When Should a Founder Consider Pivoting?

Jeff Morris Jr says a founder should consider pivoting the company as soon as the thought is in the back of their mind. In the last five years, calls about whether to pivot have picked up, and 100% of the time the founder says they did not know they were allowed to have the conversation with investors. Changing direction had looked like a sign of weakness, or like a risk that investors would lose faith and the next round would not happen.

The call usually starts because the same investor update has arrived for two quarters in a row. None of the metrics are moving, the work is small iterations, and nothing on the table will profoundly change the business. More investors should open the conversation. It builds trust, and most of the time the team is excited to have it. In probably every single case, almost all of the companies ended up pivoting. The team already knew a pivot was needed and had not come to terms with it internally or with investors.