Tokbox raised $12 million after going through a significant pivot. The company essentially stopped developing its consumer facing product, and instead focused on Open Tok, its video chat API, as its core business. We had a chance to conduct a short interview with Ian Small, CEO of TokBox to find out the pivot decision was made.
Startup Pivot Stories #1: How TokBox Changed Its Business Model
After reading lots of posts on ‘lean startups’, listening to Eric Reis in Seedcamp and devouring Steve Blank’s “Four Steps to the Epiphany”, I wanted to see real examples of companies that went through a pivot process. By definition, a Pivot, is a change in the company’s strategy or business model when things aren’t exactly working out according to the business plan. The first post in the series is on TokBox, a startup that went through a business model change and managed to generate significant value as a result.