Today’s post comes from James Hollingworth, a cheerfully upbeat Springboarder reflecting on a daunting pivot.
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A few weeks ago our team hit a roadblock – one of those massive problems you really hope you never encounter. We had a choice – either continue forward and try to find a way around our problem; or change course and move on to something new?
We had so much belief in our idea and had invested so much time that it was an incredibly difficult decision for us make. As time progressed it became increasingly apparent that we were going to have to pivot. Although painful, we knew it was the best thing for the business and so we put all of our efforts into finding a new direction.
The previous 7 weeks had not been in vain however. We had been gaining valuable insights from mentors and customers and had identified a number of problems which we could solve. We evaluated each idea using all of the skills we’d been acquiring since starting Springboard. Once we had picked a direction, we spent the next couple of days frantically honing it with some help from the 11th team. It was great fun going through this process a second time around and I was amazed by what I’d learnt since starting Springboard. It made me realise that Springboard is not about creating 10 companies but rather training people so that each can go and build 10 of their own companies.
It’s been just over 2 weeks since we made the decision to pivot. Its been a very tough couple of weeks but I’m incredibly positive about our new direction. Lots of mentors have been kind enough to spend some more time with us and the feedback has been really amazing. One of the recurring themes from the feedback has been that they liked the old idea, but the new idea sounds way better.
Encountering this problem has probably been one of the best things that has happened to us. We are reinvigorated and ready to take on any challenges our new direction throws at us although hopefully they won’t be quite as big & scary as the last one!
