Fire customers to force product focus—revenue prevents necessary changes, so cut it to build what you need
When Ibby pivoted from customer analytics to AI agents, he deliberately fired consulting-heavy customers. Having those customers created inertia—the temptation to keep serving them, doing custom work, making money the old way. But keeping them would prevent building the real product. Revenue is supposed to be a good signal, but when it comes from the wrong business model, it's an anchor preventing you from swimming to where you need to go. Firing customers is counterintuitive and scary, but sometimes it's the only way to force yourself to build what actually needs to exist rather than what currently pays the bills.
When to use
Use this when you've identified a better product/market but existing customers want the old thing. If keeping current customers means you can't build the new product (because you're too busy servicing them, or because their needs pull you in the wrong direction), cut them loose. Especially relevant after a pivot where old customers want the old solution.
Don't do this
Trying to serve both old customers (keeping revenue) AND build new product simultaneously. This usually means the new product never gets the focus it needs and you end up stuck in the old model. Or gradually transitioning customers when you need a clean break to force yourself to commit to the new direction.
1 Founder Who Did This
When pivoting from analytics platform to AI agent builder, Ibby deliberately fired consulting-heavy customers. Keeping them would mean continuing custom builds and services work, preventing focus on building real product.