What should a founder do when he doesn’t know where to pivot his startup?

[bmag777]

On the last 30 days I’ve been completely lost in my startup journey, thinking about pivoting but not sure where to go since most things I’ve been tried, failed.

I got 1 user paying $25 to join something like a marketplace but figured out I was doing more like a lead generator than a marketplace.

Then since I was not able to help this user, I’ve decided to give them the refund and that’s it. It looks like he really like the deal but bro, I don’t wanna have a marketing agency startup, I’ve been working to build a SaaS startup.

I’m still not sure if I took the right way by doing this but I really don’t wanna have a marketing agency startup to help cybersecurity experts get new clients.

Looking at this situation, any suggestion?

The advice of people in this subreddit are always very good and smart so thank you for your time in advance!

 

[jim1960]

@bmag777 To “build something people want” you need to find a huge problem… AWAYS START WITH THE PROBLEM.

• Find a huge market
• Schedule some interviews with some customer from this market and ask questions like “What you do today?” and “What is your main problem doing this?”… JUST LISTEN, DONT OFFER ANY SOLUTION / PRODUCT
• Interview many users as possible… 100, 200… you should see some “big general problems”… PICK ONE
• Start think about how resolve this big problem… BUILD YOUR HYPOTESIS
• Create a MVP, can be just a prototype in Figma or something in those low-code tools. DONT WASTE TO MUCH TIME… you don't know if this is a good solution since isn't validated.
• Show the MVP to the potential customer… Just see how they interact with the solution and get their HONEST FEEDBACK.
• If they like, improve the solution. If not, back to the step 2.

I would recommend you to see some videos in the YC channel, like “How to talk to customers” or “How to build a MVP” before start…

It's my experience, obviously not the absolute truth…

Hope it's help!

 

[bmag777]

@jim1960 Yo my g, that’s what I’m trying to do. Start with the problem that I have in my personal life.

2 question:

How will I find potential users to schedule the interview and what will I give to them for participating in the interview?

Also, what if I don’t know what problem to solve next? I already got some startups running, knew the problem I was solving but potential users aren’t willing to pay. Now I’ve decided to pivot to a totally new market but I still don’t know how to find a problem on this new market because I don’t have personal experience with the problem lol

 

[jim1960]

@bmag777 I think is there no problem to start a biz in a field that you haven't any experience... Since it's a REAL HUGE PROBLEM, you can learn everything with your potential customers...

Every day a new problem raises! Just pain attention around you, what kind of problems people are experiencing? Ask them...

In my case (beauty and personal care marketing in Brazil), I join some facebook groups of my potential customers (nail designers). It was very hard to my, cause I'm not familiar talking to womens... I get some advices from my wife and mom before.

I offer $5 per interview (15 - 20 mins) and got +100 interested people in 1 week... My suggestion is: Find something that make sense to your potential customers... In my case, theirs time is literally money...

For some kind of markets/targets I would recommend you to just go to a public place and ask them... simple...

 

[kmack7]

@bmag777 Can you provide a link to your website to give context to what you are talking about?

 

[bmag777]

@kmack7 Yeah, this is my current website:

https://autsec.io

 

[anabia]

@bmag777 Are you generating traffic at the moment. Maybe what you solve is nice, but maybe no one knows you ?

Put 20usd/day of ads for 10 days and see if you can grab some clients.

If so, talk to them to understand their needs, and see what you can do better or for new features.

At the same time, do you have some articles for SEO ?

 

[bmag777]

@anabia Yeah, probably no one knows about it. Ads not for me, was trying another way to do it.

No, I don’t write articles yet but I have an autopilot blog in the niche

 

[futantagenda]

@bmag777 How much time spent on this endeavor and what exactly is the idea?