The Quantum State of Startup Pivots

Reflections from the edge of success

There's a strange moment in startup life that I've been thinking about lately. It's the liminal space after many pivots when you're starting to see signs of real traction—but you're not yet successful enough for the story to be written.

We're in that space right now with Robo. After three years of pivots, failures, and eventually selling Build, we’re seeing real pull on something that feels different, bigger. It’s not just the metrics, it’s the feeling that building AI for biotech is the intersection of everything we’ve done and love.

If we succeed from here, our journey will be cast in golden light. Pivoting in changing markets, launching and having the fortitude to kill or sell multiple products with thousands of users, and eventually finding our way to the right space — that’s what will go in the articles they write.

But if we fail? Those same decisions, that same path, will be dissected through a different lens. Nothing about it will change, but we simply live in a world where simple narratives sell.

I’m not complaining, or offering a solution. I crave simple narratives myself; it is human nature. What better way can we search for craft than to use success as a proxy?

The scientist in me wishes there was some more robust way to measure craft in startups given how much luck and timing we know is involved, but I know that’s not possible.

So what strikes me in this moment of standing on the edge is just to know deeply that both sides are correct. If nothing else, I’m writing this to try and crystalize that messy reality. Nobody will write about us if we fail, but if we succeed I hope they quote me on this.

I am both deeply proud and at times embarrassed about the messiness of our path. We have persevered where many would have quit, pivoted out of local maxima that kill most startups, launched and sold a product that actually worked. But if I were to do it again, I’d get to this point faster — we made mistakes, missed the forest for the trees, spent money wandering through the fog.

Perhaps I share because I know that in reality the biggest narrative we collectively and incorrectly buy as entrepreneurs is that these simplified narratives matter. Our closest investors, friends, and collaborators see the duality as we do.

P.S. speaking of collaborators, as we scramble to onboard new customers I’m looking to work with a few advisors – would love reposts or referrals to help us find someone great.