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Fab's Second Pivot

betashop.com

31–38 of 38 posts

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#31
post #20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop saying pivot, it doesn't mean what you think it means.

HN, where anyone can be a jerk to successful entrepreneurs running large technology companies who show up to share their brains.

I suspect that the comments are negative because the word Pivot is being used to generate buzz without substance.

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#32

Hi. @betashop here, CEO of Fab. Happy to answer any/all questions. With regards to the "was it a pivot" comments below. Fab was first fabulis, for 13 months. We built a ton of product and a small but loyal following. We then shut it down to pursue our passion. That's a pivot. Regarding Fab's 2nd pivot in 2012, we pivoted our business from a drop-ship model to an inventory model. That's quite a pivot.

Can you please respond to the accusations of spam, above? I, too, have suddenly started receiving email from Fab even though I've opted out repeatedly. I really hope this is a mistake and not part of this third "pivot".

I will throw in as yet another voice in the "you are spamming me" chorus.

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#33
post #31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN, where anyone can be a jerk to successful entrepreneurs running large technology companies who show up to share their brains.

I suspect that the comments are negative because the word Pivot is being used to generate buzz without substance.

They dramatically changed their business model twice. The second change was less dramatic in direction, but more dramatic in that the business had much more inertia.

That's the point of the post, and it's an impressive achievement. Read Tony Hsieh's (Zappos) "Delivering Happiness" if you want to appreciate how hard it is to build a business on drop-shipping, and how hard it is to move to full inventory.

I realize this isn't a battle worth fighting, but everyone needs to stop being pedantic over the use of the word "pivot". It had meaning before Eric Ries used it, and it will continue to have intrinsic meaning no matter how narrowly it's defined in the context of the Lean Startup movement. The business changed directions. Let the man call it a pivot.

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#35
post #33
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that the comments are negative because the word Pivot is being used to generate buzz without substance.

They dramatically changed their business model twice. The second change was less dramatic in direction, but more dramatic in that the business had much more inertia. That's the point of the post, and it's an impressive achievement. Read Tony Hsieh's (Zappos) "Delivering Happiness" if you want to appreciate how hard it is to build a business on drop-shipping, and how hard it is to move to full inventory. I realize thi…

It's a natural evolution for an online store to shift from drop ship to inventory as they get a better understanding of demand and the capital/scale to do so. It's not a pivot.

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#36
post #6

I feel like they don't know what pivoting means. The first pivot doesn't sound like a pivot; they built a new business with the same venture money. The second pivot isn't a pivot either. I think reasonable people would call that "growth and expansion." Pivoting is supposed to mean that you changed strategic direction based on validated learning. Twitter and Instagram started as pivots. This sounds nothing like that.

Pivoting is a random-restart hill climbing algorithm. If you change strategic direction but remain in the same space, that's climbing the hill. If you change to a completely different idea, that's random restart.

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#37

Hi. @betashop here, CEO of Fab. Happy to answer any/all questions. With regards to the "was it a pivot" comments below. Fab was first fabulis, for 13 months. We built a ton of product and a small but loyal following. We then shut it down to pursue our passion. That's a pivot. Regarding Fab's 2nd pivot in 2012, we pivoted our business from a drop-ship model to an inventory model. That's quite a pivot.

Can you please respond to the accusations of spam, above? I, too, have suddenly started receiving email from Fab even though I've opted out repeatedly. I really hope this is a mistake and not part of this third "pivot".

Email me Jason@fab.com so I can check it out please.

Re: Fab's Second Pivot

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please respond to the accusations of spam, above? I, too, have suddenly started receiving email from Fab even though I've opted out repeatedly. I really hope this is a mistake and not part of this third "pivot".

Email me Jason@fab.com so I can check it out please.

Actually, no, I'd really like for you to address this in public. You offered to answer any/all questions, right? The highest voted comment in this thread is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4918790, which is the one that is accusing you of spam. That guy received the Aston Kutcher spam despite having opted out of everything (as did I); can you respond to him, please?

[BTW, you might want to be careful with the celebrity endorsement. I can't think of a celebrity I find more noxious than Kutcher, so attaching his name to Fab makes me much much less likely to buy anything from you again. Especially when you're forcing that association into my inbox. Blech.]

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