Started reading about company pivots and quickly found myself blown away by some that I had no idea existed. A complete 180 of a pivot, which led to the brands we now know.
Nintendo
Nintendo did everything but video games before becoming the brand we know. They manufactured playing cards, vacuum cleaners, instant rice, ran a taxi company, and even a hotel chain. In 1966 Nintendo started producing video games.
Juicy Fruit and Wrigley’s Spearmint
Wrigley Jr. moved to Chicago to work as a salesman selling baking powder and soap. As an upsell, he gave away free gum. He quickly realized the gum was more popular than his other products, which led him to manufacture his own chewing gum brands.
Starbucks
Starbucks first started selling espresso makers and coffee beans in 1971. It was not until Howard Schultz visited Italy in 1983 that he wanted to brew and sell Starbucks coffee in a European-style coffeehouse.
Nokia
Nokia began as a Finnish paper mill in 1865. They created a variety of goods including rubber goods, electronics, and telecommunications devices. It was not until 1992 that they created their first mobile device.
Before Twitter, there was Odeo: a network where people could find and subscribe to podcasts. The problem was iTunes was dominating the niche. So the team had two weeks to pivot and came up with a status-updating micro-blogging platform.
Western Union
Western Union was originally a telegram service. The telephone and internet killed off telegrams, and Western Union pivoted to focus primarily on money transfers.
Play-Doh
Play-Doh was originally designed to clean black residue that coal heaters left on walls. A teacher started using the product in arts and crafts class, and the company explored the opportunity and pivoted to distribute to schools.
The pattern across all of these: they were paying attention to how people actually used their product, not how they intended it to be used. That attention is the real competitive advantage.