Pivotal Insights – Page 3

29 Apr

Pilot projects are a death trap

April 29, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
38 comments

Pilot projects are a “death trap” for tech founders. Here’s how to escape them (without burning your best people). I’ve seen it happ...

24 Apr

Knowledge

Why I was wrong on Ray Dahlios book

April 29, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
28 comments

I thought Ray Dalio's book "Principles of Life and Work" was not for me. I was wrong. In 2019, right after we closed our Series A at...

08 Apr

Knowledge

When do you know it’s time to pivot?

April 24, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
28 comments

𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀: “𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁?” Here is what the data says.

20 Mar

Knowledge

What the hell does ACME mean? (and why you keep seeing it in my posts)

April 22, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
29 comments

I use ACME as an “alias” for the companies I work with. You'll see the name pop up every time I share a case study. Why not call com...

15 Mar

Background

Most startup board members don’t realize what they’re signing up for: → 3 risks no one warns you about (+ how to avoid them).

April 23, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
26 comments

I’ve been a board member and president in multiple tech companies for over 20 years. This year, I decided to step back and do a tr...

10 Mar

Background, Case Study, Knowledge

Finding your pivot paths, fast: What the ACME1 team said about the workshop, in hindsight.

April 23, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
29 comments

A week ago I posted how we identified 3 immediately relevant pivot paths within one 5 hours workshop for a real company, called “ACME 1...

05 Mar

Case Study, Knowledge

How we found 3 immediately relevant pivot paths for a stuck company — within a 5-hour workshop

April 23, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
0 comments

I just wrapped up a workshop with a tech startup that hit a flat growth phase. Let's call that company ACME 1. The management tea...

22 Feb

Background, Knowledge

There is a question I get asked a lot in my 1-1 sessions: “When is a strategic change really a pivot?”

April 23, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
0 comments

For example: "𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵?" "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?" And here’s wh...

22 Feb

Case Study

Tech founders: Here are five pitfalls you should avoid in a pivotal situation

April 23, 2025
By Stefan Zanetti
0 comments

100 days ago, I announced my newest venture, Pivotal AG. Since then, I’ve had almost 100 initial calls with tech founders in critical ...

25 Nov

Case Study

What if a failed online game sparked one of the fastest-growing software companies?

December 5, 2024
By Stefan Zanetti
0 comments

In 2012, there was a game called Glitch. It was the brainchild of Stewart Butterfield, a tech visionary who had previously founded Flic...