Uri Levine: evaluation

Transcript context

…That was really good advice and really good set of options to consider versus laying people off. So most of what we've been talking about right now has been the cash crisis route. We've spent a little time on the product market fit crisis route. But I want to spend a little more time there. So for the cash crisis route, you have these kind of three questions and then it's like, cool, this will tell you how quickly to act and how severely to make cuts. In the product market fit route, is it essentially if you've lost product market fit, it's to pivot, is that basically the question? And then it's a question of where to pivot and what to do? So the first question is, am I still relevant? And probably the answer is no. And then the next question that you basically say, "Okay, do I want to pivot?" And for that I will say, "If I would start today, is this is what I'm going to do?" And if the answer is yes, then do it. Now in many cases you say, "Oh, wait a minute, I already have the organization and I already have money in the bank and this is what I'm going to do instead." I wouldn't necessarily do that. The way that I would look at it is different. Because the other alternative is basically say, "Wait a minute, all of my underlining assumptions have gone, they are wrong. " I lost product market fit. The value proposition that I had is wrong or is no longer valid or no longer relevant. And therefore I need to start from scratch. Do I really have the assets to become successful on the new path? And the assets could be technology that you already developed, could be the team that you already built, could be the know-how that you have in that specific market that gives you a significant advantage. And if any of those is really, really significant, then it's possible that you want to pivot. Pivot basically say major fuck up, all of our underlining assumptions have gone. And because everything else, if it's not, then that's part of the journey of failure. If you'll tell me, "Oh, we tried this product or we tried this feature and didn't work," then this journey of fail. This is going to be your journey. But once you figure out product market fit, if it disappears, then pivot is one option, shutting down is another option. And for shutting down, there are two things that you need to ask yourself. Do I have the energy to keep on going? Maybe you basically say, "I spent the last seven years trying to do that and now it's gone and you know what? I need some time off." And the other one is that do I really have the assets to become dramatically successful? Pontera is one of my startups that I started back in 2012. And back then we called that FeeX. And we were dealing with financial fees in Israel and we were actually pretty successful. And then we decided, okay, wait a minute, Israel is a small market, let's move to the US. And we moved to the US. And one day the CEO came to me and said, "Look, we need to focus, I cannot do both, so we need to pivot." And we stopped the Israeli operation completely in order to focus all of our effort on the US operation. And then we realized that the nature of the beast is different and therefore we need to re-look for product market fit. And eventually we found that with the regulations of the Obama administration, and that was our product back in 2016 or 17. And then the administration have changed and now it's going to change again. And they changed the regulation. And overnight we figured out that ... And we were actually on being a successful path. And we had to reinvent ourself. have changed and now it's going to change again. And they changed the regulation. And overnight we figured out that ... And we were actually on being a successful path. And we had to reinvent ourself. Now, what we basically said is, "Look, we have the energy to keep on going, we have something, a thesis that we believe might be relevant for us. We have the technology that can serve the thesis and we have enough cash to try it out." And we went back to the board and we offered them two options. Number one, we give you your money back. And number two, this is what we're going to try. And the interesting part is that investors don't want their money back. They did not invest in order to have their money back, they invest in order to make a significant impact. And obviously they don't want to go back to their investors and tell them, guess what? And so we had all the support to keep trying something else. And since 2018, we are actually being pretty successful on this path. And all of a sudden, company is 12 years old, and we pivoted twice. And now we are end of the day helping Americans to retire richer. Helping financial advisors to support you on your 401k plans, on retirement saving plans. And the result is pretty significant. So this company is on a path of being successful, but we almost died twice. And look, all the CEOs in the world, if you would ask them, have you nearly died already? And they will tell you yes. And then the next question would be how many times? And they will tell you multiple times. And if they're not, that means that they're simply too early on their journey.…

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