My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Zoom-In Pivot Framework
A strategic pivot where you narrow focus from a broad, mediocre product for everyone to an excellent product for a specific niche that already shows traction within your existing user base.
How It Works
Works by concentrating resources on the highest-engagement segment of your current users, allowing you to build deeper value and stronger product-market fit for that specific group.
Components
Analyze usage data to identify highest-engagement user segments
Interview power users to understand their specific needs and pain points
Redesign product specifically for this segment's workflows
Rebuild marketing and positioning around the niche
Test retention and monetization in the focused segment
When to Use
When your broad product has lukewarm reception overall but shows strong engagement signals from a specific user segment (typically 2-10% of total users).
When Not to Use
When no clear high-engagement segment exists, when the niche is too small to sustain a business, or when you haven't validated the broader market first.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“Jenny AI started as a generic writing tool competing with Jasper. They noticed college students using it for essays had much higher engagement. They pivoted to become a specialized essay writing assistant with plagiarism checking, citation tools, and academic-specific features, growing from $2K to $300K MRR.”