The document discusses strategies for companies to pivot or iterate their business model when needed. It defines pivoting as a wholesale change to a different market opportunity, while iterating involves minor changes within the current market. The document provides examples of pivoting products, services, or business models, such as catering companies offering online cooking classes. It also discusses strategies for gaining market share like targeting competitors, expanding geography, and improving marketing.

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Iterations & Pivoting
Dave Parker
www.GetTrajectory.com
www.dkparker.com
@DaveParkerSEA
https://bit.ly/33iWA1Q

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About Dave
¤ 5X founder, Board Member, former SVP Programs at UP
Global (Startup Weekend + Startup America)
¤ Startup Next creator
¤ Startup Week
¤ Board Member
¤ Author – ”Trajectory: Startup – Ideation to Product
Market/Fit” shipping 3/2021
¤ 10 transactions – 8 sell side, 2 buy side now with NextPath
Advisors

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Iterations & Pivots

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Iterations, Pivot or Persevere
Iterate: A minor change of the current
product or business model in an attempt
to capitalize on a closely related market
opportunity. Pivot: A wholesale change of
the current business model in an attempt
to capitalize on a different market
opportunity. Persevere: Hang in there, it will
get better!

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Pivoting to Where?
“Where there’s mystery, there’s margin”
¤ Contrasted to commodity or transparent prices
¤ Where does your customer experience pain, need time,
or have the greatest challenge?
¤ Where are they willing to pay the most to solve that
problem
¤ Can you find the products/services required to fill that
need?

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What Assets Do You Have
¤ People
¤ Team
¤ Relationships with suppliers
¤ Access to customers
¤ Within capital constraints

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A Note on Customer Concentration
¤ Diversifying customer is critical
¤ Short term – the risks are they can bring you down
¤ Long term – it impacts the value of the business
¤ How can you diversify your customers?

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What Assets Can You Create?
¤ Do you have a vision for where you could go
¤ Do you see the path
¤ Do the ”back of the napkin” numbers work
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year
and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
― Bill Gates

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Post PivotPainLevel
Willingness to Pay

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Headwinds & Tailwinds

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Pivot Breakdown: Products
¤ Products:
¤ What products are you currently selling
¤ What products should you stop selling
¤ What products can you add to your mix
¤ How will they impact margin +/-
¤ How long will it take to implement the change
¤ Availability
¤ Inventory requirements
¤ Shipping

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Examples of Product Pivots
¤ Selling PPE
¤ Sourcing
¤ Margin based on cost and availability
¤ Moving online
¤ Etsy, eBay, Amazon
¤ Setting up your own commerce platform on Shopify or
WooCommerce

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Pivot Breakdown: Services
¤ Services:
¤ What services are you currently offering
¤ Which are most profitable
¤ Which are least profitable
¤ What skills to you and your team or extended team have
that you could offer
¤ How long will it take to sell those services
¤ What is the average bill rate (amount charged to customer)
and pay rate (amount paid to contractor or employ

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Examples of Services Pivots
¤ Caterer and Commissary pivoted into in person (socially
distanced) and online cooking classes
¤ Published monthly themes by quarters, with pricing and
added calendar tool, ticket purchase tool to book in
advance without calls/scheduling
¤ Challenges: didn’t have an email list, so had to go thru past
invoices and customer correspondence to build a list.
Needed to create a fixed price offering. Calendar events in
advance. Publish a quarter in advance, with two-week
email cadence. Partnered with local wineries/breweries to
leverage their lists
¤ Online classes for corp customers looking for team events

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Restaurant
¤ Rotating fixed menu with pickup
¤ From high end to movie night burgers in their parking lot
with blow up screen
¤ Created buzz and TV news coverage

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Market Share or Share of Wallet

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Market Share
¤ Market Share is the percentage of the total market
available for your service
¤ In your geography
¤ Expanding your geography
¤ Expanding market share require marketing and sales
effort
¤ Marketing: growing your email list, promotions or advertising
to increase web/shop traffic
¤ Sales: connecting with more prospects through outbound
effort

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Gaining Market Share
¤ Where do most of your new prospects come from?
¤ Word of mouth
¤ Web traffic
¤ Shop visit
¤ Advertising
¤ Where can you double down on those efforts
¤ Flyers
¤ Brochures
¤ Referral codes

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Targeting competitors
¤ Who’s closed? Why?
¤ Can you purchase their “brand” with Google Keyword
¤ Setup Google Analytics on your website
¤ Use Google Keyword Planner to show up above organic
search results
¤ Buy competitors brand name
¤ Set daily budget
¤ Have a clear call to action on your website

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Expanding Geographies
¤ Is there a low risk way to expand into another area or city
¤ Potential partner
¤ Assume their lease/customer base
¤ New location
¤ Higher risk
¤ Open new city
¤ Buy a competitor that’s closing
¤ What is there historic revenue
¤ Can you purchase a competitor using a payout over time –
more on 10/22

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Improving your Marketing
¤ Don’t bury the lead of your message
¤ Refine your marketing message to capture the right
headline – why do customers buy from you?
¤ Website and Traffic
¤ WIX or similar website builder
¤ Email list building
¤ Mailchimp – free for first 500 emails
¤ Ask for permission

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Improving your Marketing, cont.
¤ Join us Nov 5
¤ Clear call to action (CTA)
¤ Get a proposal, bid, schedule a time
¤ Social Media presence
¤ Frequency of posting
¤ What shares well – look for engagement

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Share of Wallet
¤ Selling more product or services to your existing
customers
¤ Survey customer needs, in person, by phone or email (the
more personal the better)
¤ Upstream or downstream needs – what do they need/use
before your product or service or after your product or
service?
¤ What friction do they currently have in their business? Needs
where other vendors no longer exist or aren’t doing a good
job of filling their needs
¤ Ask to become a partner, how can you help them going
forward, what are they likely to spend next month, quarter,
etc

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Gaining Share of Wallet
¤ The cheapest customer is the one you already have!
¤ Who were you 10 largest customers in the last six months
¤ What do they have in common
¤ How are they different
¤ Interview them for what else they need
¤ What else can you sell them:
¤ Additional products or services
¤ Recurring contracts and rates – lock in a discount for a long-
term contract

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Your Ideas: A chance to
brainstorm

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Q&A