Key Insights on How to Stay Agile in a Remote & Digital Era
As one of the oldest startup accelerators in the business, we thought we’d seen it all. That was until COVID-19 hit. We decided to act quickly, shifting all of our in-person programming to virtual by mid-February. In September, we ran our flagship US Soft-Landing Program completely virtual with 7 incredible cohort companies from Austria, Israel, Romania, India, and the UK. After 10 weeks of learning, iterating, and building, our first-ever virtual US Soft Landing cohort is ready to tackle the US Market, equipped with the network, know-how, and go-to-market strategies to expand and scale!
In lieu of our usual Industry Night (our version of Demo Day), we decided to showcase our cohort companies in a series of Industry Panels, where they could engage with other thought-leaders and experts about pressing issues and opportunities in their respective industries. Last week, we hosted the first of four Industry Panels in the series, about how companies of all sizes can stay agile in a remote and digital era.
The panel was moderated by Daniel Braun from WorkGenius, and featured two of our startup founders, Mihai Cepoi from Jobful and Guy Amar from geekApps, along with several mentors who have been integral members of their US expansion journeys: Maybar Durst from Cisco and Grant Sahag from Bank Novo.
Here’s a recap of the main points that were discussed.
It’s no secret that many businesses have struggled to pivot their operations and adapt to the new, digital-first landscape. We’ve all been asking ourselves (and each other), when will this end? When can we go back to the “normal” way of life? But rather than dwelling on the negativity, we should be thinking of new ways to leverage digital innovation to grow.
The shift to remote-working happened almost overnight. For Maybar, the main areas companies of all sizes should be focusing on to succeed in the new digital world are:
- People that are open to embracing change.
- Processes that drive collaboration across cross-functional teams.
- Technology that provides simplicity, security and flexibility.
In addition to these three focus areas, Grant highlighted the importance of having strong internal communication strategies and emphasizing employees’ well-being. Communication is a key aspect of all business operations, and now we have to rethink how we tell our story both internally and externally.
As Mihai, the Founder and CEO of Jobful, stated, “Communication brings clarity to an organization.” Effective communication can open doors for “constructive pressure,” which is necessary to shape a company’s success in the right direction, especially given the need to be resilient in this constantly changing market.
Two standout examples of companies that identified opportunities during COVID-19 and adapted their product offering to market needs, are none other than geekApps and Jobful. geekApps is a free app builder for SMBs that doesn’t require any coding. During COVID, they provided hundreds of SMBs with new capabilities to generate brand awareness, drive sales, and gain visibility in the digital realm. Jobful’s gamified recruitment platform allows makes the process of hiring a new employee enjoyable for both the candidates and the recruiters.
The virtual world isn’t without setbacks. At times, it can get pretty lonely. Companies need to be extremely creative when connecting with their customer base, whether it be through implementing new technologies or enhancing communication efforts. Guy, Co-Founder and CTO of geekApps, noted that brick and mortar SMBs looking to salvage their customer base need to search for new digital solutions to interact with them. He emphasized that the pandemic shouldn’t be viewed as a barrier, but rather as an opportunity to build resilient business processes. To this, Maybar noted that SMBs and Corporates need to cultivate a mindset of flexibility and look at change as a key aspect for future business growth.
While COVID-19 has heightened stress levels and introduced new challenges that we never would have anticipated, it’s important to remember that we are all in this together. We must learn to adapt and move forward with our business practices in safe and unique ways that foster a positive and inclusive team culture throughout the organization. Mihai explained that it’s extremely important to focus on leveraging creative tactics to acquire the best talent in this market. Businesses need to adapt their recruiting methods to prioritize the entire candidate journey and what they value in a company and job.
Thank you to our incredible startup leaders, Guy and Mihai, and industry professionals Maybar, Grant, and Daniel for sharing their thoughts and advice for how to stay agile in this new era of digital technology innovation!
