#Lockdown — An Opportunity or Threat

An e-Roundtable discussion on startups navigating the crisis

Published in

inblox.events

4 min readApr 15, 2020

The Coronavirus has brought the world to its knees. All work has come to a virtual standstill. Businesses have been halted and so are the people. While we are all hunkered down in the confines of our homes, there are worries in the minds of the many who have just started off, who have their house to feed and employees to pay during this unprecedented times.

The abilities of leaders are now in play. The decisions and steps they take during this period will decide their future it seems. The lockdown will challenge each one of us.

Also Read: Presenting — “Chainbusters”

In the 1st roundtable of the #Chainbusters series we run through some of the following questions and bring some amazing #Blockchain and #crypto startup founders together to brainstorm problems and find the solutions. These are some of the questions which come to the mind of many startups in this field.

How is this phase affecting the startups?
How should we treat this period?
Is it an opportunity to make things better when the time comes?
What needs to be done by aspiring startups who have not been able to start in this period?
What should we invest our time in?
What are the threats looming ahead?
How should they prepare for the time to come, when we break free from the lockdown?

We are getting together some great people who will talk to each other about this current state of affairs, learn from each other and send out a message to the larger community about how we make the best of this situation.

The Roundtable #Knights

We invited the following people from our fraternity to discuss the issues.

**Sandeep Nailwal**, Co-Founder-COO, Matic Network, Bangalore

Vikas Singh, Founder CEO, Bloquelabs, Ghaziabad
Mayur Relekar, Founder, Newfang, Bangalore
Abhinav Ramesh, Founder, Chainflux ,Bangalore
Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder-COO, Matic Network, Bangalore
Sunil Sharma, Founder-CEO, Squadx, Gurgaon

**Abhinav Ramesh**, Founder, Chainflux ,Bangalore

Roundtable #1

We conducted this #Roundtable #Discussion: 6th April 2020, Monday on Airmeet between 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM. We received an overwhelming response and had 100+ registrations and attendance at this event from all over the country as well as from overseas.

**Sunil Sharma**, Founder-CEO, Squadx, Gurgaon

Salient Points of the Discussion

Here are some salient points of the discussion.

#Lockdown is actually an opportunity and we should make the most of this time at home.
It is essential that we cut all our costs and keep the money safe for the future when the lockdown is lifted and we are able to get back to work.
Do not hesitate to approach anyone who can help, call everyone you think can help in conducting your business, help you with money or advise on your product or services.
Learn to manage and mitigate #risks, this is going to be baptism by fire. You would not have faced anything so drastic ever and hopefully will not in your lifetime.
This is the right time to hone your core competencies
Invest time with your teammates and hone up their skills too — give them and demonstrate assurances so that they may not be troubled.
Be empathetic and transparent with the team about all your troubles and problems. Listen to theirs’ too.
You may also find leaders within the team who are ready to step up and take responsibility. This could be the time when you have to keep your ears and eyes to the ground and spot one you can rely upon.
collaborate with people in your network like an #antcolony
Last but not the least, do not stop working on your product or services or building skills. Keep #BUIDLing.

Also Read: You are the sum of your network