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What about the classic story of the AirBnB founders pivoting from selling cereal? It seems like the metric for whether you decide to pivot or shut down depends
by habitue 4y ago
What about the classic story of the AirBnB founders pivoting from selling cereal?
It seems like the metric for whether you decide to pivot or shut down depends on how many rounds you've done and how many employees you have.
Early on, couple of founders & handful of employees: maybe do whatever pivots you can to survive.
If you're a big boat and pivoting will require firing 80% your staff and starting an entirely different product, maybe consider just shutting down.
(If you've got solid revenue but are just unprofitable, none of this probably applies, you should try whatever you can to save the revenue stream)
- newbieuser 4y agoairbnb is a business model that has proven to be a great idea at one point. but I wonder if this is valid for every business idea? In other words, can every business model that has been followed for years be successful?
- fragmede 4y agoBut selling repackaged cereal in cutesy boxes was never Airbnb’s long term plan. Can it be called a pivot at that point?
- pfarrell 4y agoNo it wasn’t Airbnb’s main line so I don’t consider it a pivot. I always thought it was a good lesson in being scrappy. They needed some cash, had a good random idea and did it as a side project to raise some money. In the end it became a great story of chutzpah too. Similar to how the band Vulfpeck found a loophole in Spotify’s terms and got a tour funded by publishing a silent album and getting their fan base to stream it at work.
- lawl 4y agoI wouldnt consider it a pivot in that case. Some business plans feel like an onion, there's always a layer more to it.