

Ask HN:  Successful pivot stories - neovive

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.
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brk
I 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.

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taylorwc
Two come to mind in recent memory--AdaptiveBlue (GetGlue) and Hashable

