
Ask HN: How do I know when I should pivot my startup? - mcbreezy
I&#x27;ve been working on something for a while; I launched it about a month ago.  I had publicized it ~two years ago when I began working on it.<p>People think the idea is cool but haven&#x27;t begun interacting with my product really at all.  There is quite a high bar to interact with it.<p>I want to pivot the idea to a <i>way</i> larger market, but want to retain the original vision for my original product. The pivot will help me develop the original vision if it works (market&#x2F;product may be too early).<p>How do I know when I should pivot?  Basically when should I give up on a product?
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orky56
A larger market doesn't solve the inherent problem: people aren't interacting
with your product. So first off, why aren't people interacting with your
product? If you strip away all the supplementary features, you're left with
the minimum viable product.

Are the MVP features getting interest & engagement? If so, it sounds like you
need to double down on that and rethink those supplementary features. If not,
you need to rethink your core features and figure out if it's due to execution
or a false premise. If the MVP is solid on its own, you should have people
wanting to use it and possibly even pay for it. If that's not the case even
remotely, you might consider a pivot and maybe even a hard pivot. If you
publicized it 2 years ago and launched 1 month ago, it sounds like your timing
is off and you need to get that in order before you try to pivot.

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jppope
Since the product is launched you should really provide the actual product
that way we can give you specifics instead of vague wantrepreneur sound bytes.

Regarding pivots, there is a large body of reading that might help you create
your own rubric for how or when to pivot. I would recommend starting with some
of the literature out there.

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tucaz
As far as I’m concerned, “pivoting” is just a different way to say “making
changes when what’s current in place is not working”.

There is your answer.

