Elad Gill's pivot framework breaks down three options: build something different for your current customers, take your product to new customers, or change markets entirely. The key is pausing to validate before you move, not flailing from one bad idea to the next.
Elad Gill's book has a really good framework for pivots that I really like. And, you know, most of the time when our portfolio companies, Yousef come to us and they tell me when to pivot, I'm like, are we pivoting or are we flailing? I think the thing that's missing sometimes from this pivot conversation is sometimes the best thing to do when you realize the thing that you're working on isn't working is to actually take a pause, take a beat, step back, and say, hey, we tried something. It didn't work. What are we going to do? Are we going to try to build for the same customer with a different product? Are we going to try to redeploy the same product to a different customer? Are we going to, like, change markets? I find these wild pivots are really hard, and oftentimes they're not well thought out. And sometimes you have a team that doesn't make sense for that new company. I don't know that every founder takes pivots seriously, but I understand the desire. Like, hey, the thing we were working on isn't working. We got to find something else and fast. But I'm like, the worst thing you can do is go from one bad idea to immediately pivoting into something else that's equally poorly thought out. Give yourself time to make sure that the new thing is good or.
