Recently I found myself talking to a string of companies which were in the middle of the fabled “pivot”. What struck me was the fact that they all not only changed their idea radically (think: from offering software for developers to selling shoes online) but they also all named “lack of market interest” or “too hard to sell” as their primary reason to do so.
Which makes me wonder: How hard did they really try? See — this is one of the weird side effects of the lean startup movement. It gives you permission to fail quickly — which unfortunately often means that you don’t try hard enough in the first place t really figure out if there is a market for your solution or not.
Guess what — the vast majority of successful businesses stuck with their idea, made (small) changes along the way and didn’t throw the towel after their first three failed sales calls.
If you believe in your idea — stick with it (for a reasonable amount of time; you don’t want to beat a dead horse) and make it work. And if you don’t believe in your idea in the first place — don’t even bother doing it. You won’t be happy with it anyway.
P.S. Please excuse the irregular schedule — I’m at Unreasonable at Sea at the moment. :)