Concept · Startup & Growth Frameworks
Pivot or Persevere
Origin: Eric Ries
Biological Parallel
When a tree seedling germinates under dense canopy, it faces a binary choice: persist with shade-tolerance adaptations (thick leaves, slow growth) or pivot to shade-avoidance (rapid upward growth, betting everything on reaching a light gap). The threespine stickleback fish makes similar pivot decisions—freshwater populations evolved from marine ancestors in just decades by pivoting their entire morphology when environmental signals indicated the old strategy was failing.