The Unexpected Success of Pivoting Your Best Asset

Every successful business or product implements a standard process, which helps move the idea from concept to reality. A core step to success is creating a plan and following the process, which is very familiar to those working in product design. A robust design process can help to deter pitfalls and figure out how to quickly work out any problems, as well as connect the consumer with the product from the early stages, a central element to a well-received product. 

Establishing a process is fundamental, but innovation is where inspiring stories are created. The delicate combination of being methodical while embracing the unexpected is where a shift in perspective can lead to unexpected success.

This shift in perspective is known as a pivot and is extremely helpful in times of crisis, as pivoting can help save a company that is enduring hard times, such as an economic downtown. But a pivot can also be a brilliant strategy when used correctly. 

Below we will examine two powerful stories of times when great innovators used their skills and inspiration to pivot their processes into unexpected success. 

In 1967 Time magazine released their April issue featuring a cover story titled “The Pill.” This story covered the invention of “the wonder pill” and discussed how the birth control pill improved the quality of life for the women who use it. A revolutionary scientific discovery, the birth control pill has continued to give women the freedom to write their own life stories on their terms. Podcast CTRL SHIFT! deep dives into the account of biologist Gregory Pincus in their premier episode “the birth of the Pill,” discussing how one scientist's life work and one activist's desire to change the world led to a medical discovery that would shift the social trajectory for women in significant ways. 

Gregory Pincus was a biologist who dedicated his career to developing Invitro Fertilization. He spent years pursuing his passion and accumulating knowledge about fertility in mammals. In 1937 Pincus experimented with IVF in Rabbits furthering his work. However, he was criticized by skeptics who feared his experiments. Pincus struggled with funding but continued to cumulate knowledge and input his findings into the scientific community.

In 1950 Pincus was approached by infamous birth control activist Margaret Sanger who was interested in developing a new birth control method that women could take discretely as opposed to condoms or the other methods used at the time. Sanger, whose clinic would eventually turn into the chain NGO franchise Planned Parenthood, believed that Pincus’ in-depth research on fertility provided the perfect foundation for developing new birth control technology.

Once Sanger ignited that initial spark of inspiration within Pincus, he realized that his qualifications made him the perfect person to work on this project. He could zoom out, look at the scope of his work, determine his most valuable asset – which at the time was his advanced understanding of the hormone progesterone – and pivot that asset to develop the first-ever birth control pill.

After Pincus realized that progesterone, the same hormone expressed during pregnancy, could be utilized to suppress fertilization without harming its user, he wanted to test his theory in human trials. Pincus linked up with Gynecologist John Rock. While most of Rock’s patients were trying to get pregnant, there were many who expressed interest in preventing pregnancy. As medical ethics were much different then, Pincus and Rock began giving trial oral contraceptives to Rocks patients and utilizing the health care workers in the hospital where Rock worked to try out the new drug. 

As his discovery advanced, Gregory Pincus’ goals shifted from conception to product success. He monitored trials of women using prototypes of his progesterone oral contraceptive and used the feedback to adjust levels and dosage. Unfortunately, in the early stages, women experienced harmful side effects, and many of them dropped out. Pincus was having a difficult time finding volunteers to continue to test his product so that he could refine the chemical composition. Due to certain U.S. laws, Pincus needed to find a territory with willing volunteers who met particular requirements, so he discovered that Puerto Rico provided him the opportunities necessary to see his goals all the way through to the finish line. 

After a few years of continuing experiments in Puerto Rico, Pincus was able to release an official oral contraceptive into the public market called “Enovid.” Within the first two years, more than 1.2 million women took the pill. While this was only the beginning of developing the modern-day birth control pill, Pincus’s successful pivot and ability to see his idea’s through to production is an inspiration to those with high aspirations and an entrepreneurial spirit. Years later, in addition to creating the birth control pill, Pincus’s IVF research was the basis for the first human trials of IVF. 

Gregory Pincus utilized his advanced knowledge, entrepreneurial spirit, and innovative mind to shift his process and his best asset to create a revolutionary product that changed the world.

Alex Stephany was looking for a business opportunity to latch onto. In 2011 he discovered a promising British service app called JustPark, launched by Antoni Eskenazi. The app connected users who had available parking spots with users looking for a place to park. Much like Uber, the app used the power of its user base to create a network to connect people.

Stephany promoted the app and invested in its growth, leading it to success and becoming CEO. He then launched a successful crowdfunding effort in 2015, combining his entrepreneurial skills with philanthropic ideologies. A year later, Stephany encountered a homeless man at a local train station. He bought the man a coffee and, after engaging in conversation, realized that this man needed more assistance than a warm cup of coffee or even somewhere safe to sleep. This homeless man spoke about his desire for valuable skills and opportunities to help him get a job and establish a stable life for himself.

This seemingly trivial encounter shifted Alex Stephany’s entire perspective. With an entrepreneurial mindset and a cultivated knowledge of crowdsourcing and the sharing economy, Stephany recognized how his assets could be pivoted to support a new business endeavor that helped those experiencing homelessness, just like the man he met at the train station.

From Stephany’s ambitious and imaginative pivot, Beam was born, a crowdfunding platform that assists people in transitioning out of homelessness through empowering education and training processes that will set them up for future success. As of today, over 1,200 people have started a new life through Beam, and the efforts of Stephany’s business idea pivoted. Beam utilizes a holistic approach to combatting homelessness, engaging the community, and empowering those to stay involved. Learn more about Beam and Alex Stephany’s inspiring story in episode two of CTRL SHIFT!

Two crucial aspects of knowing when and how to pivot are understanding your best asset through the lens of the below perspectives. The first is your cumulative expertise and knowledge of your asset; the other is your entrepreneurial spirit and innovative mindset to seek new and inspiring opportunities.

Do not underplay the high value of your acquired knowledge about a particular industry, product, feature, or any other aspect of your business and industry. All experiences within a related field are valuable experiences. The more knowledge you can harness, the more you can apply that knowledge to new inspiration, allowing you to see all possibilities your best asset can lead you to.

Embarking on an entrepreneurial endeavor takes a level of ambition that is not easy to come by. However, the ability to continually harness that passion and inspiration while you move forward in your planned process can become the “spark” to ignite a pivot when the opportunity presents itself. Startups, product design, and any other business that relies on innovation and the evolving human experience are prime foundations for an entrepreneurial spirit to thrive.

If you are an entrepreneur or designer and you find yourself frustrated with a fracture in the process, pause and take a moment to ask yourself, “is there an opportunity here to make a pivot?” The power of that pause and the ability to open up new and exciting pathways can lead you to exciting discoveries. 

Just as Pincus allowed his cumulative knowledge to lead him to develop a groundbreaking medical discovery, and Stephany embraced his passionate, entrepreneurial spirit to pivot his business ideas into an uplifting homeless community, your next great idea could be right around the corner. The more you open yourself up to shifting your valuable assets when the opportunity arises, the more likely you will create something unexpectedly life-changing.

Follow Humbleteam and discover even more inspiration on every episode of CTRL SHIFT! With new episodes released bi-weekly, listen on your favorite podcast platform.