Ask HN: How do I know when I should pivot my startup?

5 points by mcbreezy 6 years ago | 3 comments

I've been working on something for a while; I launched it about a month ago. I had publicized it ~two years ago when I began working on it.

People think the idea is cool but haven't begun interacting with my product really at all. There is quite a high bar to interact with it.

I want to pivot the idea to a way larger market, but want to retain the original vision for my original product. The pivot will help me develop the original vision if it works (market/product may be too early).

How do I know when I should pivot? Basically when should I give up on a product?

orky56 6 years ago |

A larger market doesn't solve the inherent problem: people aren't interacting with your product. So first off, why aren't people interacting with your product? If you strip away all the supplementary features, you're left with the minimum viable product.

Are the MVP features getting interest & engagement? If so, it sounds like you need to double down on that and rethink those supplementary features. If not, you need to rethink your core features and figure out if it's due to execution or a false premise. If the MVP is solid on its own, you should have people wanting to use it and possibly even pay for it. If that's not the case even remotely, you might consider a pivot and maybe even a hard pivot. If you publicized it 2 years ago and launched 1 month ago, it sounds like your timing is off and you need to get that in order before you try to pivot.

jppope 6 years ago |

Since the product is launched you should really provide the actual product that way we can give you specifics instead of vague wantrepreneur sound bytes.

Regarding pivots, there is a large body of reading that might help you create your own rubric for how or when to pivot. I would recommend starting with some of the literature out there.

tucaz 6 years ago |

As far as I’m concerned, “pivoting” is just a different way to say “making changes when what’s current in place is not working”.

There is your answer.