Supporting startups in times of uncertainty
In the last few weeks, the world has changed rapidly. As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads to almost every country on the globe, businesses are making tough decisions to sustain their future, prioritize the well-being of their employees, and support the communities they serve. Entire school semesters, conferences and professional sports leagues have been cancelled. The trend is truly unprecedented in the modern era.
By necessity, startups and large firms alike have forged ahead with new experiments in remote work. We at Union have been fortunate: our product is digital and our distributed team already operates in a remote-friendly environment. The handful of our employees who share an office are now working from home and the vast majority of our collaboration is cloud-based and virtual-first. Not all startups have been so lucky.
Innovation must continue. Entrepreneurs should prove their agility to make the world a better, safer and more connected place. Investors should remember their long term commitments — and realize now is a time to bring value beyond capital. The need to innovate is especially urgent in the crucial health, transit and logistical systems that have become the foundation of our society. And of course across the many unprepared and vulnerable populations that lack adequate infrastructure to combat the virus.
Many bold organizations, large and small, have already pushed the boundaries of remote innovation solutions for everything from improving physical health (ImmuTouch), to launching fully digital conferences (Spark Collider), to powering remote intern match-making (Symba).
Innovation programs are no exception. The accelerator model relies on the power of collisions — structured coaching, mentor-driven support and peer collaboration are essential to driving outcomes for entrepreneurs. While there’s no replacing this activity in-person, innovation leaders must find a way to continue their efforts.
In response to recent challenges, accelerators, incubators and innovation programs of all kinds must reinvent themselves to ensure they can carry out their missions and better serve their entrepreneurs. These startups need support now more than ever.
At Union, we’ve studied global trends across entrepreneur support organizations for much of the last decade. We’d be happy to help you explore a more virtual-friendly model for your teams or programs and explore if Union is right for you. After all, we run a distributed team ourselves and it’s our mission to help entrepreneurial communities thrive.
What We’re Reading
- Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now
- Leading Boldy (Pledge by +1000 CEOs, executive and civic leaders)
- Almanac’s COVID-19 Company Playbook
- Trello’s Ultimate Guide to Remote Work (one of many such guides!)
