Throughout the course of this school year, we experimented with many different ideas and routes that our project could take. We went in with a vision of what the company would be, and ended up pivoting  to make the business sustainable in the first few years. We have been asked, whether or not the business is a go (Green Light), or if it is not viable and it is time to pull out (Red Light).

I would have to say that we are at a yellow light right now. We are not rushing into things, especially since our pivot. We changed what the base of the business would be and it was a drastic change. It would be unwise to jump in the deep end without conducting more research and consulting with our partners on what the future of the business will be. The business was originally intended to be based solely on the production of high end ham and turkey. After our trip to Africa, and research we conducted through the earlier parts of the semester, we concluded that this would not be sustainable at a smaller scale and getting an MVP (minimal viable product) to the market would be difficult and expensive. We then decided to take an alternate route. The company will sustain itself as a normal piggery. Our staff already has the knowledge required to manage a piggery and it is estimated that the company will turn a profit by the end of its second year. This pivot gives us more time and resources to experiment with the original plan and perfect it with little risk for the success of the company.

So again, at this point we are at a yellow light, proceeding with caution not making any rash decisions before we validate the idea. This isn’t to say that we are eliminating risk all together, there is still a lot of risk taking this pivot. The company’s future is still uncertain but as entrepreneurs, it is our job to ensure that the company can get off the ground and grow in the most efficient way possible.