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Tag: #Pivot

Is It Time to Pivot?

Is It Time to Pivot?

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Image by Marcin from Pixabay

Almost all startups pivot at some point. This we know. Since many people consider a new year a new/clean slate as well and a good time to reflect on where you’ve been/where you’re going, we decided it’s a good time to talk about the pivot.

We recently hosted an investor at one of our Online Insights who mentioned a unicorn exit from one of their portfolio companies. We  knew the founder. Very sharp guy who had majorly pivoted not long after said investor’s fund had invested in them. One of the partners had spoken at our Insights not long after the pivot and was livid: this was not what he had invested in.

Well, how often do investors mention that the ‘team’ is one of their top considerations when it comes to deciding to whom to write the check? Just a few short years following the pivot, the company had a serious unicorn exit. The founder also happened to be something of a subject matter expert, rethought the approach, did a major change of direction – and did we mention the company had a serious unicorn exit? Apologies, but we have learned from experience that one of the major always unnamed problems when it comes to why startups fail is that founders don’t listen. Read More...

Entrepreneurship and Natural Instinct

Entrepreneurship and Natural Instinct

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Our cat died late last week. Her name was Paris. She was 17 – a long life, in cat years. Although technically, she wasn’t our cat. Technically, she belonged to the super in the building next door when we’d had our ground floor Manhattan office, but as a tiny kitten living with three grown cats and a dog, all of whom would not let her get near the food, she had other ideas about staying put. And acted on them. Without hesitation. A true entrepreneur/go-getter so take heed, entrepreneurs and budding entrepreneurs: when you see a gaping need and find a solution/opportunity, go for it.

Our ground floor office had a huge walled in backyard. Little did we know that ground floor spaces in NYC tend to be overrun with mice and rats. Especially ones with large outdoor spaces. No matter how many accesses we plugged up and traps we set, they seemed to proliferate. We needed a cat – a mouser – but we didn’t live at the office, so getting a cat was a non-starter. Exterminators didn’t help much in our situation, either. Read More...