In the world of business and innovation, we often celebrate flawless victories and stories of instant success. We see a brilliant product and assume it was born from a single stroke of genius. The reality is that the path to creating something amazing is rarely a straight line. It’s often messy, filled with wrong turns, unexpected dead ends, and outright failures. Many of the iconic brands and products we use every single day started out as something completely different. They were destined for the trash heap of bad ideas until a moment of insight or a happy accident changed everything. This is the fascinating story of the pivot—the moment a company realizes its original plan isn't working and makes a bold change in direction. It’s a tale of resilience, creativity, and the surprising power of failure.

From Wallpaper Cleaner to Play-Doh

One of the most beloved toys of all time has a surprisingly practical and grimy origin story. In the 1930s, a company called Kutol Products created a soft, putty-like substance with a very specific purpose: to clean soot and coal residue off of wallpaper. Before the days of washable vinyl wallpaper, this doughy cleaner was a household staple for people with coal-burning heaters. It worked well, but as homes transitioned to cleaner heating sources like oil and gas and vinyl wallpaper became popular, the demand for Kutol’s product plummeted. The company was on the brink of collapse.

The brilliant pivot came from a family member of one of the company's leaders, Kay Zufall. She was a nursery school teacher who read an article about children using the wallpaper cleaner for art projects. She tested it with her students and found that they loved molding and shaping the non-toxic dough. She suggested they rebrand the cleaner as a children's toy. The company removed the detergent, added bright colors and a distinct almond scent, and renamed it "Play-Doh." The once-failing product was an instant hit, and today, more than three billion cans have been sold.

From Gaming Glitch to Instagram

It’s hard to imagine a world without Instagram, the photo-sharing giant that defines so much of modern social media. But this global phenomenon started as a completely different, much more complicated app called Burbn. Created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Burbn was a location-based social network that allowed users to check in at different places, make plans with friends, and post pictures. The problem was that the app was too cluttered and confusing. It tried to do too many things at once, and it never really caught on.

Systrom and Krieger looked closely at their user data and noticed something interesting. While people weren't using most of Burbn's features, they loved posting and sharing photos. This was the one part of the app that truly resonated with users. So, they made a bold decision. They stripped away all the other features—the check-ins, the planning, everything—and focused exclusively on photo sharing. They added cool filters to make mobile photos look better and renamed the app Instagram. The streamlined, photo-first approach was an immediate success, and the app gained millions of users in a short time before being acquired by Facebook for a billion dollars.

From Podcasting Failure to Twitter

Before the 140-character (now 280-character) revolution, there was Odeo, a platform for creating and sharing podcasts. In the mid-2000s, a small startup led by Noah Glass and Evan Williams was trying to build a business around podcasting. They had a team of talented engineers, but they soon ran into a massive problem: Apple. When Apple launched iTunes with its own built-in podcasting platform, it completely dominated the market overnight. The team at Odeo knew their business was doomed.

Facing failure, the company's leaders encouraged their employees to brainstorm new ideas during "hackathons." It was during one of these sessions that an engineer named Jack Dorsey pitched a simple concept: an SMS-based platform for sharing short status updates with a small group of friends. The idea, initially called "twttr," was seen as a fun side project. But as the team started using the prototype internally, they became addicted to the constant stream of short, real-time updates. They saw its potential to be something much bigger. The company pivoted away from the failing Odeo and focused all its energy on this new idea, which would soon become the global communication powerhouse known as Twitter (now X).

The Power of the Pivot

These stories share a common, powerful lesson: failure is not always the end. For these companies, it was a necessary and valuable part of the journey. Play-Doh, Instagram, and Twitter all exist because their creators were willing to let go of their original idea when it wasn't working.

This teaches us a few things about success:

  • Pay Attention to What Works: The founders of Instagram noticed that one small feature of their app was popular and leaned into it. Sometimes, your best idea is hidden inside a bigger, less successful one.
  • Don't Be Afraid to Start Over: The team at Odeo knew their original business was finished. Instead of going down with the ship, they had the courage to change course completely.
  • Listen to Your Audience: The creators of Play-Doh discovered a completely new use for their product by observing how people were actually using it.