In the past 8 months, I've repositioned my consultancy four times. From the outside, that probably looks like chaos—a founder who can't make up his mind. From the inside, it feels like calibration. Each pivot taught me something about the market, about my skills, and about what kind of work I can actually sustain.
This isn't a success story. It's a framework for navigating uncertainty without losing your mind—or your north star.
The Journey: 4 Pivots, 4 Lessons
May 2025: "AI Solutions Studio"
I started broad. Fractional CTO services, AI implementation, custom agents—if it involved AI and SMEs, I'd do it. The positioning was accurate but generic. "AI consultancy for SMEs" describes a thousand firms.
Lesson: Being accurate isn't the same as being memorable. Broad positioning makes you invisible.
Mid-2025: "Live Build Studio"
I explored a radical simplification: "Your Problem. Solved. Today." Day-rate builds where clients watch me code their solution in real-time. Pricing from $1,500 for a half-day to $15,000 for a week.
It was conceptually elegant. I never launched it.
Lesson: Not launching is a valid outcome. I learned what Ididn't want: a business dependent on constant marketing to fill daily slots. The explore phase served its purpose without needing to ship.
Late 2025: "AI Employee MVP Studio"
Then I went productized: three tiers of "AI Employees" at fixed prices. Junior ($10k), Senior ($25k), Department Head ($40k). Clear deliverables, fixed timelines, easy to explain.
I built the architecture. I wrote the specs. I designed the components.
Then I realized the model fought against my wiring. Productized services require marketing funnels, sales systems, and sustained low-intensity effort. My brain doesn't work that way. I sprint. I go deep. I ship fast and move on.
Lesson: A smart business model that doesn't fit your operating system isn't smart for you. Energy alignment matters.
December 2025: Voice Agents
Now I'm focused on voice agents for sales and customer lifecycle—powered by ElevenLabs, built bespoke for each client. Specialized enough to be memorable. Bespoke enough to match how I actually work.
Lesson: Specificity creates clarity. "I build voice agents that qualify your leads" opens more conversations than "I do AI consulting."
The Framework: Structured Exploration
Looking back, I wasn't flailing. I was running a search algorithm with constraints. Here's the framework that emerged:
1. Preserve the Core
Through every pivot, my mission stayed constant: help SMEs implement AI that actually works. The "what" never changed. Only the "how."
Pivots without a stable core are just chaos. The core gives you something to measure against: "Does this still serve the mission?"
2. Kill Fast, Learn Faster
I didn't spend months on the Live Build Studio. I explored it, extracted the learning (I don't want a slot-filling business), and moved on. The AI Employee architecture got further—but when I felt the friction, I listened.
Sunk cost fallacy kills founders. The question isn't "how much have I invested?" It's "does this still make sense?"
3. Align with Your Wiring
I have ADHD. My brain does sprints, not marathons. I'm energized by deep technical work and client intensity, drained by marketing funnels and support queues.
The "AI Employee" productized model required exactly what drains me. Bespoke voice agent builds require exactly what energizes me.
This isn't about being lazy. It's about sustainable performance. Work with your wiring, not against it.
4. Ship to Learn
Through all four pivots, I shipped real work. NTUC Navigator (enterprise RAG). Ray of Joy Therapy (healthcare compliance). One Dollar Only (e-commerce + AI literacy). The Sustainability Service (research platform).
Real portfolio beats business plans. I learned more from shipping four client projects than I would have from four months of market research.
The Venn Diagram That Keeps Moving
Everyone talks about finding the intersection of:
- What the market wants
- What you're good at
- What energizes you
What they don't mention: this intersection moves. Markets shift. Your skills evolve. Your energy patterns change as life circumstances change.
The skill isn't finding the intersection once. It's noticing when it shifts and adjusting before you're stuck.
The Pace Paradox
Four pivots in eight months feels fast. But here's the thing: I have a portfolio with shipped work, a clear positioning, and real lessons extracted.
Compare that to the alternative: three years of business planning with nothing live. Endless strategy documents. Perfect positioning that never gets tested.
The pace feels fast because I'm actually doing the work. Shipping beats planning. Learning beats strategizing. Calibrating beats predicting.
What I'd Tell My May Self
You're going to change your positioning four times. That's not failure—it's data. Each pivot will teach you something you couldn't have learned from a whiteboard.
The mission will stay constant. The method will evolve. And by December, you'll have something that actually fits—your market, your skills, and your brain.
Keep shipping.