson.
The product initially defined by the founders typically emanates from a global vision. In some cases, founders will start with the product and later realize, on their own or with external help, that there is a greater vision. Either way, the team must strive to work towards the greater vision, and consider that the product itself is just a means for achieving a greater goal. This serves two distinct purposes: pitch investors at a higher level of ambition (helps with the valuation), but most importantly, helps the product and engineering team build a category of assets that will be reusable when pivoting the product within the general framework of their vision.”
With experience in agile marketing, lean canvas, growth hacking, digital marketing and CRM technology, Jim and his team at LaunchHawk Marketing offer a comprehensive range of consulting services designed specifically to help startups successfully scale their businesses.
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