In the past, entrepreneurs [3] chose a business concept and then stuck with it over the long-term. In order to be successful, these individuals would stick to a business concept for multiple years to see if it had any wings. In today's market, many entrepreneurs use a strategy known as "pivoting" instead of sticking with an idea for an extended period of time. With pivoting, ideas are cycled through relatively quickly to see if they are worthy of pursuit.
What is Pivoting?
Pivoting is a strategy that many tech entrepreneurs use in order to find a profitable business venture quickly. With this strategy, entrepreneurs [3] move from one idea to another much faster than they would have in the past. For example, instead of sticking with a business concept for multiple years, an entrepreneur may stick with a new idea for only a few months instead. After one idea is scrapped, the entrepreneur then turns to a new idea to work with. By cycling through so many ideas quickly, it increases the likelihood that the business will eventually find a good idea to work with.
Why it Works
The reason that pivoting has become so popular in recent years is because it takes less of an investment in overhead to see if a business idea works in the technology [4] industry. In the tech industry, you can cycle through products relatively quickly because you can create them virtually and test them out. It doesn't take much to launch an online product or a software program to a test market. Once you get an idea of whether the program or product works, you can then release it on a bigger scale. If not, you can cut your losses and move on to the next idea. This makes it possible to eventually come across a very profitable business concept.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal. [5]