Over the years, I’ve worked in startups and established tech companies. Different companies, different products, same challenges.
Too often, teams add features that don’t address real user needs or shift their sales targets quarter to quarter without understanding the why. This lack of focus leads to disappointing results. What’s usually missing is a clear understanding of users and the actual problems the product should solve.
The Risk of Building on Assumptions
I’ve talked with many founders who built their product based on their own pain or assumptions confirmed by surveys, but without digging deeper into who would actually pay for it. Some realized too late that their product was one-time use and only relevant for a small audience.
That’s a common early-stage mistake. Ideas and assumptions are a starting point, but without validating user needs, it becomes harder to raise money, attract paying customers, or keep the business running.
Even larger, established companies fall into this trap. For example, at one company I worked for, we built our entire strategy around what we thought was our main user group. A simple round of user research later proved we were wrong. A different segment was the actual buyer and primary user. This insight changed our sales focus and product messaging completely.
In another case, the sales team struggled because we didn’t clearly understand what problem the product solved. The product was designed for one use case, but the market needed a different solution entirely. Without recognizing this gap, the company spent months pushing a product no one really needed, leading to poor sales and missed targets.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen teams let go, products shut down, and customers lost because leadership didn’t understand user needs. Sometimes products were later rebuilt after talking to users showed what really mattered.
Whether in startups or big companies, the root cause is often the same: a lack of real user insight.
When a Pivot Can Save You
You don’t always need to kill a product or team. Often, the right move is a pivot — a strategic change guided by user research.
When I help companies struggling with sales, high churn, or entering a new market, I start by talking to users and mapping their journey. This research usually shows the need for a pivot.
A pivot might mean:
- repositioning your product
- changing your pricing model
- adjusting how you communicate your value
- solving a different problem with your existing technology
Sometimes a pivot is simple:
- Maybe onboarding is too long, so you simplify it
- Maybe a key workflow confuses users, so you redesign it
- Maybe an essential integration is missing, so you add it
- Or the expected audience doesn’t pay, but another does
You wouldn’t know these things without user conversations and observing real behaviors.
How to Know When It’s Time to Pivot
Talk to your users. Map their journey and identify pain points they try to solve. Don’t rely on assumptions or just listen to what they say; watch what they actually do.
Good user research brings clarity. It shows you what’s working and what isn’t.
Pivoting isn’t failure — it’s learning. Choosing a path that solves real problems and creates value people will pay for.
If your product isn’t getting enough customers or people stop using it, take a moment to stop and listen. Making a change based on what you learn could be the key to grow and succeed in the long run.
