How many times did you "pivot" your product ?
Toni
19 replies
I'll go first.
I have changed positioning and approach for buska at least 3 times.
Not counting how many messaging changes I made on the website 😅
What about you ?
Replies
Ashutosh Prakash Singh@ashutosh_prakash_singh1
Hey Toni, we have pivoted from a b2c fintech platform to a b2b saas platform for AI Agents. It was a complete 360 degree turn for us but me and my team are so glad for the flexibility we had!
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I don't think we've pivoted yet at Artus, but we've made significant evolutions of the product several times to the point where it can be considered a different product altogether. Some might call them pivots but to us they just felt like the next logical step.
We have done two major pivots. They really help us adjust to market demands and improve our product significanctly
Interesting conversation! while pivoting can be crucial I wonder if theres a way to balance it with user research upfront. Maybe testing different directions with low fidelity prototypes before diving into development could save time and resources in the long run.
@freya_isla Interesting point. Obviously, it's important to "derisk" before you build and launch (that's actually what i do as fractional for B2B startups)
Research, Prototyping, Pre Sales etc will help you derisk. But in our current market, you cannot afford 100% certainty, but rather launch with 70% insights fast, and adapt
That's why being able to pivot is a crucial skill now.
You can derisk and build something that sells.
But then at some point realize your product could actually solve a bigger or more painful problem for another audience (and so, sell it at higher price be more profitable) => look at Shopify's story for example.
So, i 100% agree that you should derisk from Day 1. But IMO, history shows that you rarely reach PMF on the first attempt
Soo far, we haven't pivoted. Might be something we have to do soon.
Aiswers.com
Do you start a new product or make improvement based on current product when pivoting?
@allan_ryl can be anything really.
Often it's making changes to your product because you realized you are not solving the right problem, or addressing the right target. Or go sideways and turn the initial product around to answer new needs.
We have done three pivots so far. Each one helped us refine our focus and improve our overall offering.
I’ve had to pivot once. It was a huge learning curve, but ultimately it led to much a stronger product.
Pivoted twice both were challenging but crucial. The first was market driven, the second was due to tech limitations.
I’ve pivoted three times so far. The first was tough, but it got easier once I embraced that it’s part of the process.
1 time! Previously we at Pusaqa planned to launch locally as our very first plan, after we go further in time (with many things in-between & discussions & re-evaluation as well), we planned to pivot our product to a global direction :)
Can check at https://pusa.qa :D
We haven't done a full 'pivot' at our startup yet, but the product has definitely evolved a ton since we launched the MVP. I think most successful products naturally change course over time as you learn more about the market and what customers really want. As long as you stay true to the core vision and adapt smartly, those big changes are just part of the journey, not really 'pivots' per se. But yeah, we're on like version 3 or 4 of the product by now and it's pretty different from where we started out!
I've lost count of how many times we've pivoted. It feels like every time we hit a roadblock, we switch gears. It's all part of the process, right?
Definitely had my share of pivots. Each one feels like a big shift but often leads to breakthroughs. How do you keep your team motivated during these changes?