Title: The ultimate guide to turning crisis into opportunity
Achew*. Even virtual sneezes are scary in the times of COVID-19!
But for entrepreneurs the pandemic is not the only fear causing mental havoc. We’re in the midst of an economic slowdown and as the Chinese dragon is putting out its own flames, India is in the middle of a 21 day lockdown with many startups drawing up contingency plans to save their businesses.
While worries about customer and employee retention, and raising funds aren’t unfounded, it’s important to remember that with a well-thought-out plan and the right team, this challenge can be turned into an opportunity for growth and innovation- something that India’s favourite OTA platform ixigo proved during the 2008 economic crisis. Co-founders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar not only successfully steered their company through the crisis but also managed to keep the team motivated, customers engaged and competitors amazed.
Here are some excerpts from the episode with insights on product development, business strategy, employee retention, and full-stack thinking, which may inspire your COVID action plans.
Innovate with zero budget
Money doesn’t mean momentum. With a zero dollar marketing budget and four well-funded competitors established in the market, ixigo had to get innovative in order to survive. From creating viral content on social media to earning free traffic through SEO marketing, the team rallied all resources to build brand love. In fact their ingenious hack of data scraping, made their website the fastest in the OTA category.
Challenge assumptions
Crises like these push us to challenge many assumptions about ourselves, and our companies. From the outset, ixigo wanted to be more than an OTA; it wanted to build a product that would ease the entire process of traveling for the consumer.
“We realized that if we didn’t tap into the segment of train commuters, then we wouldn’t really be a travel company.”
Based on SEO learnings, they gathered that the volume of people browsing the web for train ticket information was exponentially higher than those searching for flight information. While the air travel vertical drove the revenue for the company, train commuters were driving the online traffic for their website. The team understood that once they established trust with this large train booking customer segment, upselling their other services (flight, hotels, etc.) would be much easier in the future. So they took the bold decision of scaling the train vertical, challenging western assumptions about flight-first OTA models.
Today, ixigo does about 200 million train PNR status checks in a month, helping people find out if they will get a confirmed seat on the day of their travel, even before they book a waitlisted seat.
Communicate to motivate
When a crisis strikes, job security becomes the primary concern for employees. Keeping the team motivated, while many are considering abandoning ship, is a skill that only exceptional leaders have.
“Transparent communication works. Our employees were willing to stay on, drawing less than half of their original salaries!”
At ixigo, co-founders Aloke and Rajnish found that honest communication was the ultimate game-changer during a crisis. It helped keep the team together and they no longer had to shoulder the burden of problem-solving alone. With all hands on deck and culture of full-stack thinking, team members contributed beyond their role’s requirements. Aloke and Rajnish went a step further to acknowledge this and offered employees ESOPs — which not only rewarded the commitment and loyalty demonstrated by the team during trying times but also made them feel an integral part of the company’s success.
Make those tough calls
Leadership is about balancing the roles of innovator and strategist. It’s about making tough decisions like letting go of a beloved product which you’ve personally perfected with your team, or knowing which vertical to scale- revenue-bearing or those which win customer trust.
“It’s not always about a Minimum Viable Product. Sometimes it’s about a Minimum Lovable product! You have to let go of projects that aren’t loved by the consumer, or else you run the risk of sustaining a demotivated team”, says Rajnish.
A sustained focus and an unbiased view of value offered to customers, has been the secret to ixigo’s sustenance. This has pushed them to make tough calls such as saying no to easy money so that they didn’t have to compromise on product value to customers.
Tune in to the rest of the episode here.
Enjoyed the blog or have feedback? Please leave comments and share your thoughts with us at info@bertelsmann.in
Tickle your brain cells with these interesting reads
https://yourstory.com/2020/03/coronavirus-delhi-startups-hustling-lockdown-covid-19
https://www.geekwire.com/2020/8-tips-startups-can-survive-covid-19-economic-crisis/
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