Thinking differently -

How to pivot your business

Dr. Jo North
Pivoting is…

“making a change in strategy, without a

change in vision”.

Eric Ries, The Lean Start-up

Pivoting involves…

§ Changing your offer; or

§ Changing your target customer; or
§ Changing both
4 ways you can pivot
Pivot variations

§ Business model
§ Portfolio addition
When to consider
pivoting…
§ When what you offer isn’t
performing as well as
intended
§ When a new, potentially
lucrative opportunity
emerges, or you have a
great idea
When to consider
pivoting…
Checklist of factors to consider
ü The current business climate, especially in your industry and geography.
ü Current trends and projected changes.
ü The status of your brand, including its place in the market.
ü The working capital levels that you have available.
ü The stability of existing business elements.
ü The timescales and financial investments required.
ü The competition you’ll face.
ü The legal requirements that must be accepted.
ü The impact any proposed idea could have on existing elements of your business.
ü The potential business strategies that could follow.
 Using data AND intuition

What What Make the

Step questions Step would Step Get the
data
Step Turn data
into
Step best
1 do you
have?
2 success
look like?
3 together 4 insight 5 decision
you can

For more detail on decision-making, have a look at this resource:

https://bigbangpartnership.co.uk/053-your-guide-to-making-the-right-decisions-for-you-and-your-business/
Are you solving a
genuine problem
for your target
customers?
Your MVP
(Minimum Viable Product)
Levels of customer awareness

• Most Aware: Customer knows your product and only needs to know “the deal.”
• Product-Aware: Customer knows what you sell but isn’t sure it’s right for them.
• Solution-Aware: Customer knows the result (s)he wants, but not that your product
provides it.
• Problem-Aware: Customer senses (s)he has a problem but doesn’t know that
there’s a solution.
• Completely Unaware: Customer has no knowledge of anything except, perhaps,
their own identity or opinion.

Breakthrough Advertising by Gene Schwartz

Your MVP for Your Pivot

• Need to have:
• Would be nice to have:
• Avoid:
Assumption Testing
Build, Measure, Learn Cycle
Cash flow and your numbers

Scenarios & assumption testing &

listing
Sensitivities
Projected best, likely and worst-
case outcomes
Critical for forecasting & managing
cashflow
Your pivot game plan
1. Develop a clear proposition

2. Assess the fit with your

capability, expertise & business

3. Test customer demand via a

low fidelity prototype

4. Validate your idea - test your

assumptions

5. Refine the investment case and

impact on cashflow