Should we pivot?

• pivot
• stalled
• plateau
• change direction
• disagree
• not working

• What exactly is not working — demand, conversion, retention or economics?
• What would have to be true for the current direction to work?
• Which of the founders' positions is testable this month?
• What has already been tried, and what did it actually show?

• trend in {revenue} over the last six months
• conversion at each stage of the funnel
• retention or repeat rate
• what changed in the periods where the numbers moved

• A disagreement that costs more in delay than either option costs in money
• No shared definition of what failure would look like

• If
  The founders disagree and both positions are cheap to test
  Then
  Do not resolve it by argument. Run a small external preference test and let real buyers decide.
• If
  Retention is strong and acquisition is weak
  Then
  This is not a pivot. It is a distribution problem.
• If
  Acquisition is fine and customers leave or never expand
  Then
  The offer or the segment is wrong — a partial pivot, not a restart.

Put both directions in front of twenty real buyers in the same week, priced, and count which one produces more commitment.

Read after 14 days.

• One direction produces at least twice the commitment of the other
• The result is consistent across two different acquisition sources

• Both directions produce almost nothing — the problem is upstream of the choice
• The test cannot be run without building something first; reduce it further

• One direction clearly wins → Commit for a fixed period with a review date, and stop re-litigating.
• The result is close → Keep the current direction — a tie is not a reason to pay switching costs.

Aury can carry out: read company, prepare document, prepare outreach, file memory. Specialists involved: strategy, research, sales.

Your approval: The founder approves the two offers before either is shown to anyone.

Holds when both directions can be represented honestly to a buyer without building them first.

Preference tests measure stated intent unless money changes hands. Where possible, take a deposit or a signature, not a nod.

Founder disagreement is often cheaper to resolve with a small external evidence test than with another month of internal debate.

• Sourced operator experience: Founder/operator case study analysed inside Aurygine — bootstrapped B2B software company, 2026
• Aurygine synthesis: Aurygine synthesis across founder journeys

Confidence: medium. Last reviewed 2026-08-25. Your company's own recorded results override this playbook whenever the two disagree.