Pivot vs. persistence, the 12-step resilience framework, Pierre's B2B playbook

One of the most common problems I see as an executive, founder, and investor is:

“Should I keep pushing, or is it time to pivot?”

The 2020s have successfully disrupted the B2B realm starting with Covid, global wars, inflationary pressure, recession, AI - and other turbulent events along the way.

As a result, old playbooks no longer work.

• Blogs and publishing sites can no longer count on organic traffic with Google’s hectic algorithm updates

• Social networks are continuously chasing virality vs. providing actual value to users

• Email campaigns are getting saturated - thanks to AI SDR agents and waves of spam

• AI search and research is picking up, even at the price of hallucination

• Paid ads last year were challenged in the era of low spend (consumer withdrawal) and a handful of world events - the Olympics, the Euro cup, the elections, and the big Q4 shopping season (Prime Day, Black Friday, Christmas…)

And we see the busiest Q1 for work since 2016 for our Experimentation Retainers and across our portfolio of agency businesses and consulting clients.

Existing businesses running for a decade see their core channels disappearing overnight.

And new startups can’t seem to penetrate the market as the old playbooks of 2021 confidently dictated back in the day.

I’ve shaped a simple framework to determine whether an initiative is worth pursuing - both when rebuilding businesses and launching new ones.

The 12-Step B2B Resilience Framework

As we restructure initiatives across my companies (or when running quarterly reviews) and also run constant experiments by launching new sites, directories, AI tools, assessing validity and “should we keep up” revolves around a set of simple questions.

1. Do we still believe in the vision? Passion is integral in delivering results, regardless of whether an idea has merit or not. If we end up being convinced that it’s no longer a strong idea, it’s the first problem to confirm or combat with extrinsic motivation.

2. Is the value proposition still strong enough? If the core problem solved by the business/solution is still there, we keep pushing. If not, the offer isn’t good enough or AI took over jobs, we’re in trouble.

3. Can we afford to keep pushing while managing finances in place? In some cases, the burn rate is creeping into savings and available capital while revenue is far away. If revenue goes up continuously, it’s probably a matter of time. If we’ve been penetrating the space for months or even years and can’t crack it, it’s not a great opportunity to conquer.

4. Are we too late/early? Often a conversation of trying to solve a problem that’s not in demand - or has been a decade ago and long tried and tested.

5. When we’re back to a bull market, how strong will demand be? Certain categories are flowing when money circulates freely - and it’s a matter of time to wait out a bear market and get back on track. Ecommerce and non-essential goods are a good example here. But some products will never sell at scale, good or bad times alike.

6. Do we still trust the team/product/leadership enough? In tough times, you need the full package working. Some minor changes are always work in progress (product sprints, new hires or swaps), but you can’t fight two massive fires in parallel.

7. Is the go-to-market plan valid enough? If we count fully on organic growth and Google is fading away, that’s probably a losing battle. If we only aim at events but there are 2 strategic conferences a year for that ICP, it’s a lottery business. Confirm a viable GTM plan.

8. Do we keep the pulse on the ICP? Many products fail because of assumptions; not clear expectations. And even if we talk to friends/family, this may appear to be a great idea, but nobody is willing to pay for it. Conducting actual interviews with potential clients is uncomfortable, but needed.

9. How volatile is the top space in this market? I stay very careful with AI SaaS because Open AI, Anthropic, Google and many others progress every single week, making features obsolete (and killing entire cohorts of products)

10. Do we stick to the First Principles/Maslow’s pyramid? The closer a product/service is to solving a core, underlying problem, the better. Food and shelter will always be in demand 100% of the time. Sales and marketing will always be a business challenge. Making sure you solve core needs is imperative.

11. Are there reproducible CAC metrics in place? Some business models are too cost-prohibitive, but it’s clear how much it takes to scale. Others are still hypothetical - if at all. Scaling what’s clearly defined helps.

12. Is this idea aligned with the long-term strategy? Especially for satellite projects or new features/service lines, it’s always integral to believe in the mission long-term. I care about education and B2B. Business models revolving around other businesses investing in learning, content, distribution, branding have always worked in the past 20 years.

I follow the same paradigm for my brand ambassador contracts: I never work with businesses I don’t like and support myself because it’s a terrible strategy long-term - especially as your name is associated with a company a decade later if you do your job well.

Instead, I tend to work with 4-5 different businesses that I like - some I invest in as well - and currently expanding that proposition through the B2B ecosystem (amplified plans with exposure across the newsletter, podcast, social, directories, and more).

Head into the next section for the outstanding B2B content playbook that amassed 130,000 LinkedIn subscribers with QUALITY content! 

Mario

🎥 I’m truly honored to have Pierre on my podcast as a strategic B2B leader producing incredible educational content for B2B marketers and building an audience without all the fluff and clickbait:

Check out the full episode and his content library (Substack, website, courses, BootCamp - he’s been busy at work.)

✍️The debate over remote versus on-site work intensifies, with a focus on leadership roles. I opened up the remote Pandora box again around Jamie Dimon’s take on remote work (which went viral after bashing on Zoom conferences with no focus whatsoever). Leaders like Dimon and Benioff still at the helm keep flying around meeting clients on-site and closing deals, and keeping the pulse on their economies. And the gap between executive leadership and FTEs is growing.

✍️ Acquisitions are ramping up, adding a smarty newsletter acquisition to our list as well. We’re migrating to beehiiv before I fully announce that, but it’s designed to make you smarter for 6 minutes a week (bi-weekly, 3min each).

📈 Still observing smooth sailing in 2025, closing new deals following the January's ROAS update earlier. I enrich the LinkedIn newsletter repost on Saturdays with additional nuggets and ideas (between Wed and Sat), but the latest and greatest stays here.

✍️ With 100 weekly pitches on my radar, I’m sure I end up missing one or two good apples, but that’s where the overload inflicts damage. Think about a full pipeline vs. no opportunities: you end up skipping decent ones when swamped, compared to chasing every single one (including the bad apples).

🔖 Boost Engagement with AI-Driven Push Notifications — AI-powered push notifications are reshaping customer interactions, lifting open rates by 800% and increasing order values by 49%. Explore the top AI platforms that refine targeting, automation, and personalization for greater impact.

🔖 Improve Your Campaign Budgeting — Seasonal and event-driven campaigns call for different budget approaches to boost ROI. Seasonal budgets offer long-term consistency, while event campaigns demand quick, real-time shifts. Read the full breakdown on key budgeting differences to allocate your resources more wisely.

🔖 Refine PPC Targeting for Maximum ROI — Nailing down your audience can mean the gap between wasted ad spend and solid results. Rely on this detailed PPC checklist to fine-tune segmentation, lower CPC, and lift ROAS by as much as 30%.

🔖 Refine E-Commerce Tracking — GA4 cross-domain tracking plays a crucial role in following customer journeys across several websites without interruption. This streamlined setup boosts attribution accuracy and prevents data loss. Implement GA4 cross-domain tracking to access deeper analytics and improve conversion insights.

🔖 Re-Engage Smarter with Data-Driven Testing — Subject lines largely influence email open rates, and thoughtful testing plays a crucial role in raising engagement. Leverage best practices for A/B testing to fine-tune your messaging, improve conversions, and reawaken inactive subscribers effectively.

📃 Practical GTM breakdown across multiple channels. I’ve been using some of John’s products over the past year and am pleased with the quality of work. His breakdown of scaling Unicorn Platform across dozens of channels reveals what works and what doesnt’.

📃 Grok 3 set to debut. Elon Musk's xAI has launched Grok 3, a next-generation AI chatbot poised to challenge OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft-backed AI models, and China’s DeepSeek. The model introduces advanced reasoning capabilities and aims to push the boundaries of AI-driven interactions.

📃 $5M+ in brand sponsorships later. I’ve been following Chenell from Growth in Reverse since her first deep dives on newsletter creators and finally listened to her YouTube channel as well. Here’s an episode on newsletter sponsorships - make sure you follow along on social & YouTube.

📃 25 automated GTM plays to test. The future of GTM is still in the works, including personalization plays, warm outbound, signal-based, and more. Here are 25 power GTM plays Growth Unhinged.

📃 Major chip deal speculation. Intel shares jumped 10% amid reports that TSMC and Broadcom are considering acquiring parts of its business. While the Trump administration supports exploring the deal, concerns remain over foreign control of Intel’s manufacturing. The potential sale signals major shifts in the semiconductor industry.

📃 Expanding global connectivity. Meta has announced Project Waterworth, a 50,000km sub-sea cable connecting the U.S., India, South Africa, Brazil, and other regions. The initiative aims to enhance global internet infrastructure, support AI applications, and boost digital inclusion. As major tech firms invest heavily in undersea cables, concerns about geopolitical tensions and infrastructure security remain.

📃 Rehiring amid security concerns. The U.S. government is scrambling to rehire nuclear safety employees just days after their termination raised national security concerns. The layoffs were part of a broader federal workforce reduction, but officials are now struggling to contact the dismissed staff after locking them out of their federal email accounts.

📃 Privacy concerns over IRS access. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created by the Trump administration and led by Elon Musk, is seeking access to IRS data systems, raising alarm over privacy and security risks. Critics warn the move could disrupt tax filings, expose sensitive taxpayer data, and lead to potential misinterpretations of tax information.

Skipping the deals selection from Flippa this time (you can browse their catalog) because of their breaking news - a world tour Flippa x Google:

If there’s a business networking event you want to prioritize this year, I’d recommend one of their roadshow events there.

Flippa’s CEO Blake was on my podcast a few months back - make sure you catch up on their strategy if you haven’t seen it:

Need My Help?

Keeping myself busy - here are the main projects I focus on:

🌐 Scaling WordPress past 100M views? DevriX provides martech retainers to SMEs, publishers, eCommerce, SaaS, and more. Our plans start from $1,200/mo to $40K/mo and we manage high-traffic platforms, B2B SaaS apps, partnership management solutions, supporting $10M - $250M businesses with scalability, custom funnels, CRO, big data augmentation, AI-driven processes, HubSpot workflows, programmatic SEO - and everything a modern business requires in digital in 2025.

🚀  Work 1:1 with me? At Growth Shuttle, I run two popular plans: Async Advisory for $3M - $30M founders and executive teams and the smaller Strategic Growth Circle for $100K - $500K entrepreneurs, agency founders, scale ups.

📈 International founder looking into US LLCs? Check out doola and their “Business in a Box” model. Suitable for both foreigners and US citizens and both for residents and non-residents.

📊 Into digital M&A? I work closely with Flippa’s marketplace. They offer a vast variety of online businesses for any buyer’s interest. Or if you’re ready for an exit, Flippa provides the tools to list your business and close the deal.

💼 Looking for investment opportunities? Check out SeedBlink and use Equity to manage your ESOP tables in-house.