Despite reaching seven figures in revenue, Doppel's founders pivoted from serving NFT marketplaces. They recognized the market's trajectory was poor and their ambition to "serve the whole world" required a shift to a larger, more sustainable market like cybersecurity.
Related Insights
Doppel's founders didn't start with a specific user problem. Instead, they analyzed macro trends (AI, Crypto) and identified a high-level threat: the erosion of "digital authenticity." This broad vision allowed them to explore initial markets like NFTs before pivoting to cybersecurity.
Founders can waste time trying to force an initial idea. The key is to remain open-minded and identify where the market is surprisingly easy to sell into. Mercor found hypergrowth by pivoting from general hiring to serving the intense, specific needs of AI labs.
Bridge was founded just before the 2022 crypto crashes. The collapse of the NFT market, their initial focus, forced them to pivot to stablecoin infrastructure, which proved to be a much larger and more durable market, demonstrating how market shocks can be clarifying.
Doppel successfully raised a Series A from a16z while actively pivoting. This was possible because they demonstrated 10x revenue growth, a strong pipeline in the new cybersecurity market, and a compelling vision that the team was uniquely positioned to execute.
Doppel initially sold to trust & safety and legal teams. However, they realized cybersecurity teams were the "power users" who derived the most value, evangelized the product, and were willing to spend more. This insight drove their successful pivot to the cybersecurity market.
Despite having a working product and millions in revenue, the team realized their low average contract value (ACV) of $6K would prevent them from scaling to hundreds of millions. This economic reality forced them to pivot and find a new, higher-value vertical.
Founders who've built a product but aren't seeing traction should stop focusing on the product. Instead, they must leverage their market knowledge to find the real customer demand, even if it means scrapping prior work. This pivot can unlock massive growth, as seen with a startup that went 0 to $34M ARR.
Don't overlook seemingly "boring" industries like cybersecurity or compliance. These sectors often have massive, non-negotiable budgets and fewer competitors than glamorous, consumer-facing markets. Solving complex, high-stakes problems for large companies is a direct path to significant revenue.
Doppel shut down its original API for detecting fake NFTs after realizing it had only one real customer and other prospects weren't willing to pay much. This decisive action, based on clear market feedback, freed them up to focus on their more promising pivot to cybersecurity.
Even with strong revenue growth, founders should seriously consider M&A offers if their Total Addressable Market (TAM) isn't expanding at a faster rate. A stagnant TAM indicates a future ceiling on value creation, and selling may be the optimal outcome before hitting that wall.
