What is a Pivot? A Real Pivot Story.

Last week was very exciting for me. The first days of Growth Generation, the first days I worked for myself, I thought there would be a void, but it was so busy! Many people called, asked, and we met. One of these meetings was very valuable to me, I met with Mr. Kaan, with whom we worked closely for 7 years. We talked about both the past and what we want to do in the future.

The story that seems to have stuck in both of our minds from the past is the pivot we made in my first months at the company we worked together. It was the year 2012, I had just left the corporate world and really fell into a completely different universe. Moreover, the product was a mobile application development SDK made for "developers". And the customer was very distant from me. The goal was to create accounts for 100 paying subscribers. Up until then, there had been 2000 free version testers, none of whom paid. We went to hackathons, distributed gifts, but it didn't seem like they were going to pay for the product at all. The competition was also incredibly intense, there were similar products as well as Facebook, Apple, Google continuing to invest money in this business. I said, "This is not going to work. We need to look at places that make money from their mobile app, seeing it as a source of income."

Together with Mr. Kaan, we identified six sectors that make money from apps: E-commerce, media, banking, telecommunications, gaming, and retail. Then, we thought about what would make the app generate more revenue in these sectors and whose KPI it would be. If we wanted to embed the SDK into the app, we figured out whom we needed to convince, listed all the personas, and guessed each of their concerns. Next, we identified the most downloaded apps in each sector, made a list of our personas, and called these people one by one.

We realized that the problem with game apps wouldn't be solved as we thought, after talking to many potential customers. We transformed the product from a "mobile application development SDK" to a "Mobile App Engagement Platform". Our value proposition had sparked interest. Thus, we tailored our website and presentations according to these personas. We placed our messages in the presentations. We started showing "use cases" that addressed the personas' "pain points" (problems) across all channels. After these efforts, we managed to acquire our first customers.

Of course, we went through many other adventures, iterations, and trials of ideas. However, since all were built on defining the ICP, studying personas, the right value proposition, and the right messages, I think this part was the most valuable.

Now let's touch on some concepts, it wouldn't hurt to redefine them even though most of us know.

What is a pivot?

So, what is a pivot? A pivot is the process of a technology startup fundamentally changing its business model, product, or strategy. This is done to achieve a better position in the current market, better meet customer needs, or transition to a more sustainable revenue model. Seen as an indicator of flexibility and adaptation, pivoting is a way for startups to adjust to rapidly changing technology and market conditions.

Startup'lar genellikle belirsizliklerle dolu bir yolculukta ilerlerler. Başlangıçta belirlenen yol haritası, gerçek dünya koşullarında her zaman beklenen sonuçları vermeyebilir. Müşteri geri bildirimleri, pazar araştırmaları veya rekabet koşullarındaki değişiklikler, mevcut stratejinin yeniden değerlendirilmesini gerektirebilir. İşte bu noktada pivot yapmak, startup'ın hayatta kalması ve büyümesi için kritik bir adım haline gelebilir.

Kendi pivot yolculuğumuzu anlatırken piyasayı araştırmak, değer önerisini test etmek, müşteriyi dinlemek ne kadar önemli altını çizmeye çalıştım. Bir diğer kritik nokta ise ekibin birlikte ilerlemesi. O zaman en büyük şansımız, tüm ekip çok yakın çalışmamızdı.. Eğer pazarlamanız ayrı stratejiler kurguluyor, satış ekibi kendince oturttuğu hikayesini anlatmaktan vazgeçemiyor, ürün geliştirme ekipleri o ana kadar geliştirdikleri ürünle platonik bir aşk yaşıyor ve aşktan gözleri kör ise, işiniz zor. Önce herkesin pivot fikrine aşık olması ve burada yapılacak testlere de kendi fikrini katması gerekiyor.

Pivot macerası esnek olmanızı, gözünüzü ve kulağınızı dört açmanızı gerektiriyor ama çok da keyifli. Bu yolculukta doğru adımları atmanıza yardımcı olmamız için bizimle irtibata geçmeyi unutmayın!