Article · 7 min read

The art of the pivot: Work closely with investors to improve your odds

Marjorie Radlo-Zandi (angel investor and entrepreneur) · TechCrunch Free Intermediate

This is the investor reading the room from the other side of the table. Radlo-Zandi is explicit that 'flying solo' and announcing a change with no written plan is what reads as panic, while a founder who arrives with best/worst/mid-case numbers and a clear picture of what staying the course would cost reads as in control. It backs the core move: bring the data that killed the old thesis and the specific new bet, framed as a decision you have already reasoned through.

  • Investors flag panic when a founder announces a pivot with no written plan or financial scenarios attached
  • Present the cost of not pivoting alongside the upside of the new direction, so the change reads as a calculated call
  • Test the idea informally with your lead first, then formalize, rather than surprising the whole cap table at once
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The question it answers

  1. How do I tell my investors we need to pivot without them losing confidence in me?

Read with it

  1. Three founders describe, in their own words, exactly how they handled investors through a pivot, and the contrast is the... Mercury blog Article · 12 min read 3 founders on their experience pivoting their companies Mercury (Meghan Gunn), featuring Dave Rogenmoser (Jasper), Andres Klaric (Fuse), Hillary Lin (Curio)
  2. An Indian fintech case where the pivot is dramatic (consumer neo-bank to AI-led B2B) and the founder's public communication is... Value For Startups (valueforstartups.in) Article · 20 min read Fi Money Investor Report: $522M Peak to Shutdown Story Value For Startups (analysis of founder Sujith Narayanan's communication)
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