An important success factor when running a Lean Startup is your ability to pivot when you discover key information about your business. As a general rule you can expect that your original product idea is not what potential customers want. Hopefully you will be able to discover what they really want, and then do a successful pivot.

As you probably know, a pivot is when your startup has to abandon its whole or at least parts of its product, but still being true to the original vision. Take Netflix as an example. They went from movie rentals to streaming when they discovered that that was what customers wanted (even though it cannibalized their original business). Their vision was still to make movies and TV series available to the masses.

To be precise it is possible to pivot and change the vision as well (keeping another foot in the past instead), but as Eric Ries himself writes, "If and only if we can't find any market for our current vision is it appropriate to change it."

Perhaps the most difficult thing with a pivot is to get all current employees (or co-founders) on board with the new product idea. It might not seem as "hip" or exciting as the original one, and employees might have to take on tasks that they did not expect upon being hired.

If it was the product itself that got your team exited to join your startup in the first place, chances are you will experience resistance to the pivot. However, if you rather sold your vision of why your startups should even exist, employees will likely be excited that you have found an even better way of accomplishing just that. And by the way, earning shitloads of money is not a vision.

What implications do this have for entrepreneurs?

  1. You need to understand and define your vision from the very beginning (see the Simon Sinek video referenced below)
  2. You should be selling your vision when trying to attract co-founders, other talent or capital (again, see the Simon Sinek video referenced below)
When developing the idea behind moov.co, I was always careful that I communicated the vision first and foremost, and the product and how that could help us accomplish the vision thereafter. As we developed the product idea further, getting feedback from more and more potential users and customers, nobody involved with the project had problems with the product changing its form and features multiple times. As long as they where convinced that it would help us reach the vision, that is.
So what's your vision?

Recommended readings:

My argument builds upon Simon Sinek's now legendary TED Talk, Start With Why, where he share his deep insights into what makes up an inspiring leader. I would recommend checking it out, and if you like what you hear you should consider buying his book on the topic.

A somewhat unique guest post over at Startup Lessons Learned takes a deeper look at the role of visions in lean startups. Warning: IT'S ALL IN CAPS!

Daniel Melo over at Killer Startups also argues that selling your vision can help you attract key talent to your startup. It's worth the read.