Should I Stay or Should I Go?
If you’ve been an entrepreneur for more than five minutes, you’ve probably heard both of these pieces of advice:
Stay the course.
Pivot when it’s not working.
It’s like a never-ending tennis match of wisdom being lobbed across the net, back and forth, back and forth. One side insists that success goes to those who hang in there, who refuse to quit, who keep grinding until the market catches up. The other side says the real winners are the ones who see the writing on the wall early and make the bold pivot fast.
So which is it? Should you double down or walk away? Stay the course or change direction?
Despite that advice being tossed around endlessly, few offer any real help on how to actually decide.
Yesterday, I was talking with a client who isn’t growing as fast as she’d hoped. Her solution? To build an entirely new product. Again. And I get it — I’ve been there more times than I care to admit.
Even now, when business doesn’t feel like it’s growing fast enough, I notice the same impulse in myself: create something new. Test a new offering. Build the next thing.
Why? Part of it is boredom because most entrepreneurs are wired for novelty. But the bigger driver is the belief that if we could just land on the perfect offering, the one that finally “clicks,” the flywheel will start spinning
So how do you know when it’s time to stay or go?
While there is no crystal ball and no perfect formula, there are some clues.
If you haven’t fully tested, marketed, or committed to what you’ve already built, it’s probably too soon to pivot.
If the genuine feedback from actual clients and customers (not from your mother or from other people who love you) is telling you that you are solving a real problem or delivering a meaningful benefit, hang in there.
If your core idea still lights you up — even if it’s not yet working — that spark is data. Stay a bit longer.
But if you’ve lost curiosity, if you find yourself dreading the work or feeling detached from the mission, it might be time to go.
BUT, before you throw in the towel, ask yourself: Have I really tried or have I only thought about trying?
Because sometimes the answer isn’t in building something new. It’s in finally giving what you’ve already built a real chance to succeed.