What are the most interesting examples of products that have successfully pivoted to a new market?
Sandra Djajic
14 replies
My example is Instagram. It was developed as a check-in and social platform, Instagram pivoted to focus on photo-sharing and editing, becoming one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
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Joseph Natoli@joseph_natoli
LOOFT- A/C Redefined
stewart Butterfield is the master of this. He has done this twice to great effect.
Both times he started with a game that pivoted into a tool that blew up.
First: Game Neverending -> Flickr
Second: Glitch -> Slack
I encourage you to look into his pivot stories. The transition from Glitch to Slack was also a masterclass in how to wind down a company while pivoting and make sure the staff laid off were taken care of!
Happy Hunting Sandra! :D
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LOOFT- A/C Redefined
@inesfenner Welcome! Stewart's pivots are my favorite stories, so I try to shout about them all the time! Hope the stories help.
Great question and such an important skill! We have done this successfully at Bento and have been sharing our learnings on bento.me/2022 - check it out! :)
Hunted Space
@valerie_kramer Amazing, congraulations. Will definetly check it out! What is the biggest lesson you learned along the way?
Great question Sandra, would love to hear more about what others have to say!
Hunted Space
@narenbhandary Thank you :) same here, can't wait to hear all of the amazing examples from this great community!
PayPal: PayPal started out as a company called Confinity, which developed security software for handheld devices. After realizing that their software was most popular among people who used it to send money to each other, the company pivoted to focus exclusively on online payments and became PayPal.
Hunted Space
It is always fascinating to see how companies are able to modify their offerings and adapt to shifting markets. The most interesting examples of products that have been adapted to a new market involve something that was intended for one purpose but used for another entirely. For instance, GoPro cameras were originally created as a niche product for surfers, but today they are an essential device for vloggers and adventure travelers. Similarly, the immensely popular Instagram app started out as Burbn, an app intended for location check-ins - but quickly became one of the largest digital platforms in the world because it enabled users to share photos with friends and family. It just goes to show that when companies dare to completely switch up their strategies, they can potentially create something even more innovative and impactful than before!
Hunted Space
@alekswatch I completely agree, companies have to be ready to take on new challenges and adapt to new markets as their product evolves! You could call it: "just go with a flow" :D
Well, Netflix is also a interesting example of this.
From delivering CD/DVD's to doorstep to delivering movies webseries to your devices. The production company and to provide a large portion of the content available for users to binge watching.
They have done it all successfully to become a top streaming platform.
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For a completely different genre than tech, Minoxidil was being used/researched to lower blood pressure originally but was found to increase hair growth.
Now I would say that's primarily what it is used for today (to my knowledge).
Popular minoxidil company = Rogaine!
Great question @inesfenner