The investor who talked me out of a pivot, then walked away

I was 6 months into a B2B SaaS for local restaurants in Austin, and things were stalling. One angel investor I met at a coffee shop on South Congress kept insisting we double down on the original idea, said pivoting was a sign of weakness. I listened to him, burned another 3 months and $20k chasing that path, and then he ghosted me when we ran out of runway. Did you ever have an advisor or investor steer you wrong, and how did you figure out who to trust?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray_carr3d ago

That "pivoting is a sign of weakness" line gets me every time. It's such a macho thing to say but it's total garbage. I had a guy tell me that about my landscaping software back in 2017 and I listened to him for way too long. Pivoting isn't weakness, it's being smart enough to read the room. Local restaurants are honestly a rough B2B space too. Most of them are barely keeping the lights on and don't want another monthly subscription. Trust your gut next time, not some guy who buys you a coffee.

xena_jackson3d ago

Yeah but @ray_carr, I’ve seen a ton of founders pivot too early and just throw away the time they already invested... sometimes it’s not about macho ego, it’s about actually giving your original bet a fair shot before bailing.