Simon Newstead, CEO of Frenzoo shares The Art of Pivoting at Echelon 2012 - Asia's leading tech startup event, organized by e27. Official Coverage: http://e27.sg/2012/06/11/echelon-live-how-a-successful-pivot-scored-a-1-million-user-growth-in-just-2-weeks/

1. Art of the
Startup Pivot
Simon Newstead
CEO Frenzoo
@simonhk

2. We launched at e27 conference in 2009
“The first 3d virtual world on the web”
We were on top of the world!

3. We had a Product. Seed Funding. Press…
“Skype Founders
invest in Frenzoo”

4. BUT….
Only grew to 500,000 users
Organic growth was slow
Paid acquisition expensive
Only retaining niche users
Mainstream users not engaged

5. The Problem – Friends Are Nice
Easy to believe your own hype

6. We HAD to pivot…

8. Reached:
#1 free RPG on iOS
#1 free game on Kindle Fire
Under 1 Million users in two years
vs
1 Million users in two weeks.

9. Want to pivot? You’re not alone

10. Social network to flash sales giant

11. Hands up if you know this company?

12. Red Octane

13. Pressing factors for change
Users not excited?
Steep retention drop off?
Mismatch of CPA vs LTV
Market too small?
Running out of runway…

14. 5 tips for your successful pivot

15. Tip 1 – Increase your runway
(survive!)

16. Tip 2 – Learn from your mistakes
Area Before After
UX ✖ ✔
Tech ✔ ✔
Market need ✖ ✔
Distribution ✖ ✔
Team ✔ ✔
Unique product ✖ ✔

17. Tip 3 – Leverage what you did right
Nowbox.com Delight.io
Video player Video capture SDK tool

18. Tip 4 – Rebrand

19. Tip 4 – Rebrand

20. Tip 5 – Don’t look back

21. Thanks! Questions?
simon@frenzoo.com
@simonhk
IteratingFun.com