Dalton Caldwell - All About Pivoting 

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00 - Introduction 00:18 - Pivoting overview 00:28 - The term 'Pivot' 01:54 - Why pivot? 03:10 - Good reasons to pivot 04:10 - Good reasons not to pivot 04:49 - Why people take too long to pivot 06:45 - Little bit of traction thing 07:38 - Anecdotes 08:57 - Reminder about product market fit 10:10 - How to find a better idea 12:15 - Its OK to not work an idea that requires venture capital 13:10 - Venture vs non-venture scale ideas 14:28 - When is the best time to pivot 15:24 - More pivoting thoughts 16:42 - Idea quality scores 18:47 - Brex (YC W17) Overview 19:18 - Brex pre-pivot 20:19 - Brex post-pivot 21:29 - Retool (YC W17) overview 21:47 - Retool pre-pivot 22:31 - Retool post-pivot 23:14 - Magic (YC W15) overview 23:24 - Magic pre-pivot 24:00 - Magic post-pivot (news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9087819) 24:59 - Segment (YC S11) overview 25:13 - Segment pre-pivot 26:00 - Segment post-pivot 26:52 - In summary

Wonderful talk - "Only add people to your team, once you are sure that the idea is working, enough traction. A little traction is not enough for this."

I really like your analogy with dice, Dalton - «it's much easier to be lucky when you get half a dozen shots on goal than one».

All the successful pivots mentioned in this talk have one thing in common - very high founder market fit score post pivot.

EXCELLENT. Thank you for posting this. Also from such a respectable, experienced, trustworthy source! Awesome.

I wished I found this video 3 years ago. Thanks for these videos!

These Y Combinator videos are priceless. Love 'em

Note to self: 1. Find very *interesting and profitable* problems (or projects) to solve 2. Hire or work with very *smart and nice people* on problems (or projects)

This advice hits on me. I'm in a situation that I planned launching a startup this week but after talking to more users. I realized i'm not doing it right so I paused to pivot it.

Awesome video! It's interesting to find the happy median between not giving up and pivoting

Dalton’s awkward laugh is so pure

Not sure how I missed this one. Great examples for the successful pivotes!

Sooo much valuueeee, had to fucking pause and play and pause and rewind cuz i wanted to fucking hear and remember each fucking thing Dalton said. I am fan of this guy now.

Great content! In the end, it comes down to scoring each idea on Desirabilty - lost of people want it really bad? Feasability - can we start quickly & be the best tomorrow? Viability - can we make money & grow?

This material is magnificent.

Fantastic talk, one of the best I’ve ever seen!

Great advice! Thank you 🙏🏼

Awesome talk!

It just blow my mind ! :) Thank you

This is golden.

When I hear Pivot, I think about Russ in Friends lol. Great video

Does anyone have a link to the original magic hacker news post that Dalton mentions (around 24:05)?

Gold.

It's wise to move on a newer, more exciting ideas if it's better, faster to make than improve current idea.

I had an interview with Dalton for YC. Unfortunately did not get selected :-(

how can people get accepted into YC when they haven't even had PMF? I'm so confused!

I like startups ^^

yes

#MGMT1328885 I get this! Useful, simple and easy to understand. Yay! 1006

So with the original very low 1-10 scores for Brex, how did they get into yc in the first place? Gun founders or mistake..

"You know in your heart its not going to work"

👏👏👍

The Brex pivot is crazy! These guys were probably thinking “lets do something crazy now we have some money out of fintech!”. Followed by “no F this lets head back in the comfort zone and build something huge and familiar! “

If youre reaaaaalllly innovating, it SHOULD not be super easy to ship.

Ross from F.R.I.E.N.D.S should be able to explain better when it comes to pivoting.

Dalton really just talking about app.net . I remember the arrogance of his company.

Mainly good advice, and some great info. But... you’re a YC partner, and... like, no one has ever trained you in public speaking? You could be so much more powerful, dude.