Don’t Come Back From Hell Empty-Handed
Times of crisis are always breeding grounds for opportunity, and Covad-19 is epic
I’ve lived through a lot of disasters in my life: the assassination of a president, Watergate, bell bottom jeans, Jimmy Carter, the crash of 1987, 9/11… And all these times of turmoil, fear, and doubt had two things in common: we’re still here, and each created opportunities for those that looked beyond the short term hysteria and saw not only a future, but the chance to build from the chaos a better future.
The current pandemic is no exception. On whichever side of the argument you fall – whether it is necessary to trade off the global economic health of the planet to “flatten the curve – or worried that the current one-size-fits-all-stop-the-planet cure to C19 is worse than the disease – it doesn’t matter. This pandemic will have lasting impact. The world a year from now will be a much different place than it was three months ago, like it or not. There’s an old saying on Wall Street: “Don’t fight the tape (referring to the old stock ticker tape), translated to, “the trend is your friend.” And the trend right now, right or wrong, is that remnants – a probably spinnaker-sized remnants – of today’s “social distancing” will be around for a long time. Maybe permanently. The airlines will need to find new ways of sanitization, making passengers comfortable about flying again. Restaurants will not longer serve food in traditional ways, any and all large venues will struggle to balance safety and contagion fears with practicality and entertainment. And governments at all levels will likely leverage the new powers they’ve assumed in deciding what is essential and what is not, whether in business or our personal lives. If that sounds like Hell, I agree. But that certainly appears to be the trend.
If you are reading this blog, it is highly likely that creativity and innovation are currencies in which you trade. And just as most businesses have suffered since Corona-mania struck in March, others have flourished. For example, as video conferencing, always a viable option, has become essentially mandatory, Zoom has seen its market cap nearly double has while the S&P has plunged. In my line of work, I have the opportunity to work with a lot of entrepreneurs, and virtually all are feeling the impact of C19: the scarcity of new capital, mandated shutdowns of public venues, difficultly in reaching new customers, and so on. But many – the majority – are looking at this journey through Hell as an opportunity. Perhaps the opportunity is simply using the downtime to reflect on the strategy, making course adjustments to accommodate a new reality. Others have quickly adapted, and are making changes and course corrections:
Boston-based Oana Manolache, CEO/founder of Introvoke (www.introvoke.com), was gaining traction streaming live events, primarily for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. When Corona hit and live events literally ended. Undeterred, Introvoke quickly adapted, accelerating the release of solutions such as virtual events capability, digital ticketing platform and multiple conference tools integration, in addition to their well established live streaming in-person events solutions. COVID19 forced organizations to think more about how to integrate technology in all aspects of business, including the connection with their customers, which has massively fueled Introvoke’s growth. Introvoke registered the highest monthly users in April since its launch in 2019, fast new customer adoption from organizations of all sizes and non-profits looking to go virtual, and high awareness as a technology brand to be considered for remote working. Introvoke is built for now and for the future.
Noteworth (www.noteworth.com), founded by CEO Justin Williams in Hoboken, NJ, found that his software platform could help hospitals process and manage Covid-19 patients rapidly and efficiently, and is struggling to
keep up with accelerating demand.
Canvas GFX (www.canfasgfx.com), a Canadian company led by CEO Patricia Hume that facilitates visualization of complex objects with precision and clarity – and also collaboration. While Canvas is typically used in industrial applications – Boeing, Caterpillar, NASA, Raytheon, 3M among their customer base – they found that the versatility of the Canvas suite can also help the pharmaceutical industry design the complex drugs, vaccines, and tests that will be in demand to help prevent of mitigate the next pandemic.
And of course I could go on. Point is, while the majority of the populations are cowering in fear, thousands of entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, and business leaders across the globe are running into the storm – not away from it – looking for the gems hidden in this wreckage. In the words of Winston Churchill, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” And don’t return from Hell without bringing back some wisdom.