Permission to Pivot
Most companies you admire never started as the company you see.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 83%
Lori spent a year and a half and half her raised capital trying to get her non-alcoholic wine brand to market, blocked by COVID, co-packer refusals, and alcohol red tape. A successful girlfriend gave her permission: this happens all the time — just pivot, most companies never started as the company you see. That reframe dissolved the worst anxiety of Lori's life and freed her to redirect into a hydration/supplement idea she'd already been holding as an 'upsell.' The framework normalizes pivoting and redeploys remaining resources into the more viable adjacent idea already forming in your mind.
Origin
After COVID stalled Light Pink and Lori felt like a failure facing her investors, a highly successful friend told her pivoting was normal and showed her the many companies that had done it — giving her permission to redirect into what became Gloci.
Core principles
- 01Pivoting is a normal part of the journey, not a failure.
- 02The next idea is often already sitting in your mind as an 'upsell' or side thought.
- 03Deploy remaining resources into the more viable path instead of forcing a dying one to the finish line.
How to run it
- 1
Admit the finish line is unreachable
Honestly assess when the current path — despite effort and remaining money — cannot get to market.
- 2
Reframe pivoting as normal
Reject the failure narrative. Recognize that most admired companies started as something else entirely.
Pro tip Talk to someone who has pivoted successfully; their permission dissolves the shame faster than willpower.
- 3
Surface the idea already in your head
Identify the adjacent idea — often something you'd parked as an upsell or side thought — that fits the market and your resources better.
- 4
Redeploy remaining runway
Move your leftover capital, brand, and relationships into the stronger opportunity rather than exhausting them on the dying one.
Watch out Forcing a stalled idea to the finish line can consume the runway you'd need to launch the better one.
In the wild
With half her capital gone and the non-alcoholic wine brand stalled by COVID and alcohol red tape, a friend told Lori pivoting was normal. Lori redirected into a hydration-and-beauty supplement idea she'd already been holding.
→ The pivot became Gloci, a skincare-and-gut supplement brand, and relieved what Lori called the worst anxiety of her life.
Common mistakes
Treating a pivot as failure
The shame narrative traps founders in a dying venture. Pivoting is standard practice, and reframing it frees the resources and energy to move.
Burning all runway to force the finish
Spending the last of your money on an unviable path leaves nothing to fund the better idea already forming.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders whose current venture has stalled but who still have some resources and an adjacent idea.
Not ideal for
Founders who serially abandon ventures at the first difficulty rather than at a genuine dead end.
From the transcript
“Most companies that you see right now never started as the company that you see.”
“I had already had another idea for an upsell cuz I was like man we're going to need to make more money than this.”
From the episode
Lori Harder: The Art of Pivoting, How to Reinvent Yourself in Business and Life
Lori Harder