The Year Of Entrepreneurship: How 2020 Unleashed Big Questions, And Where Do We Go From Here

Despite all its “sticks and stones”, 2020 had a significant impact on entrepreneurship. With cross-industry shifts towards digitalization, it was a year of “think different and respond fast.” In a Fireside Chat at an online Thursday Gathering event by Venture Café Warsaw, Sylvestre Lucia, co-founder and CEO of thirty3, reflects on some of the major changes in the sector, and points out unintended silver linings and emerging trends to observe in 2021.

Connect, Negotiate, Act

I think there were two ways businesses have approached challenges in 2020. One was to say “ok” and go along with it, continue working on what one has already built, while trying to perhaps strengthen it. There was also another possibility — start seeking out new ways to overcome the emerging boundaries.

Take networking, for example. Before the pandemic, most of us were able to build and foster connections, clients, and even meet prospective employees thanks to continuous traveling and in-person meetings. 2020 has reshaped networking completely. We found ourselves trapped in a bubble, and had to learn how to deal with it. It was a challenge at first, and we had to come up with ideas on how to meet new people. You start to brainstorm and seek out new ways to get out of the bubble and start discovering the world again. That’s exactly what happened in the entrepreneurship world.

One exciting thing I’ve noticed is that people became more open towards establishing connections online. Let’s just say 2020 was some sort of a facilitator for social trust. Also, people who had their schedules completely filled, were suddenly able to make time and take a meeting. I decided to use this opportunity and start connecting. And I was able to do so more freely. Before, fear of refusal or rejection was a barrier. Whereas now, it has turned into three easy steps: connect, negotiate, act.

Building trust online is harder than “the traditional way”, but not impossible. Normally, you would most likely have lunch with the person you plan to collaborate with. We are now limited to the digital world, and it is more important than ever to be proactive. You still need to communicate your idea by explaining the potential of working together. Be the first one to make a move, establish contact, show initiative. Get out of your bubble, and expand opportunities by showing trust.

Ambient Stressors And Side-effects

I think the biggest challenge for entrepreneurship in 2020 was the stress levels from the constant uncertainty about how the market is going to evolve. Some businesses really struggled. Some ended up on the verge of bankruptcy, some collapsed. At the same time, others managed to stay on track. The tension from all that enhanced the levels of anxiety and made things more complicated. There were certainly moments when customers had a similar sense of anxiety. That was especially perceptible towards the end of the so-called “second wave”. A lot of ambient stressors and uncertainty.

There were of course incentives from the governments trying to support the businesses and keep them afloat. It felt like we were living on a boat. On the one hand, there’s a financial support package securing a sense of safety and stability for a few months, and on the other hand the uncertainty of what’s going to happen. It made some hesitant to go on. It was a time of “short-term deadlines”.

Nobody was sure if their businesses would end up receiving the support. Constant change, which was also “artificially driven” with the incentives, made it very difficult to be “in touch” with the market. I say “artificial” because at a certain point you started realizing that it will inevitably lead to some side effects. You begin wondering: “do I want to invest in your startup”, or whether it’s time to look for something completely different.

Among some of the earliest measures taken by big corporations was to freeze all projects with contractors. And they didn’t know what to do. And it took a couple of weeks, sometimes months to understand exactly what was the logic behind these moves. That was the weirdest thing. Sometimes you make decisions because you have to, but you never know which outcomes they will bring. And we all got impacted by this.

The Year Of Entrepreneurship

In Switzerland, many new companies were created in 2020. According to statistics, the number of hairdressers skyrocketed in Switzerland in 2020. I was surprised by those numbers.

Working from home and having more time for themselves made people think about their future. Many people started to scratch the surface of entrepreneurship. Some got stuck at home working on projects that stopped having the same sense of meaning outside of the social context. Some found themselves in a place that made it possible to focus more on personal development. I think many people started to ruminate about their potential business ideas, maybe even look for co-founders. With a click of a button you can create a company, and become a solo entrepreneur.

When it comes to corporations, it’s a different ballgame. Management was under a lot of pressure. They had to make large-scale, often challenging decisions, and do it fast: reduce the number of fixed costs, change the setup to remote, decide on the strategy, and effectively communicate all these changes across their companies. Moreover, not everyone had the option of switching to fully remote work. There was a lot of politics involved. Big companies are all about the management, and the management felt left alone to deal with the crisis. Some felt they wanted to change something, and so they pursued their own ideas as entrepreneurs.

Polish vs. Swiss Startups, And How To Go Global

We have a limited talent pool in Switzerland, and the startup scene is scarce too, except in Zurich and Lausanne where there are major universities, respectively ETH and EPFL. These startups know what they want to do, have access to capital and trusted networks they can tap into it. There’s also infrastructure and institutional support. In Poland, on the other hand, you present an idea first, build a powerful marketing campaign around it, and you ignore the rest. Both these approaches are effective on their own terms. An interesting experiment would be to bring them together.

Another important difference is that to launch a business in Switzerland, one has to operate in three languages. This means investing additional resources into translation and go-to-market strategies. But it can also be leveraged to have conversations in different languages which brings an additional dimension to and on the company. It is definitely an enriching experience.

I think for Polish startups, if a business idea can be scaled to other countries, entrepreneurs should engage in conversations with people outside Poland, not only in terms of funding. If an early-stage startup is operating in one single market, it may lead to many biases that will need to be overcome in order to tap into the global scene and appeal to people with different backgrounds. Thinking globally from the get-go, in my opinion, will save time and money later.

In general, exporting a business model to other countries needs testing the market first. Finding a local partner who can help with accurate market research and understanding the culture helps. But meeting the right partners to build your business outside is not easy. So you may make mistakes. Another option is even more extreme — to look for a similar business to yours and start the conversation. It can turn into something. At the end of the day, if both of you are doing the same activity, it may be a good idea to join forces. It’s basically like a merger. Thinking about partnerships as part of an ecosystem is quite a new idea. Even in Zurich, startups are starting to talk to one other to explore synergies.

2021: Towards Connectivity, Creativity and Confidence

Talking about trends, I think 2021 it’s going to be about connectivity and creativity. The physical constraints of 2020 taught us how to do more with less and adapt all the time. Take the indoor sports activity — many things are happening on that front. For instance, a cycling competition on Strava or the raise of Peleton. There are some crazy startups in the US working in this direction. There’s also the augmented reality trend, and a lot is going on there.

Another trend to observe in 2021 is the supply chain. When the pandemic started, all parts of the processes got affected: the factories were closed, the cargo did not deliver in time, warehouses were in trouble. Now big companies speak about plans to invest in the so-called business intelligence, but at the same time, questions arise: “how can we monitor the supply chain?”, “how can we figure out where we lose money?”, “where are the margins, and what can be done to improve them?”, “how can we create a supply chain that is shared with other players and companies?”. I’m sure these ideas were present before, but they were dormant, and 2020 helped to unleash them.

We’ve seen growth in e-commerce and this trend is likely to continue. Before the pandemic most brands were afraid that competitors would steal distributors, which seems to have faded in the recent months. Today, many brands strive to own their channels and target clients directly.

In 2020, there was also a shift towards thinking more of employees’ psychological safety. Mental health was a big topic. For every entrepreneur, every business owner. If you ignore it, then the pressure starts to snowball until it implodes. Moving ahead, we need to bring more awareness to this issue.

Thinking about the future of work, I do not believe in fully remote solutions, especially in areas where you need to co-create. There are many things we can do remotely, and it’s super efficient. On the other hand, we are less creative. Without fellow co-workers around, where do we source new ideas from? You can be creative alone, but it’s a different thing when you interact with others. And while looking ahead I am not quite sure if returning to the office is the right solution, we do need to think about how to boost creativity again. The traditional coworking and office space will change for sure. It may turn into a get together at an Airbnb in a nice location somewhere, to meet and do something that is not digital. I think we all need a detox from the online stuff.

Lastly, I believe the most important takeaway from 2020, for me personally and many other entrepreneurs out there, is to maintain confidence. The past year has challenged everyone’s confidence in every aspect, and looking ahead, it’s important to be confident about what you do, as well as why, how, and with whom.

Adapted from: Lessons Learned and Futures Forged: Summarising Entrepreneurship in 2020, and Beyond. A live conversation with Sylvestre Lucia, co-founder and CEO of thirty3. Dec 17, 2020 by Venture Cafe Warsaw & Startup Grind Warsaw