Pivot
A fundamental change in business strategy while keeping one foot planted—changing direction while preserving learned insights. A structured course correction based on validated learning.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 42 chapters:
"In nature, if your strategy is wrong, you die. Quickly. The market is way too nice. It lets you raise another round. It gives you time to pivot. It allows zombie companies to stumble forward for years, teaching the wrong lessons to everyone watching. Biology doesn't do this."
"Meetings had more people who contributed less. The scrappy, high-performance culture that had gotten them through the streaming pivot was diluting with each new hire. They were becoming...normal. Corporate. Like every other company that scales. Every fast-growing company hits this ..."
"...lete Reputational burn: - Customer patience (how long until they leave?) - Market attention (hype has half-life) - Team confidence (every failed pivot costs trust) Opportunity burn: - What are you NOT doing because of current path? - What doors are closing while you pursue this? Create a metab..."
"If you have five initiatives, kill four. 2. Define clear stop triggers for that one plate. Example: "If we don't hit $100K MRR in 6 months, we pivot or shut down." 3. Maintain high stem cell ratio (50%+ generalists) for flexibility. Watch For: Premature branching."
"The bacterium that detects food but lacks the energy to swim toward it starves. The company that sees the market shift but can't fund the pivot dies. Which brings us to the next essential capability: how organisms acquire, allocate, and metabolize resources under constraint. Because det..."
And 37 more chapters...
Biological Context
Pivoting mirrors adaptive radiation: when organisms encounter new opportunities or constraints, they can rapidly diversify into new forms while retaining core structures. The key is preserving useful adaptations while changing direction. Extinction is the alternative to successful pivots.
Business Application
Successful pivots preserve learning: customer insights, team capabilities, or technology platforms. Types include zoom-in (one feature becomes the product), zoom-out (product becomes one feature), customer segment, channel, and technology pivots.