I have been watching lots of Y combinator tutorials. There are a couple that discuss how important the starting ideas are. But I got some conflicting information.
One of them is by Jared Friedman (https://youtu.be/Th8JoIan4dg?si=dICXL5OIGPSTtYni). He claims that starting idea is not as important. You will gradually pivot to an amazing idea if you choose the right idea space. It is similar to what I have been hearing that great execution and team are everything
The other one of them is given by Sam Altman (https://youtu.be/egJeFaIXZLo?si=BUWflkxXt6a3NqZh). He claims that idea is extremely important. He has not seen pivoting to success.
I am confused. What do yall think. I mean I do hear stories where pivoting leads to success. Sam is very talented entrepreneur. Maybe I misunderstood him?
Appreciate any opinions!
In this day and age, there are few ideas that someone else won’t be able to copy. While it’s important to differentiate, you cannot sustain your business that way. Today, I’d argue that your brand matters a lot more and how well you can market it. Case in point, one of my clients is a pepper mill – he made his millions just grinding black pepper and selling it to restaurants and other food-related factories. That is a saturated market, but he had no issues taking a piece of the pie.
Sure, but for startups brand is to the disadvantages. I think brand is when you are moving across the chasm from early adopters to main population.
There is a period of time when you have to get early adopters and evangelist where idea and executions are the key