The real entrepreneur is viewed as someone with a great vision and firm determination to charge ahead through all obstacles and make his/her dream a reality. There is no question about having a great vision. However, most successful entrepreneurs have come to the realization that the uncertainty of any new product or service requires numerous course corrections to come up with the successful formula. These course corrections are popularly known as pivots.
To create radically successful firms or businesses, an entrepreneur ought to make use of continuous innovation. They ought to be able to improve these corrections’ speed and efficiency. Successful entrepreneurs recommend designing new products having the smallest set of features possible in an attempt to please a certain customer base. They advise to quickly move those products into the market, test the reaction and then iterate.
Course correction comes in many different forms, with each having been designed to allow for testing of the viability of different hypothesis about a product, business model and business growth.
Below are 5 course-corrections every startup should memorize:
Zoom-in
In this approach, what was previously considered as a single feature in a certain product now becomes the whole product. This emphasizes the value of product focus and also leads to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This can be done and delivered quickly and efficiently.
Zoom-out
At times, a single feature may prove insufficient in supporting a customer set. In this case, what was previously considered as the whole product is now viewed as a single feature of the much larger product.
Engine of Growth
Nowadays, most startups make use of any of these primary growth engines: viral, paid and sticky growth engines. An entrepreneur should consider picking the right model, as this can have a dramatic effect on both the profitability and speed of growth.
Customer Segment
While a product may be appealing and even attract real customers, it may not attract the customers in the original vision. This implies that even though a real problem is being solved, there is still need for appropriate positioning for a much more appreciative segment, and optimization for that segment.
Channels and Pivoting
The mechanism used by a company in delivering its product to consumers or clients is referred to as the sales or distribution channel, in sales terminology. Channel pivots require unique and reasonable pricing, feature and competitive-positioning adjustments.
Pivoting makes sense when you’ve stated your business assumptions upfront and validated the financial success of the business, if those assumptions are correct. It is also more likely to bear fruit if you’ve undertaken to spend much few resources in determining whether those assumptions are valid. A good entrepreneur is one who can change the surrounding assumptions in order to accommodate any disproven assumption.
Almost all entrepreneurs face challenges in developing a product that will require deciding when to pivot or instead, persevere. Most of them who’ve decided to pivot will certainly tell you that they regret not having made the decision earlier. In fact, your startup’s runway shouldn’t be all about just money, but rather the number of pivots it can still make. Changing the course to achieve the goal is inevitable.
