Helping people make better decisions was the original intention of Cloverpop’s eponymous software. Utilizing a combination of analytics and social storytelling (talking it out with others), Cloverpop aimed to provide people with a well-informed alternative to following their gut. In 2015, Cloverpop made a big decision of its own: It shifted the focus, pivoting away from its original consumer audience to business.
In an article written for Fast Company, Cloverpop CEO and founder Erik Larson writes, “Our pivot was more like a weeks-long trudge through a fog of confusion that took lots of hard work and hard choices to emerge from. But that experience helped solidify our confidence and grit as a business team.” Larson, a former Adobe product executive who founded Cloverpop in 2013, chose to refocus the company’s efforts on the business sector. Turns out there’s a market for helping managers make difficult decisions. After refocusing the company, Cloverpop raised a $1.8 million seed round in Oct. 2015.
The Cloverpop software helped Larson make the decision to change the direction of his company. Originally, the company focused on helping people make decisions in their personal lives. Larson says the number of users asking personal questions wasn’t growing at the rate the company had hoped, so he had to decide whether or not to shift Cloverpop’s focus on the business sector.
When it comes to decision-making, Larson says managers face two problems: a lack of concrete information and biases. Those who use Cloverpop are asked questions like “How much experience do you have in making this decision?” or “What are the alternatives?” Asking users about their alternatives is the most important question to ask, Larson says. Cloverpop designed its software with data from more than 200 experiments, and contributions from psychologists like Daniel Kahneman, who won a Nobel Prize for economics in 2012.
After making the product available to businesses, Larson says Cloverpop has helped roughly 5,000 managers make nearly 20,000 decisions. Cloverpop has helped solve common problems related to personnel (hiring, firing, and reorganization), project prioritization, and how to shrink or grow the business. The business product is currently by invitation-only, but the original, personal product remains open to the public.
— Hoa Sanchez
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