Comment by gt565k | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gt565k | Hacker News Reader

What... this title is ridiculous.

You fail, that's why you pivot.

Hence the saying.

"Fail fast and pivot"

Pivoting just means you've taken some industry knowledge from your failed attempt at a product, and you are applying it to a new product or market fit by pivoting on your original idea. (at least in the context of start-ups / product development)

There's no pivoting without failure.

Also:

> Trump’s innovation is to have mined a deeper vein of cynicism, exhausting the weary tropes of polite political discourse. He is the ultimate pivoter, aimlessly following his own impulses as his administration is mired in daily absurdities.

WTF? Trump is the ultimate pivoter? Are you serious? This article is just ridiculous.

Someone needs to learn the definition of pivot.

> You fail, that's why you pivot.

I remember being a kid, and our family driving up I-15 in Idaho. We topped over this hill, and way down there in the distance, there was an overpass over the freeway. I remember wondering how my dad could aim the vehicle so well that he'd go under that overpass. Now, as an adult I know that he couldn't. He didn't try to aim that precisely; he just steered the whole way.

You can't (usually) aim your startup well enough at the beginning. That's OK. Steer. Sometimes the steering adjustments will be rather major. We call that "pivoting", but as far as I can tell it's pretty much the same thing, just on a bit larger scale.

You can't afford to not Pivot. Especially in tech, where the landscape changes so drastically and frequently. You must adapt or die quickly.

Failure is not a badge of honor, or something to aspire to. It happens, and should be dealt with accordingly, and should not define a person or idea - but it shouldn't be glorified.

The entire point of the article was "Trump changes his mind a lot". Supports will call that adapting, detractors will call that failure. Does it matter how it's labeled?

Yes. The realistic alternative to pivoting isn't beating yourself up in a press conference or something like that: it's self-sabotage. People self-sabotage so they can pretend they never tried and thus avoid seeing themselves as failures.

Throw it against the wall and see what sticks is perhaps an equally valid model

Reply on news.ycombinator.com