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These 8 Pivots by Startups Changed the World

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These 8 Pivots by Startups Changed the World

These 8 Pivots by Startups Changed the World

How do successful companies get built? Is there a predetermined formula or ideal circumstances to get off on the right foot as an entrepreneur?

When it comes to the technology world, the truth is that the most successful companies come in all shapes and sizes. Once in a while, strategy and its execution go as planned – but more often than not, a company must change its entire basis to get its best shot at winning.

In the startup world, this is called a “pivot”. It’s a risky change of direction that could end up as a game-changing success or a resolute failure. Circumstances can change fast to prompt such a desperation move. With technological progress growing at an exponential rate, in many tech-focused businesses such pivots can even be the norm.

There are many reasons a company may shake up its strategy. Maybe the customer response isn’t what was expected, or perhaps intuition suggests that a product could be used another way with a few modifications. Sometimes a mentor or friend may have a different vision on how something can be used, and other times a competitor can apply pressure to an early-stage startup by offering a similar or better product.

I know something about pivots myself, as this website (Visual Capitalist) is the result of a few of them. We first started as a marketing consultancy, and then we gambled at the idea of using infographics to supplement the press releases of microcap public companies. Neither of those really were effective, but we still loved the idea of explaining the business and investment world with rich visuals – and eventually Visual Capitalist was born.

Similarly, many other companies that we cherish would not exist without these types of strategic pivots. Twitter, Paypal, Nintendo, and many others were born under completely different circumstances than we know them today. Nintendo built vacuum cleaners and made instant rice until they thought the video game industry could be an interesting market. Nokia, which in the late 2000s was one of the biggest mobile phone makers by market share, used to have a Finnish paper mill and manufacture rubber goods in its early stages.

Today’s infographic looks at eight of the startup pivots that have changed the world.

Original graphic by: WhoisHostingThis?

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AI

Visualizing the Top U.S. States for AI Jobs

Nearly 800,000 AI jobs were posted in the U.S. throughout 2022. View this graphic to see a breakdown by state.

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Visualizing the Top U.S. States for AI Jobs

Much ink has been spilled over fears that artificial intelligence (AI) will eliminate jobs in the economy. While some of those fears may be well-founded, red-hot interest in AI innovation is creating new jobs as well.

This graphic visualizes data from Lightcast, a labor market analytics firm, which shows how many AI-related jobs were posted in each state throughout 2022.

In total there were 795,624 AI jobs posted throughout the year, of which 469,925 (59%) were in the top 10. The full tally is included in the table below.

RankStateNumber of job postings% of total
1California142,15417.9%
2Texas66,6248.4%
3New York43,8995.5%
4Massachusetts34,6034.3%
5Virginia34,2214.3%
6Florida33,5854.2%
7Illinois31,5694.0%
8Washington31,2843.9%
9Georgia26,6203.3%
10Michigan25,3663.2%
11North Carolina23,8543.0%
12New Jersey23,4472.9%
13Colorado20,4212.6%
14Pennsylvania20,3972.6%
15Arizona19,5142.5%
16Ohio19,2082.4%
17Maryland16,7692.1%
18Minnesota11,8081.5%
19Tennessee11,1731.4%
20Missouri10,9901.4%
21Oregon10,8111.4%
22Washington, D.C.9,6061.2%
23Indiana9,2471.2%
24Connecticut8,9601.1%
25Wisconsin8,8791.1%
26Alabama7,8661.0%
27Kansas7,6831.0%
28Arkansas7,2470.9%
29Utah6,8850.9%
30Nevada6,8130.9%
31Idaho6,1090.8%
32Oklahoma5,7190.7%
33Iowa5,6700.7%
34South Carolina4,9280.6%
35Louisiana4,8060.6%
36Kentucky4,5360.6%
37Nebraska4,0320.5%
38Delaware3,5030.4%
39New Mexico3,3570.4%
40Rhode Island2,9650.4%
41New Hampshire2,7190.3%
42Hawaii2,5500.3%
43Mississippi2,5480.3%
44Maine2,2270.3%
45South Dakota2,1950.3%
46Vermont1,5710.2%
47North Dakota1,2270.2%
48Alaska9700.1%
49West Virginia8870.1%
50Montana8330.1%
51Wyoming7690.1%

The following chart adds some context to these numbers. It shows how the percentage of AI job postings in some of the top states has changed since 2010.

We can see that California quickly became the primary destination for AI jobs in the early 2010s, presumably as Silicon Valley companies began developing the technology.

California’s share has since declined, with a significant number of jobs seemingly moving to Texas. In fact, many tech companies are relocating to Texas to avoid California’s relatively higher taxes and cost of living.

The 10 Most In-Demand Specialized Skills

Lightcast also captured the top 10 specialized skills that were required for AI-related jobs. These are listed in the table below.

SkillFrequency (number of postings)Frequency (% of postings)
Python296,66237%
Computer Science260,33333%
SQL185,80723%
Data Analysis159,80120%
Data Science157,85520%
Amazon Web Services155,61519%
Agile Methodology152,96519%
Automation138,79117%
Java133,85617%
Software Engineering133,28617%

If you’re interested in a career that focuses on AI, becoming proficient in Python is likely to be a good first step.

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