Pivot: How Top Entrepreneurs Adapt and Change Course to Find Ultimate Success

Introduction: Is There a Better Way?

It was Friday morning, July 20, 2012, when Remigio Arteaga (Remy, as he is known to his friends) and Joanne Hyland were meeting in Troy, New York, to discuss their new cloud innovation platforms. As the meeting entered its fourth hour, Remy began to think back to his third startup, Ironsilk—a web platform that enabled the delivery of premium content to members. It was launched in 2001, a year after Remy's second startup was acquired. Remy thought back to how excited he was then. Like so many startups, Ironsilk started with a detailed business plan covering everything from business model to five-year financial projections. Remy spent considerable time working on Ironsilk's business plan. Today, premium content can be found everywhere, but at the time it was an unproven business model. In fact, the debate on whether to restrict content to registered members was still a few years away.

Remy's idea was to have Ironsilk deliver premium content from video game websites to fans of such websites. In return for viewing free premium content, fans would opt in to receive third-party e-mail advertisements. By opting in for e-mail advertisements, fans' e-mails became a valuable asset that was then shared with third-party advertisers for a fee. This fee was then split between Ironsilk and the video game website owners. With the success of his previous venture and a strong business plan at his back, Remy put pedal to the metal and quickly developed and launched ...