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Achieving Success by Pivoting Your Innovation
To me, pivoting is making a significant change in direction. Many people are not aware that some of the products they use today are the result of a pivot. Today we’ll look at seven companies that made meaningful significant changes resulting in ultimate success.
Achieving Success by Pivoting Your InnovationPayPal started as a digital “I owe you” platform. Today, it is a major payment transaction platform that gave birth to the “PayPal mafia”, which included people such as Elon Musk. The successful pivot was Airbnb, which originally offered housing for conferences and air mattresses. The third company is Twitter, which started as a podcast platform called Odeo. I was on show five or six in the early days of the platform. When iTunes came out with their podcast app, they put similar platforms such as Odeo out of business. As a result, Jack Dorsey and his team brainstormed, found inspiration, and pivoted, coming up with Twitter. Next up is Western Union, which was a telegram company founded in the 1800s. In recent years, the company pivoted and became a money transfer company. Today, the company handles just shy of $9 billion a year. I use Western Union for non-profit and for-profit work in Rwanda. The next company that has done major pivots is Slack, which I am an avid user of. Slack started as a video game venture called Glitch. When they couldn’t get any interest in their idea, they switched to a messaging platform and found success.
Nintendo and PivotingThe next company is Nintendo, which has been around since the 1880s and has been in many different businesses. They started off making playing cards, and then pivoted to taxi services. Next, Nintendo made instant rice cookers and then pivoted to hourly hotel rooms. Eventually, they pivoted into the early video game space and became the company we know today. The last company is Playdoh, which I grew up using as a kid. Playdoh was originally developed to clean up coal dust off walls. When heat sources were switched from coal to oil, gas, then natural heat, the market for Playdoh dried up. The company realized teachers were getting creative with Playdoh in the classroom and pivoted their business to a different target market.
Important StepsTo pivot successfully, you should treat it like any other area of innovation. First, find your area of focus and ideate. Next, rank your ideas and execute them. At the end of the day, pivoting is better than going bankrupt. I did thirteen startups before my first IPO at Telligent. Pivoting is a skill that innovators need to have and an action they need to be willing to take. Additionally, you need to be dedicated and on the same page as your team to pivot successfully. Next, you need to be willing to change. Don’t fall in love with your innovation and refuse to let go. Thirdly, you have to move very quickly to pivot successfully. Lastly, choose what you will be doing and commit to it.
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By Phil McKinneyTo me, pivoting is making a significant change in direction. Many people are not aware that some of the products they use today are the result of a pivot. Today we’ll look at seven companies that made meaningful significant changes resulting in ultimate success.
Achieving Success by Pivoting Your InnovationPayPal started as a digital “I owe you” platform. Today, it is a major payment transaction platform that gave birth to the “PayPal mafia”, which included people such as Elon Musk. The successful pivot was Airbnb, which originally offered housing for conferences and air mattresses. The third company is Twitter, which started as a podcast platform called Odeo. I was on show five or six in the early days of the platform. When iTunes came out with their podcast app, they put similar platforms such as Odeo out of business. As a result, Jack Dorsey and his team brainstormed, found inspiration, and pivoted, coming up with Twitter. Next up is Western Union, which was a telegram company founded in the 1800s. In recent years, the company pivoted and became a money transfer company. Today, the company handles just shy of $9 billion a year. I use Western Union for non-profit and for-profit work in Rwanda. The next company that has done major pivots is Slack, which I am an avid user of. Slack started as a video game venture called Glitch. When they couldn’t get any interest in their idea, they switched to a messaging platform and found success.
Nintendo and PivotingThe next company is Nintendo, which has been around since the 1880s and has been in many different businesses. They started off making playing cards, and then pivoted to taxi services. Next, Nintendo made instant rice cookers and then pivoted to hourly hotel rooms. Eventually, they pivoted into the early video game space and became the company we know today. The last company is Playdoh, which I grew up using as a kid. Playdoh was originally developed to clean up coal dust off walls. When heat sources were switched from coal to oil, gas, then natural heat, the market for Playdoh dried up. The company realized teachers were getting creative with Playdoh in the classroom and pivoted their business to a different target market.
Important StepsTo pivot successfully, you should treat it like any other area of innovation. First, find your area of focus and ideate. Next, rank your ideas and execute them. At the end of the day, pivoting is better than going bankrupt. I did thirteen startups before my first IPO at Telligent. Pivoting is a skill that innovators need to have and an action they need to be willing to take. Additionally, you need to be dedicated and on the same page as your team to pivot successfully. Next, you need to be willing to change. Don’t fall in love with your innovation and refuse to let go. Thirdly, you have to move very quickly to pivot successfully. Lastly, choose what you will be doing and commit to it.