Failures to be celebrated: an analysis of major pivots of software startups
Sohaib Shahid Bajwa, Xiaofeng Wang, Anh Nguyen Duc, Pekka, Abrahamsson

TL;DR
This study analyzes major pivot types and triggering factors in software startups, revealing common patterns and new pivot categories to inform better decision-making in uncertain environments.
Contribution
It identifies 10 pivot types and 14 triggering factors, including new pivot categories, enhancing understanding of startup adaptation strategies.
Findings
Customer need and segment pivots are most common.
Negative customer reactions often trigger pivots.
New pivot types like market zoom-in and side project identified.
Abstract
In the context of software startups, project failure is embraced actively and considered crucial to obtain validated learning that can lead to pivots. A pivot is the strategic change of a business concept, product or the different elements of a business model. A better understanding is needed on different types of pivots and different factors that lead to failures and trigger pivots, for software entrepreneurial teams to make better decisions under chaotic and unpredictable environment. Due to the nascent nature of the topic, the existing research and knowledge on the pivots of software startups are very limited. In this study, we aimed at identifying the major types of pivots that software startups make during their startup processes, and highlighting the factors that fail software projects and trigger pivots. To achieve this, we conducted a case survey study based on the secondary…
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