Last year @Clustr looked healthy with 10,000+ active users, 10-minute sessions and $20,000 in MRR. Yet users churned quickly traction didn t equal stickiness. After hundreds of growth experiments we finally pulled the plug, trimmed the team from 12 to 2, and plunged into pivot hell.

Dozens of dead ends later, I flew to San Francisco hunting for answers. On a quick walk in Dogpatch, Tom Blomfield (Monzo Bank/GoCardless) hit me with the line that finally cut through the fog: