Cofounders Alex Ruber and Parth Chopra. Courtesy of Alex Ruber Alex Ruber and his cofounder, Parth Chopra, entered YC's fall 2024 batch with an AI shopping tool. After running at a loss, they pivoted through five to six ideas before finding success. He said their biggest mistake during the search for a winning app was how they handled pivots. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Ruber, a 29-year-old cofounder and CEO, based in San Francisco. The following has been edited