We glamorize the pivot.

Founders frame it like a masterstroke.
Investors nod approvingly.
LinkedIn eats it up.

But here’s the truth: Pivoting is just quitting with great branding.

And that’s not a bad thing.

From childhood, we’re told: “Never give up.”

Founders hear it too.

So when something isn’t working, they don’t quit. They pivot.

Some of your favorite startups pivoted:

Twitter started as a podcasting platform called Odeo. They killed it, spun out Twitter, and never looked back.
Uber began as a black car-only, invite-only, NYC-only exclusive service before ditching exclusivity and going mass-market with UberX.
Airbnb sold cereal boxes to stay alive while they ditched their original idea of a travel conference airbed booking tool.
Slack was a failed gaming company that turned its internal chat tool into a product.
Instagram started as Burbn, a bloated check-in app. They nuked everything except filtered photos.

Startups quit all the time:

They kill features: LinkedIn Stories flopped. Killed within a year. Users didn’t want Instagram at work.
They switch customer segments: Shopify started as a snowboard store. Switched to selling the software instead.
They abandon entire business models: Netflix quit DVDs and bet everything on streaming, even if it meant killing their own model.

They just don’t say they’re quitting. They say they’re “evolving” or “exploring new directions.”

Nah. You quit. And that’s okay.

Dragging for 18 months and still not clicking? You’re delaying the inevitable.

I’m often reminded of this talk from Elad Gil: “Good ideas tend to work relatively quickly.”

I’ve quit entire companies. Not just pivoted… quit.

At Rocketplace, we shut it down and returned money to investors.
At Public Market, we gave it everything, and still walked away in the face of the 2018 crypto winter.
At Fancred, despite a roaring start and shiny press hits, we kept pushing too long. We should have quit or pivoted much harder, much earlier.

Each one was painful.

Each one left a scar.

Each one helped me build a better filter for bullsh*t.

And in every case, quitting was what created space for something better.

Great founders quit all the time.

Fast, clean, proud, with clear communication about the change.

They don’t waste years trying to brute-force a bad idea.

They cut bait and build something better.

So pivot.

But be real about what it is.

You're not "never giving up."

You're being smart enough to quit early and keep going in a new direction.

Startups should quit more often

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