COVID-19 & Startups: Hidden Victims of a Global Fear
Could the Coronavirus death-count include world changing innovation?
TL;DR:
+COVID-19 is a globally spreading virus
+It has already had a large economic impact
+The casualties go beyond to Entrepreneurs & Creatives
+We hope this creates a place for discussion & support
+Do what you can to help out a founder or creative
Intro
{Get to the point? Skip to The Startup & Creative Casualties} I ended yesterday with a notification that the SXSW (South By Southwest) event our platform was debuting in was getting cancelled. Followed by my co-founder’s text saying that Capital Factory canceled all of their SXSW networking and startup promo events. This sucks, let me tell you, but let me also say that human life & health will always come first. I 100% support these decision, even if it hurts. You can call these cancellations unfair or over reacting, but I’ll call the organizers & decision makers and tell them I’m thankful I didn’t have to make the call. The reality is that there will always be casualties of unfortunate events (of which COVID-19 is one) and we should always seek to protect life to the degree we are capable and our conscience requires. I support decision makers, no matter their choice, because that’s what they deserve in nuanced events like these. To understand the casualties then, we first need to understand the problem.
COVID-19? So you know.
“Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. The virus that causes COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan, China.” — CDC. If you were unaware, COVID-19 is a quickly spreading strain of Coronavirus that has many concerned due to it’s longer incubation and higher rate of fatality in certain groups of individuals. For more information please visit the CDC website as I am not a health expert.
My (Useless) Opinion on COVID-19
You are welcome to disregard my opinion, I’ll only share it right here and get it out of the way. COVID-19 seems surrounded by public overreaction and lack of effective precaution by those with decision making power. Personal habits & decisions by possible carriers are the top of that list; a free sick day is NOT a “go socialize” opportunity. It also seems the most effective way to prevent this spread would be a two week mandatory home quarantine for everyone world wide. With house visits for possible cases we would be able to cut back on health-system exposure as well. This of course… is probably not feasible, both economically & logistically. So, we will not likely be able to stop the spread except by individual vigilance & judgement if at all. It does spur the question of if we can create a better global system for future response to such events. PLEASE consider what you(namely innovators) can do to personally invest in a global response system fitted for our interconnected world.
The COVID-19 Effect
I am also not a reporter and am only passing on what I know second hand. But so far COVID-19 has had an interesting effect on the global economy. Having its origin in China has some interesting implications, given they’re a globally active nation and a central point for a large portion of the world’s production & consumption.
Crippling A Global Economic Player:
As a primary producer, the crippling of China’s labor force limits the throughput of necessary resources for other economic production. And the lock down on that large portion of the world’s population stagnates demand on products that would normally see healthy growth at this time. This has had an impact of at least $50 billion on global exports in February alone. And this is only considering the outbreak within China.
COVID-19 Doesn’t Discriminate:
The high volume of travel out of China allowed for easy disbursement before response measures were taken. This reach extends (as of my writing this) to 85 different countries & territories and has sparked global concern for interacting in “public squares”. It has also restricted international travel & called for emergency measures in attempt to stop the dissemination of the virus. At this point, most everyone in the modern world is affected.
The Result:
What is the knock-on effect? Individuals & businesses are acting to stop both the assisted spread of the virus and attempting to keep from bringing it into their homes & workplaces. This has lead to widespread quarantine, “social distancing”, travel bans & event cancellations in effort to decrease public intersections. Though being the wise choice, it is not always the most favored. Still positive support for these decisions has been prevalent. Of course with it also come the aggressive opinions which draw & quarter the shot callers as they try to make the right decision. And in the end there are still casualties either way.
Countless time, money & effort get poured into these events with years of planning and an expectation of large returns on that investment. Larger companies have much more buffer and ability to refrain from participation, though I don’t diminish the pain it still causes. The annual event organizers really don’t have a second chance to pull in more cash for the year, though hopefully between insurance & non-refundable fees they may be able to make it out alive. However, many startups & fledgling artists put their heart and soul into their one shot with these sorts of events. These are who I would consider the hidden victims of COVID-19 to be.
The Startup & Creative Casualties
As an entrepreneur I have & am living the reality of getting your one lucky break and taking it with head down, caution to the wind. Though it may seem insane, many startups will drop everything to jump on the great opportunities that big international events provide. And most of those events aren’t free. Plus, if you are a CPG company or your product requires some substantial capital, you probably invested much more (maybe than you even have) in presenting an event ready spread. So, chips all in and cards spread wide, all bets are on the gamble paying off. An event cancellation like the ones happening because of COVID-19 can have a devastating effect on these founders. Is it part of the entrepreneurial life? yes. Is it fun? no.
Are There Stories?
I don’t know the stories of other founders & creatives who are facing the same fate of COVID cancellations. Maybe everyone so far has had their ducks in a row and a good backup plan for if the event went South(by Southwest?). I doubt it, but maybe. More likely, there are at least some that have spent too much cash, or burned themselves out, trying to make the event awesome. They may have called in favors or canceled personal plans. Some probably practiced pitches & put on finishing touches late into the night. I expect that one passed up a mediocre possibility (that could have given them more runway) to get that chance to truly launch. Maybe they forwent religious events or their birthday bash all in the hope that this would give them the future flexibility to catch all the rest. Let me tell you, that investment lost can be personally devastating, if not totally crushing.
Why Such Sacrifice?
It may have been that there was a specific investor they knew was going to be there, or possibly their customer segment only really got together at this event. Maybe all they needed was 100 more fans or dedicated customers from that event to get recognition or funding, or possibly they just wanted invaluable feedback on their product or craft. The reality is that innovation is empowered by these type of synergistic, collaborative events. Serendipity runs wild in the chaos of hundreds of people bumping into each other.
Networking events and trade shows are the lifeblood of the entrepreneur and can, more often than not, be the single biggest pivoting point for the success of their business. The handshake, the cordial exchange of ideas and possibilities (along with some micro-particulate), the late night beer with that new connection… These are the things that opportunity are built on and yet are the very things that we need to avoid in a health crisis. Innovation thrives in the collaborative community and often dies in the dark lonely room. What we sacrifice so much for is exactly what we need to avoid to play our part in protecting our friends and neighbors.
Our Story:
I personally, though saddened, am not devastated because I know that our striving for this goal has put us on an even better path. There was obviously a good reason for how it all turned out and we will always take hold of what’s in front of us. But I also get the solace of luckily not having to invest too much cash into prepping for our event.
We were approached a month ago by a friend who was organizing one of the SXSW panels. He wanted to use QR codes for all of his vendors/partners to share content in a environmentally conscious attempt to make a better event. It turns out that our company had already developed a large chunk of the base platform for a project like this; so we took it on. We developed a unified digital engagement platform for events, allowing vendors to showcase content and link out to their digital presence, all able to be driven by QRs.
There was no money involved, it was a friend doing a friend a favor… With the benefit of getting to showcase our work and meet startups at the event, in need of our software contracting services. Because this was such a great opportunity to meet new clients and because we liked what we could do with this version of our platform, it was an easy decision. But, we had to ask two other current partners if we could pause their work (they were gracious enough to agree) and spent long nights and early mornings developing the necessary features to fill his requirements. I bought tickets and called in favors to be down there. We had to do a quick job of finding a giveaway sponsor to help drive traffic and we got a nice new table runner, still in the process of getting our swag when the news dropped. Luckily it all came together and we were ready to go (at least for an MVP release), unluckily… there is no event. And all that time is gone unusable for networking in my new city (Philly). I did not get to put time in paying contracts or other business goals, because this was the obvious better opportunity.We are coming out mostly unscathed and I am making lemonade out of these lemons. But I’m sure that’s not the story for everyone.
Why I am Writing This
I am writing this to the fellow founder and creative, to let you know that you’re in good company.
I write this for myself, to express my sorrow at knowing that even if our company will be fine, this may be the end of other founder journeys.
I’m writing this to the person who is happy that your opinion was heard and the right thing was done by canceling these events; so you see the other side.
I hope that I’m writing this to investors & other companies that would have connected with these startups, to suggest reaching out to cover lost ground.
And I’m writing it to the general public so you can see a glimpse into the journey of an entrepreneur and understand the deeper implications of this already tragic world event. Whether the danger is over exaggerated or not, it has still affected individuals futures both through death and in life; something we can’t take for granted.
Ultimately I am writing this with the hope that someone sees it and tries to take action to help avoid adding startups to the death toll of COVID-19. We have a love and passion for founders and hate to see any entrepreneur get knocked out of the race.
What We Are Doing
First I hope that by writing this and sending it through the wires, we can encourage collaboration in comments and other forums for founders & creatives to share their stories and possibly opportunities that could help each other out.
We have officially launched our Axon Pages platform (https://xnpg.io) in BETA, currently targeting those impacted bt the SXSW cancellation and any other tradeshow / conference impacted by COVID-19. This includes offering event organizers free creation of a branded version to host totally digital events with live streams. If you would like to create a new showcase group on xnpg.io or have a custom branded event, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Finally, though we have very limited bandwidth, we would love to connect with founders who feel like they are floundering and see if we can help or connect you with someone who can.
Depending how much interest this garners, we may be able to do some other cool things together to help out the startup community.
What You Can Do
Are you a founder or creative? Comment here to share your story or offer additional input. Pass this on to others, even if you weren’t personally impacted.
Are you an investor? Take the time you would have spent at your event, and instead reach out to founders you see here or on AngelList. Maybe you can pitch in some philanthropic cash to help a founder stay afloat.
Just an average Jo-an? You’re probably not too many connections away from a founder or artist. Find one and give them a hug, just because they’re awesome. And maybe consider letting this feed your perspective.
Also, as an effort specific to SXSW, you can donate to the local service workers and artists who are loosing a lot of value from not having the event in their city. Though not startups, they deserve just as much love!
To conclude; I hope that I’m wrong. Maybe I’m being too pessimistic. I am not an expert and don’t claim that my words are timeless truth, so don’t quote me unless it turns out I’m right. In the end I just want to bring new perspective and “help a partner out”. So, as always I’m open to input and willing to help.
Keep Grinding;
-Marcus
