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On the other hand, that advice would have killed off Tesla and SpaceX at least 15 years ago.
We can dream.
"It's not their money anymore. Don't you dare give up."
He didn't, he persevered, and the company had a fine outcome years later. I would not blindly follow OP's advice.
What about the classic story of the AirBnB founders pivoting from selling cereal? It seems like the metric for whether you decide to pivot or shut down depends on how many rounds you've done and how many employees you have. Early on, couple of founders & handful of employees: maybe do whatever pivots you can to survive. If you're a big boat and pivoting will require firing 80% your staff and starting an entirely diff…
I don’t really agree with the article, though. If it’s not achieving the results you want, it doesn’t inherently mean it’s a bad idea.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP here. I think i mixed the message too much by putting pivots in the same category as founder transitions and down-rounds. Pivots are fine. But when you're basically just starting over on a completely new business with less money and a demoralized team, your likelihood of success is significantly impaired. Successful pivots need to carry ~something~ over of value
Yes. Letting them start over on something completely different is indulging sunk-cost fallacy. People were hired on the strength of being able to build X. If they are not who you would have picked to build Y, then getting them building Y anyway means you start out with a broken leg.
It seems like this will vary significantly depending on the team and the new plan. How valuable is it, really, to keep this team together?
A great quote sticks in my mind, shared with me by a founder who was going through hard times with his startup. The company was going through a bad spot, and one of his investors suggested just giving up and returning the existing capital to the investors. An advisor then said: "It's not their money anymore. Don't you dare give up." He didn't, he persevered, and the company had a fine outcome years later. I would not…
The article is talking about pivots not a lack perseverance ...
For those who (like me) didn't get the reference, the "Ship of Theseus" is a thought problem about whether, if every part of the ship has individually been replaced, it remains the Ship of Theseus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We can dream.
What's up with the weird Elon hate recently? I don't care for the guy one way or another, but it's just bizarre. Plus, I have friends that worked for both Tesla and SpaceX and from what I hear, apart from being big and corporate-y, it's a pretty awesome place to be at.