Architecting Pivots
by Mosbah Kahaleh Eric Ries and Steve Blank, two of the pioneers of lean startup methodology who are trying to codify what lean startup methodology actually mean and how can future entrepreneurs benefit from such way of thinking. At the heart of lean startup methodology is the ability to ‘pivot’, which in simple terms can be defined as the act of changing the startup’s path as the founders learn by experimenting and gathering feedback. Startups pivot in an iterative process with the goal of reaching product-market fit. Drawing on frameworks from other management theories, I hypothesize that pivots can be categorized along three dimensions that can help entrepreneurs in architecting pivots. First, inspired by Clay Christenson’s innovation theory, I believe pivots can be classified into two categories: disruptive pivots and sustainable pivots. In disruptive pivots, the entrepreneur learns something about his/her market or consumer behavior that completely changes the entrepreneur persp...