Brex’s co-founders originally wanted to build a VR headset. GOAT’s co-founders set out to build an app for meeting new people over dinner. Instagram was a Foursquare competitor. Slack was a game. YouTube wanted to be a dating site.
It turns out many of the billion dollar companies you know and love today pivoted on the way to getting there, and that’s what the first episode of our newest video series Office Hours is about.
How do you know if it’s time for your startup to pivot? How can you narrow down which idea to try next — and how will you know if that next idea is the one?
In Office Hours, we’ll feature Y Combinator’s Group Partners discussing the startup topics that they know better than just about anyone else in the world, because they’ve built their own successful startups and have advised thousands more. What other set of people in the world has seen zero-to-one success so many times? There is no parallel.
Pivots are frequently misunderstood. You might think that pivoting is something done only by the startups that don’t make it; in reality, a huge number of the best startups pivoted. The first steps on your startup journey might not be in the best direction, but they’re getting you that much closer to the path you’re looking for.
This is just the first co-production by YC's video team (Zach Both and Ryan Loughlin) and Garry Tan, president of YC, in deep collaboration with all dozen of YC’s deeply experienced group partners. Be on the lookout for the next episode of Office Hours in just a few weeks.
Originally published on Y Combinator : Original article