• About Us
  • Write for Us
  • Paid Content Solutions
  • Contact Us
ExpertHub
  • HOME
  • LAUNCH
  • BUSINESS
  • LEADERSHIP
  • MONEY
  • SUCCESS
  • NEWS
    • All
    • Company Posts
    • ExpertHub Today
    Transunion Global Capability Centres Boom

    Global Capability Centres Boom As They Move Up The Value Chain

    Global Tech companies

    Global Tech Companies Are Turning To South Africa For Media And Marketing Expertise

    Innovation Summit

    Innovation Summit 2021 Showcases SA’s Top Tech Entrepreneurs

    Three customer experience strategies you’re missing-23Sep21

    Three Customer Experience Strategies You’re Missing

    Embracing digital 1st world, SMBs confid. to thrive-23Sep21

    Embracing A Digital-First World, SMBs Can Have The Confidence To Thrive

    SAB Foundation Calling All Entrepreneurs Tholoana Entps. Prog.

    Applications for SAB Foundation Are Now Open

    Trending Tags

    • About Us
      • Write for Us
      • Paid Content Services
      • Contact Us
    No Result
    View All Result
    • HOME
    • LAUNCH
    • BUSINESS
    • LEADERSHIP
    • MONEY
    • SUCCESS
    • NEWS
      • All
      • Company Posts
      • ExpertHub Today
      Transunion Global Capability Centres Boom

      Global Capability Centres Boom As They Move Up The Value Chain

      Global Tech companies

      Global Tech Companies Are Turning To South Africa For Media And Marketing Expertise

      Innovation Summit

      Innovation Summit 2021 Showcases SA’s Top Tech Entrepreneurs

      Three customer experience strategies you’re missing-23Sep21

      Three Customer Experience Strategies You’re Missing

      Embracing digital 1st world, SMBs confid. to thrive-23Sep21

      Embracing A Digital-First World, SMBs Can Have The Confidence To Thrive

      SAB Foundation Calling All Entrepreneurs Tholoana Entps. Prog.

      Applications for SAB Foundation Are Now Open

      Trending Tags

      • About Us
        • Write for Us
        • Paid Content Services
        • Contact Us
      No Result
      View All Result
      ExpertHub
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home BUSINESS Growing a Business Innovation

      The Art Of Pivoting: How To Know If The Time Is Right

      Keep the vision, change the strategy to serve the market according to what they really need.

      Jordan Stephanou by Jordan Stephanou
      Feb 18, 2019
      in Innovation
      47
      yotube-pivot
      Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

      RelatedTopics

      Innovate For Change – Think Like A Social Entrepreneur

      Why Smart Business Growth Means Smart IT Budgeting

      A Short Cut For Corporates To Digital Innovation: Start-ups

      The word “pivoting” has become as over-used as the phrase “disruptive innovation”, but much like innovation, businesses have been pivoting for many decades (if not centuries) before the word became an everyday verb. You only need to look at Twitter, which started as a podcasting business, or Nintendo, which started by selling vacuums, or even Youtube, which was supposed to be a dating site for some inspiration.

      These businesses may have all changed their product, service, or even target market in a major way, but they survived and have been thriving ever since. They kept their vision of achieving successful sustainable businesses, despite a change in strategy. And that, my friends, is pivoting: Keep the vision, change the strategy to serve the market according to what they really need.

      Ask the right questions to your market: Are you solving a problem?

      If you haven’t done user testing, user interviews, focus groups, or called anywhere between 10 and 50 of your highest value possible clients, you might want to take a step back and get that done to define if you actually have a problem to solve.

      Many founders start by speaking to a handful of family members, and a handful of friends about their business idea, and are met with unbridled excitement and encouragement that you would expect of people in your life who unconditionally love you.

      The reality is, these people have to live with you everyday – they don’t want to risk offending you and shattering your dreams. They basically have to tell you that your idea is great. Get tangible proof from real-world customers or clients that they see the problem you see, and that the problem is as big as you think it is.

      Set your vision

      eric-ries-of-lean-startup

      What are you really trying to achieve in your business? In other words, what is your “why”? If you set this in a very clear one liner, you will quickly realise that there are many ways to achieve that vision, if you are able to take emotion out of the equation.

      This will take you away from the detail to the big picture. For example, a vision along the lines of “To save people time” could be achieved in hundreds of different ways, and your current offering could be tweaked to increase your market size and save people much more time than your current offering, even if it wasn’t that idea you initially got so excited to tell your dog and three cats about.

      To paraphrase Eric Ries of Lean Startup, pivoting is simply a change in strategy, not a change in vision.

      How do I know when to pivot?

      If you’re going through difficult times in the business, I would recommend going back to the most important people in your business – your clients / customers. Get their thoughts and opinions on what’s working; what’s not working; is your offering solving their problem adequately; what would they like more of, etc.

      Finding out how to improve your offering from your existing client base will almost certainly not only help you retain your existing client base, but also grow a new client base by helping you solve the problem more effectively. This process can also reveal if your clients see something in your product that you didn’t – ie.to help you pivot. You will find out what your target market really wants and what your product could be if you weren’t so attached.

      This requires extreme open-mindedness, and willingness to implement your learnings, even if what your market wants isn’t as “sexy” as your initial offering. On the flip side, if you can keep improving your current offering without changing direction, and if you still have cashflow and clients in the pipeline, it may not be necessary to pivot yet.

      Pivoting is often necessary when the current offering reaches a glass ceiling, it’s impossible to close sales, and when cashflow becomes a problem. However, if you realise that your offering is so far removed from what your customers want that you would have to change your strategy and your vision – that, my friends, could be the time to quit and apply the learnings to the next venture. The key lesson from that eventuality is to do more extensive product-market fit research in the beginning next time, and make sure your product is meeting an actual market need.

      What if things were different?

      I have an experiment for you to apply within your own business. Remember, open-mindedness is essential to break through the glass ceiling:

      • What if you kept the exact same product / service, but changed your target market? What would the new target market be?
      • What if you changed your product / service, but kept the same target market? What would your new offering be?
      • What if you kept the exact same product / service and the exact same target market, but pursued that market in other cities or countries? If your market were the whole of Africa / North America / Europe etc, would that make a difference? Is it feasible? What would have to happen for it to be feasible?
      • What if you changed your business to a social business? Would partnerships with NGOs open new opportunities in the market?
      • What about the impact you could have and the exposure this could bring to your business?

      I highly recommend creating a “what if” business model canvas or pitch deck based on this alternate reality for each of the questions above. This could be a fun activity to do with the team on a weekend away over multiple cups of warm coffee. Good luck, and remember, there is no shame in adapting your business to provide people with what they really need.

      Jordan Stephanou

      Jordan Stephanou

      Jordan is currently the founder and CEO of hospitality tech startup, at tastePal, which has the goal of saving people time and increasing productivity, by getting rid of office canteen queues. Jordan previously worked fulltime at Investec in the Private Banking division, and was chosen to attend the One Young World 2016 conference in Ottawa, in which young leaders from 196 countries aggregated together to discuss solutions to international social justice issues. Blog: pineapplesareinmyhead.blogspot.com

      Quick Links

      • Business Plan Advice
      • Business Plan Format Guide
      • Business Plan Format
      • Sample Business Plans

      NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

      Sign-up for Weekly ExpertHub Updates

      * indicates required




      EXPERT INSIGHTS

      Startup Content Marketing: 3 Things To Do Right Now

      Startup Content Marketing: 3 Things To Do Right Now

      by Frank Hamilton

      Content marketing has become so popular that brands both big and small eagerly use it in almost every marketing campaign....

      Work Life Balance - Morning Mindset Practices

      Morning Mindset Practices Are Key To Maintaining Balance

      by Sheila Vaske

      Work / Life balance is a huge topic these days, and one that really needs some attention. I hear it...

      Must-Have Mindset for Business and Leadership Success

      Must-Have Mindset For Business and Leadership Success

      by Laura Di Franco

      Business and leadership success start with a discipline of mindset moves, including having fun with your fear.

      Improve Customer experience

      7 Methods Merchants Can Use To Transform the Customer Experience

      by Frank Hamilton

      How You Can Transform Your Customer Experience And Why It Is Important

      • HOME
      • LAUNCH
      • BUSINESS
      • LEADERSHIP
      • MONEY
      • SUCCESS
      • NEWS
      • About Us
        • Write for Us
        • Paid Content Services
        • Contact Us
      • About Us
      • Write for Us
      • Paid Content Services
      • Contact Us
      • Terms & Conditions
      • Data Privacy Policy
      • Privacy Policy
      • Sitemap

      Copyright © 2022 ExpertHub.info
      Revenue Growth Experts

      No Result
      View All Result
      • HOME
      • LAUNCH
      • BUSINESS
      • LEADERSHIP
      • MONEY
      • SUCCESS
      • NEWS
      • About Us
        • Write for Us
        • Paid Content Services
        • Contact Us

      Copyright © 2022 ExpertHub.info
      Revenue Growth Experts

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Fill the forms bellow to register

      All fields are required. Log In

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In