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Pivot or Persevere? The Key to Startup Success
Every entrepreneur eventually faces an overriding challenge in developing a successful product: deciding when to pivot and when to persevere. A pivot is structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, business model and engine of growth. Entrepreneurs periodically must ask themselves a seemingly simple question: Are we making sufficient progress to believe that our original strategic hypothesis is correct, or do we need to make a major change?
There is no bigger destroyer of creative potential than the misguided decision to persevere. Company that cannot bring itself to pivot in a new direction on the basis of feedback from the marketplace can get stuck in the land of the living dead, neither growing enough no dying, consuming resources and commitment from employees and other stakeholders but not moving ahead.
Startup productivity is not about cranking out more widgets or features. It is about aligning our efforts with a business and product that are working to create value and drive growth. In other words, successful pivots put us on a path toward growing a sustainable business.
Related: Lean LaunchPad -- A Crash Course in Startup Success
Failure is a prerequisite to learning. The problem with the notion of shipping a product and then seeing what happens is that you are guaranteed to succeed -- at seeing what happens. But then what? As soon as you have a handful of customers, you're likely to have five opinions about what to do next. Which should you listen to? A pivot requires that we keep one foot rooted in what we've learned so far, while making a fundamental change in strategy in order to seek even greater validated learning.
Ask most entrepreneurs who have decided to pivot and they will tell you that they wish they had made the decision sooner. There are three reasons why this happens.
- Vanity metrics can allow entrepreneurs to form false conclusions and live in their own private reality.
- When an entrepreneur has an unclear hypothesis, it's almost impossible to experience complete failure, and without failure there is usually no impetus to embark on the radical change a pivot requires.
- Many entrepreneurs are afraid. Acknowledging failure can lead to dangerously low morale. Most entrepreneurs' biggest fear is not that their vision will prove to be wrong. More terrifying is the thought that the vision might be deemed wrong without having been given a real chance to prove itself.
Entrepreneurs need to face their fears and be willing to fail, often in a public way. In fact, entrepreneurs who have a high profile, either because of personal fame or because they are operating as part of a famous brand, face an extreme version of this problem.
Related: Business Planning for the 'Lean Startup'
The decision to pivot requires a clear-eyed and objective mindset. It typically is emotionally charged for any startup and has to be addressed in a structured way. One way to mitigate this challenge is to schedule the meeting in advance. I recommend that every startup have a regular “pivot or persevere” meeting. In my experience, less than a few weeks between meetings is too often and more than a few months is too infrequent. Each startup has to find its own pace.
Excerpted from The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (Crown Business, 2011) by Eric Ries.
This article originally posted on Entrepreneur.com
Copyright © 2012 Entrepreneur.com, Inc.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
SVForum and Silicon Valley Academy of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE) Unite Forces to Form a Powerhouse of Events, Education and Networking
By Business Wire January 19, 2012 05:19 PM EST 887 
SVForum, www.svforum.org, Silicon Valley’s leading not-for-profit organization fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership within the Silicon Valley ecosystem of individuals and businesses participating in emerging technologies, announced today that the Silicon Valley Academy of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE) and its members will be joining SVForum. The combined group is now the largest not-for-profit organization for technologists and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Chris Gill, CEO of SVForum, and former CEO of SVASE, stated: “Bringing the two organizations together under the SVForum banner will create unparalleled resources for our members and our sponsors.”
This union of two of the Valley’s most vibrant and respected organizations means that SVForum will now be able to serve an even stronger role in driving innovation and community. SVForum (formerly SDForum) serves the entire footprint of the technology, venture capital and startup industries, including clean tech, software, Internet, life sciences and mobile.
According to Chris Gill: “We have now completed the integration of SVASE members into SVForum, which now boasts a membership of 2,400 professionals and over 200 annual events. This will result in SVForum being a leading source of inspiration, insights and connections to Silicon Valley’s technology and entrepreneurial communities.”
SVForum programs will continue to include the highly-regarded Special Interest Groups (SIGs), which explore significant emerging tech trends while providing great opportunities for peer networking; quarterly Investors’ Forums; and the prominent Annual Visionary Awards where such leaders as Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), T.J. Rodgers (Cypress Semiconductor), Bill Gates (Microsoft), and John Chambers (Cisco) have been honored. SVASE adds signature weekly VC Breakfasts for startup founders, the intensive Startup Academy 12-week course and the high-profile global product launch competition, Launch: Silicon Valley. No other organization provides the wealth of services, events and continuing education for entrepreneurs.
Deborah Magid, SVForum Incoming Chairperson and IBM executive, said, “SVForum has always been an important part of the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem. The combination of SVForum and SVASE positions SVForum to enter 2012 to deliver an even greater service to our community across industries. With the significant support of leading Silicon Valley companies, including Accenture, Citrix, Genentech, HP, IBM, Microsoft, DLA Piper, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Nokia and SAP, SVForum will play an increasingly important role.”
SVASE Board of Director, Laura Pickering stated: “This is the perfect time for SVASE to join forces with SVForum. Our shared mission to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership, together with our entrepreneur and volunteer-led programs, are vital to driving innovation in Silicon Valley.”
About SVForum:
Established in 1983, SVForum is a leading Silicon Valley not-for-profit organization fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership within the Silicon Valley ecosystem of individuals and businesses participating in emerging technologies. SVForum explores the latest insights on emerging technology trends facilitating the exchange of unbiased knowledge, insights, and best practices through events, specialized services, and online resources. SVForum holds more than 200 events each year and reaches a community in excess of over 15,000 technology professionals and entrepreneurs.
SVForum sponsors and providers include global leaders Accenture, Citrix, Deloitte, DLA Piper, Genentech, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, SAP, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, as well as leading venture capital, law and accounting firms, and global trade organizations.
For further information, visit the SVForum website at www.svforum.org.
Published January 19, 2012 – Reads 887
Copyright © 2012 Ulitzer, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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