MA Newsletter
The Pivot Playbook: Using Testing to Find a New Direction
Hello Founder,
The data doesn't lie. Your product isn't gaining traction.
Now you face entrepreneurship's most gut-wrenching decision: double down, pivot, or shut it down?
The difference between founders who emerge stronger and those who flame out isn't luck—it's how systematically they approach the pivot decision.
SESSION #3
Desirability Quest: Validate What Matters
Last Chance to join our Open Session
RSVP
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Beyond Gut Feelings: Testing Your Way Forward
When your initial strategy stalls, you have three options:
- Persevere: Continue with targeted improvements
- Pivot: Change a fundamental aspect of your business model
- Kill: Shut down and reallocate resources
Successful founders replace intuition with evidence.
3 Quick Pivot-Testing Experiments
1. The Customer Problem Remix
Test if you're solving the right problem for the wrong customers.
How it works:
- Target the same problem with 3 different customer segments
- Create segment-specific outreach
- Measure engagement for each segment
Success story: An M Accelerator founder's scheduling software failed with restaurants but thrived with fitness studios—a successful customer segment pivot.
2. The Feature Elevation Strategy
Test if a secondary feature should become your primary offering.
How it works:
- Identify features with high engagement
- Repackage one feature as a standalone product
- Compare response rates to your full solution
Remember: Slack began as a feature within a gaming company before pivoting to become a $27B communication platform.
3. The Adjacent Problem Exploration
Test if your customers have a more pressing problem you could solve.
How it works:
- Interview customers about their broader challenges
- Create simple mock-ups for alternative problems
- Gauge interest through concept testing
The Quick Pivot Decision Framework
Step 1: Score Your Current Traction (1-5)
- User growth rate
- Retention/engagement
- Conversion rate
- Customer acquisition cost
- Revenue growth
Decision point: Total below 10/25? Time to consider pivoting.
Step 2: Check Your Runway Reality
Do you have enough time to test AND implement a pivot?
Step 3: Look for 3X Improvement
Your pivot tests should show at least 3x better results than your current approach.
Join Our Final "Desirability Quest" Session!
We've already covered:
Session 1: Identify the Real Problem Where we mapped customer jobs-to-be-done and distinguished between symptoms and root problems.
Session 2: Test Desirability With or Without Code Where we developed strategies to test multiple value hypotheses and assess willingness to pay.
Don't miss Session 3: Live Q&A and Feedback This final session is fully dedicated to YOUR questions and challenges. We'll:
- Review key learnings from previous sessions
- Offer personalized feedback on your value proposition
- Discuss applying these insights to your specific situation
- Answer the questions we're currently collecting from participants
This is your chance to get direct guidance on your pivot decisions!
RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR THE FINAL SESSION
To your success,
Alessandro Marianantoni and The M Accelerator Team
P.S. Struggling with a pivot decision? Bring your specific questions to Session 3, and our team will help you design the right experiments to validate your path forward.
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The Founders' Network
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Think your idea is ready for the US market? Let’s prove it.
At Founders Studio, we guide you through a structured, real-world testing process—mapping out your riskiest assumptions, launching targeted experiments, and refining your messaging and channels based on actual data.
With expert coaching and a supportive community, you’ll walk away confident in your market validation and fully prepared to scale when the time is right.
Join Our Open Sessions
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Desirability Quest: Validate What Matters
An intensive 3-session coaching program for founders at any early stage—whether you're still ideating or have already built a solution that isn't gaining traction.
Through structured frameworks and personalized guidance, you'll systematically validate if your idea solves a real problem that customers will pay to fix, allowing you to pivot, refine, or confidently move forward with your existing solution.
For Founders Who Are:
- Struggling to acquire customers despite marketing efforts
- Unsure if they're solving a genuine problem worth paying for
- Confused about why a built product isn't getting traction
- Facing low conversion rates despite traffic or interest
- Running out of runway without validated traction
- Need to reframe their approach, whether pre-build or post-launch.
Join our open session: RSVP on luma.
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Join Our Events
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AI Diligence Uncovered: Preparing Your Startup for Investor Scrutiny
Workshop to prepare start-ups for AI diligence that may come up in diligence of pitch decks, pitches, Data Rooms, and follow-up conversations. RSVP
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Scaling Learning: A Mentoring Session on Building Impactful Digital Education
Curious how to turn your expertise into scalable online learning? Join Farhan Quasem of Commudemy to discover how content, tech, and community fuel impactful digital education ventures. RSVP
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Join 1,000+ investors at the Capital Networking Virtual Conference
Next week, I’ll be speaking at the Capital Networking Virtual Conference, joining 1,000+ investors—from angels to LPs. If you're raising, don’t miss this. RSVP for your free ticket! RSVP
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Employers' Talent Mixer in NYC
We’re excited to share that our partner OpenClassrooms is hosting a special Talent Mixer in NYC focused on helping employers like you connect with skilled, diverse local talent. RSVP
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For our members
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The Founder's Guide to Customer Buying Triggers: How to Know When Prospects Are Ready to Buy
As an early-stage founder, timing is everything. Approach prospects too early, and they'll ignore you. Too late, and your competitors have already won them over. This guide focuses specifically on identifying triggers – those critical moments when potential customers become receptive to your solution. What Are Customer Buying Triggers? Triggers...
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Scale your AI/ML startups with DigitalOcean Hatch’s exclusive offer –valued at over $300K
At DigitalOcean, we believe in empowering startups to successfully launch and scale. That’s why we’re offering our Hatch startups an exclusive discount on GPU pricing, cloud credits, and access to an exclusive AI/ML accelerator. As part of the Hatch program, your startups will receive DigitalOcean credits, access to perks from top SaaS partne...
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The 5-Minute Founder: How Micro-Meditations Can Transform Your Startup Day
Feeling overwhelmed as a founder? Discover how 5-minute micro-meditations can reset your focus, boost decision-making, and transform your startup grind into a more mindful, productive journey—one breath at a time. Read full article
Empowering Your Quest: How We Help
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