How I decide when to iterate, pivot, or give up 🤔
When a project hits a roadblock, you have three options in front of you: iterate, pivot, or give up.
I think many Indiehackers give up or pivot entirely at the wrong time. Here's a framework that I use to make that decision:
I iterate further when...
I know my problem is well-validated (via customer interviews, landing page waitlist, etc) and I believe there's an issue with the execution.
This could mean maybe the pitch/messaging is wrong, the product (MVP) is bad/not the right fit, etc.
The best way to understand what's wrong? Go all-in on customer feedback and make sure you track + analyze your data well. The clues are all there.
I pivot when...
I see clear signs that I'm unable to solve the problem or monetize after multiple (~25) iterations. Again, loads of customer interviews and data to back this up.
You will ideally arrive at this point after iterating aggressively on your product and running into a fundamental problem that you cannot address.
I give up when...
I fail to find traction after multiple iterations and pivots. Then there is something fundamentally wrong with the solution, the market, or the product.
As you can see, giving up is the last option. You should only arrive here after going through massive iterations and a few pivots. This entire process can easily take months (minimum).
If you have a well-validated problem and you're giving up after working on one or two iterations - you're far from scratching the surface of it.
Just make sure you're optimizing for quality over quantity in all your iterations or pivots. Don't burn yourself out. A few strong bets >>> 100 weak bets.
tl;dr
If you've validated your problem and you can back it up with customer interviews or landing page hits, maybe it's just an execution problem.
Do a root-cause analysis, take another crack at it, and repeat!
thanks so much for this write up @rushabh.🔥 I always appreciate educational posts like this that really help with the journey. I know I'll be applying this to my current situation. I'd also love to know a little more about your story/success. It would give this post more context and validation. 😀
I'm glad you found value in this, thanks!
I've been building products for the last few years. Some did well, some didn't.
I'm working on MyCheckins right now. I've gone through countless iterations and a couple of pivots in the last year. I had to make the iterate/pivot decision many times and that's where this post comes from.
While there are countless challenges every day, the project is finally getting good traction and I'm seeing results of all the work I put in. I'm glad I didn't quit earlier.
I also spend a lot of time outside work with other founders in the ecosystem (seed-stage to series A/B) working on Product and Growth problems.
I've seen this situation many times over, that's where this framework came in.
Great write up Rushabh! I think 25 is the perfect number of attempts before considering pivoting. I completely agree, most people pivot before they have given their project a chance.
Great write up @rushabh. 20-25 iterations does sound like a pretty decent number for validation of an idea. I'd like to add one more thing. I pivot / give up an idea if it no longer interests me enough that I can work on it for the next 10 years.
Yep, that's a big one too. It will be hard to stick around for so many iterations or pivots if you're no longer in love with the problem you're trying to solve.
Great point!
For me, I am able to get some traction but never enough to pay the bills. What is good traction for you?
That's an interesting issue. I'm guessing that you're running into a monetization issue? Like you have enough people using your products but not willing to pay?
If making money is the problem, I think you need to speak to your customers and understand what's stopping them. Is the problem not significant enough? Are there enough free alternatives? Try to learn and fix the issues that you can control.
If you're running into an issue where you get initial traction but can't scale it up, then it might be a marketing or product issue. Is your landing page not converting? Are your users dropping off soon after signing up?
You need to see where your funnel is leaking, and fix it.
For me, good traction means getting the smallest number of people to go from sign-up > engagement > sale. If I see even a small sub-set of users doing all three, that means I have validation to continue.
Then it's all about optimizing and scaling.
If you're not able to get the sign-up to sale funnel working, you need to figure out why it's happening and go through multiple iterations or pivots to fix it.
Actually getting people to pay is not the issue. It is just a slow growth...
Thanks @rushabh - a great way to think about iteration rather than giving up on the first attempt