Pivoting is par for the course in the startup game. I’m sure some people are able to have a perfect hit right out of the gate, but it’s very rare.

I don’t mind changing direction, but the change should feel like a pivot around something. I’m going to call that something the “axis of iteration”.

To me, I think you can have one of two main types of startup:

• a product led one, where you have a really cool product and you just need to find the right users.
• a user-led one, where you have an idea of who will use your product (your ICP), and you iterate on the solution until you find one that sticks.

The key to being on one side or the other is that you have something to compound: either you are compounding your product development by iterating on it, or you are compounding your learning of the domain. Both of these are assets.

The general wisdom is that user-led companies are the better path, and I think that’s right. There’s no substitute for getting that deep knowledge of an industry so you can build something that really sticks.