Does Your Business Need a Pivot? Here’s How You Can Know
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It wasn’t for nothing that Ross in the series Friends, when they tried to take a sofa up the building kept saying Pivot, Pivot, Pivot, to express a change in direction. While pivot found a poster boy in Ross, the start-up world too is well-experienced with the pivot.
As you are growing your business, there comes a time when it requires a fresh perspective and a change. This is called the pivot. This change leads to further innovation and acceleration of the plans of your business.
But how do you know that the time has come when you need to pivot to grow your business? Entrepreneur India spoke to start-up founders to find out the answers.
Do You Need to Pivot?
When you are running a business, you are constantly facing challenges and finding your growth story through them. A pivot becomes that indispensable element which acts as a central focus around which every endeavour revolves. Sahil Chopra, CEO and Founder, iCubesWire believes that a business is a constantly evolving process& to keep the momentum thriving, a pivot is necessary which boosts the organization towards betterment & prosperity. Chopra said that in the era of digital disruption where everything is augmenting with the blink of an eye, it becomes imperative for an organization to have the urge towards the following three objectives:
1. Towards Innovation, thereby keeping abreast with the farsighted possibilities,
2. To linger on with an unaltered quest & passion, and
3. To go towards a unified goal
There are various situations where you might find the need to pivot. If your business is doing well, it could have also reached a level of stagnation when it comes to growth. Sidhant Lamba, Founder, Fabrento said that one instance is when a business has proven the scalability factor and has achieved the defined target. “When it has reached the point where the business has realized that it is being recognized in the market and have got traction in the market, it’s time to scale up,” said Lamba.
It is this quest to take your business to a different level that drives you to pivot. As an entrepreneur, you have to constantly question what you can do more and what are the various ways in which you can grow your business. Rohit Maingi, Founder, Bottles and Barrels added that if the overall market is undergoing a change and you are not, it is time to turn around the game. When the customer behaviour is changing or your product gets obsolete, is also when you have to consider pivoting. “It’s necessary to adapt pivot and take a different style or approach towards business. One must create something new which can become central marketable point for your company to generate recall value for your customers or helps you to set new Goal for your company and employees,” said Maingi.
How To Make the Pivot Worth it
When you are pivoting, it can’t be an unplanned one. You have to go through the signs and understand why you are pivoting first. As an entrepreneur, it is your duty to make sense of the situation and make a sensible pivot. Lamba believes that you need to make sure that the step that you have taken must be logical. “This logic will only come with the proper research on the potential market, which will only come to you with the previous work you have been doing,” he said.
A pivot which stands true in all the situations and keeps the motive of the organization alive is touted as the sensible one. Chopra believes there should be a focus on the urge to strive towards the best, to deliver the untapped possibilities in the constantly evolving world of today. “Setting a goal & a constant mode of motivation is the only way forward that can help the organization stand out of the crowd and emerge victorious in the long run. There isn’t a standard pattern which defines a sensible pattern, it is an ideology which is best suited for a particular organization,” he said.
If you want to make a pivot worth it, it truly requires a lot of research and understanding. A market assessment will further help you understand the customer needs and know where you are lacking. Breaking the routine and adapting a new strategy is one way to go about it believes Maingi. “Revisiting your products and services and do a SWOC analysis (Strength, Weakness, opportunity and challenges) and upgrade to next level,” he said.
