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Ask HN: Successful pivot stories
I have a few websites that are pretty stagnant and in need of a new direction. Before making a decision, it would be interesting to learn about successful pivots made by other websites or startups.
- taylorwc 16y agoTwo come to mind in recent memory--AdaptiveBlue (GetGlue) and Hashable
- brk 16y agoI seem to recall this pivoting was one of the topics at the very first Startup School (in 2005, IIRC). It related to flikr, which started as some kind of social-type site for young girls (IIRC), then evolved to a gaming site, and then to "flikr". Originally, what we know as flikr was just a simple way for people playing the game to share photos online, then the photo sharing part got way more traction than the game part. The basic lesson at the time was a version of "release early, release often", react to user experiences, and if you have money in the bank, keep throwing ideas against the wall until something sticks. So, I don't think there is a whole lot to "learn" from similar sites, other than pay attention to your users and try new things. One thing to keep in mind is that a user base of any appreciable size can be very valuable, so if you do pivot, try to make it fluid enough that you can somehow carry existing users along with you. If your sites are stagnant to the tune of a couple dozen users and monthly traffic that barely registers, IMO you are not pivoting, you are starting over.