The Path to Pivot: The Playbook for Founders Who Want to Reboot their Startup - Paperback

by Jason Shen (Author), Rhea Purohit (Associate Editor)

If you're a founder at a crossroads with your startup, keep reading.

How many times have you heard that you have to stay the path to get that $1B+ exit? All those stories of grinding it out through the tough years.

And yet, some of the most successful companies-Instagram, Notion, Loom, Discord-were the result of giving up on Plan A to go after Plan B (or C or D, etc).

Being a founder is full of tough choices. When your startup's growth hits a wall, you're faced with two choices: grind it out or start over.

So which one is right for you?

The Path to Pivot is the first book of its kind-a proven playbook for founders seeking to reinvent their company and achieve exponential growth. It features:

Frameworks to nail the why, when, and how of pivotingDeep dives into the pivots of 12+ startupsActionable tools and methodologies to rebuild your business

Written by a startup veteran who previously raised capital from Y Combinator, Techstars, and Amazon and sold a company to Facebook, The Path to Pivot offers a clear roadmap for founders struggling to revive a struggling startup.

My Story

I founded my first startup in 2011 when I was 24.

We got into Y Combinator, raised $1.3M in funding and was profiled in Vanity Fair and TechCrunch...but a year and half into the business, we were floundering. Our growth flatlined and we were forced to pivot. 7 months later we had nothing to show for ourselves and shut down the business.

Failing really sucked. It took me five years to try again.

After starting a tech hiring platform in 2017, I again hit a wall. But this time, my cofounder and I executed a successful a pivot into AI tools for gamers, raised new capital and pulled off an exit to FB/Meta in 2020.

Today, I run Refactor Labs, where I coach a roster of 15+ founders, senior leaders, and outlier achievers who are reinventing the future.

Rebuild with structure and speed. The Path to Pivot lays out immediately actionable tools that help you find your way through the murky, no man's land of pivoting instead of wasting time flailing on your own. Avoid wild leaps and analysis paralysis; start taking confident, well-informed strides toward success today.Execute proven strategies. I've led two startups through pivots: one tanked, one worked. In the book we also breakdown the journey of 12+ startups-from well-known pivots to untold stories you probably haven't heard before. That means you get to learn from the mistakes and wins of others so that you get it right on your first go.Cut right to the point. There is tons of stuff out there that talks about the problems that startup founders face aka vague business advice you didn't ask for. I've been there. So I wrote The Path to Pivot to be laser focused on the founder or CEO thinking about pivoting or already smack in the middle of one. No one and nothing else.