Monday Motivation: Lessons From Businesses That Reinvented Themselves

You know what Netflix, YouTube, and Slack have in common?

They all started as something completely different.

Netflix? DVD rentals by mail. YouTube? A video dating site (yeah, really). Slack? A gaming company that pivoted when their game flopped.

Lucus Labs has a similar story.

When I founded the company in 2017, we were all over the place. R&D projects. AgTech acquisition. Interactive 3D entertainment. We even worked with upcoming athletes for a while. If someone had a problem, we wanted to solve it.

Here's the thing though—just because you can build something doesn't mean you should.

At Lucus Labs, the pandemic forced us to hit pause and ask ourselves some tough questions. What were we actually good at? What did we keep coming back to? What problems were ours to solve?

That's when we reinvented ourselves. Not as a "we can do anything" company, but as a focused enterprise software company building AI and integration tools.

Was it easy? Nope. There was turbulence. I lost friends along the way. Lots of well-meaning advice that pulled us in directions that didn't align with my vision. But learning which voices to listen to—and which to ignore—was part of the journey.

Like Netflix, YouTube, Slack, and all the others that came before us, reinvention wasn't about choice, it was about survival. I had my fill of humble pie along the way, but, in the end, I am glad I did. That's when we found our stride and now have a bright (and clear) future ahead.

If you're building something right now and feeling scattered, you're not alone. Sometimes the path forward means letting go of what's comfortable and doubling down on what you're meant to do.

What about you? What's a pivot or reinvention moment that changed your business? Drop a comment below—I'd love to hear your story.

And if you're wrestling with your own "what's next" moment, reach out. Let's talk.

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