@rrhoover that's a good question. I wish I could say it was easy and that we were confidently and comfortably adapting.
The reality is quite a bit more stark and stressful.
Usually our pivots have been preceded by periods of ongoing doubt and extreme distress. Nadia and I would keep pushing forward with a product that was working and we wouldn't be getting anywhere. It was incredibly depressing, though as we've grown as entrepreneurs, we've become better at looking at it as an inevitable part of the longer journey.
After enough time of banging our head against the wall, the final decision to pivot would come after Nadia and I would force ourselves take a big step back and have a reflective conversation about the state of things. We'd lay it all out on the table, share our feelings, our fears and our hopes.
Ultimately it would come in two steps:
1) Admitting that the current product and direction was wrong because we weren't proud of it and it just wasn't working.
2) Asking ourselves, "With everything we know today, and no other influences, what's the simplest product we can create to solve this problem?"
Even with that, we probably took several more steps in the wrong direction before finally arriving at the product we have today, which is performing better than ever. More importantly, it's a product we're truly proud of.
And looking back, I think we had to take those wrong steps in order to arrive at this point. They really were an important part of the longer journey.
Me too, Nadia. Feel free to chime in as well. :)
@davidspinks / @nayafia - How are you measuring success? Which metrics do you track and what are you optimizing for?
@rrhoover hmmm... probably how easy it is to be influenced by things that aren't necessarily in your best interest.
You start a company with this energy and passion that makes you feel like you can change the world. Your direction is so pure. It's a bit scary how quickly our direction started being controlled by things like fundraising expectations and the advice of other entrepreneurs.
That's what I was referring to in my previous answer about "no other influences".
It's proven to be extremely difficult to stick to what we really believe in, but it's absolutely essential.
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