Kill Your Darlings: When to Pivot or Fold Your SaaS

Ego is the silent killer of startups. We fall in love with our "brilliant" ideas and ignore the mounting evidence that the market doesn't care.

Knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing how to start.

The Sunk Cost Trap

You've spent $500 on a logo, $200 on a domain, and 400 hours coding. Your brain tells you: "I've come this far, I can't stop now."

This is a lie. Your past investment has zero impact on your future success. Only current market signal matters.

The Decision Matrix

Signal: High Traffic, Low Conversion

Diagnosis: You found the right people, but your solution (or price) is wrong. Action: Pivot the product feature set. Ask your visitors why they didn't sign up.

Signal: Low Traffic, High Conversion

Diagnosis: You have a "Product-Message Fit" but a "Distribution Problem." Action: Double down. Don't change the product; change how you find users.

Signal: Low Traffic, Low Conversion

Diagnosis: The "Dead Zone." Action: Fold. If you’ve tried 3 different ways to explain the value and 3 different ways to find users and still get zero bites, it’s time to move on to the next idea.

How to Pivot Without Panicking

A pivot isn't a failure; it's a directional correction.

• Customer Pivot: Same product, different target audience.
• Problem Pivot: Different problem for the same target audience.
• Feature Pivot: One tiny feature of your current app becomes the "whole" app (The Instagram/Burbn approach).

Summary

The goal of a founder is to find a problem worth solving. If your "darling" idea isn't that problem, kill it. You’ll have more energy for the one that actually works.

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Feeling stuck? Let Torrn's AI personas be the objective judge you can't be for yourself.