Someone on HN said Notion started as a research tool. Couldn't find info on that online, but it got me interested in thinking about unusual/interesting pivots. I've read about some of the big ones (Odeo --> Twitter, Tote --> Pinterest), but curious if anyone has more recent or lesser known ones.
Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
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Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#2Game Neverending --> Flickr
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#3Game Neverending --> Flickr
Then he started another game company which became Slack!
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#4Discord was probably supposed to be a gaming company but now it's a lot more than something related to just gaming
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#5Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#6Discord was probably supposed to be a gaming company but now it's a lot more than something related to just gaming
pretty sure the discord as a whole was a pivot away from a video game (I believe they extracted the chat feature they'd built for the game and ran with that)
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#7This is a pretty decent list if you are interested in the concept and looking for examples.
https://github.com/fikrikarim/companies-with-successful-pivo...
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then he started another game company which became Slack!
The guy doesn’t sound like he’s that good at game companies, still should probably continue though
Unless...This is a mind trick that he uses to trick his mind into thinking that *this time* I'll really develop a game...and then fully expecting that something else will be created! I mean, some other creative people resort to all manner of tricks - like alcohol, weed, etc. - just to trigger the muse and serendipitous invention!
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#9Segment was a wildly successful one (with a big exit). They started out as an education tool startup.
Also Slack was a MMORPG for something like 3-4 years before they gave up on it and pivoted to being a chat app.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups have the most interesting pivot stories?
#10Discord was probably supposed to be a gaming company but now it's a lot more than something related to just gaming
pretty sure the discord as a whole was a pivot away from a video game (I believe they extracted the chat feature they'd built for the game and ran with that)
I think that’s actually the Slack origin story you’re thinking of, but honestly discord could have the same origin.