For its first few years, Andy Ruben’s company was called Yerdle, and it was an online swap meet. It did fine–not great, but fine. Ruben had a gut feeling it could be better, but the rest of the company didn’t agree. Dozens of employees left, and Ruben considered stepping down as CEO. Left with a skeleton team, he pivoted the Brisbane, California, company–now called Trove–to become a platform that allows top brands to resell returned products. The move paid off, and revenue took off. The real test of a fast-growth entrepreneur, Ruben realized, is recognizing when your company is stuck in that space between success and failure–and doing something about it. –As told to Cameron Albert-Deitch
