How Xooglers can help businesses and communities during the pandemic and beyond — by Marco Andre(Google 2010–19)
What does a chocolate factory, a smoked fish restaurant and an art-gallery have in common? Not much at first, but that is not what Mikkel Bjodstrup, an Ex-Googler (2016–18), found out recently.
The story of a Xoogler
Mikkel has always been a serial entrepreneur. Upon turning 27, Mikkel had worked in five startups, in industries ranging from management consulting, digital advertising and fashion e-commerce. He then joined Google in 2016, where he lived some of his best memories and created lifelong relationships. In 2018, Mikkel left Google to found his sustainable luxury footwear brand — ARTEANA. Originally from Denmark and having worked from Google Dublin for three years, it was no surprise that Mikkel decided to launch his business out of sunny Spain.
How did it all start?
Like many of us, Mikkel wondered how he could help as he scrolled through dozens of news articles about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. So he decided to go back to his roots.
Mikkel’s hometown, the small Danish island of Bornholm, is heavily dependent on small and medium sized businesses. Mikkel reached out to the local tourism board and offered support in helping local businesses create and optimize their e-commerce to cope with lack of foot-traffic during lockdown.
Mikkel originally started mentoring a batch of eight SMEs, from art galleries learning how to use Instagram to reach customers further than the island, ceramics artists pivoting from almost pure B2B to direct distribution. To a chocolate factory and a smoked fish restaurant, learning how to drive e-commerce sales by rethinking their marketing & logistics.
All participating SMEs are now better equipped to weather the COVID-19 crisis, through their hard work and digital optimization efforts to drive more foot-traffic and online sales. Then Mikkel took ‘starting back home’ to the letter — his parents’ hotel has recently reported last month’s sales as their best May in the hotel’s history due to their pivot to online marketing with Mikkel’s guidance.
So what’s next?
A few of these SMEs understood the potential of transforming their businesses to adapt to the reality brought about by COVID-19, through focusing more dedicatedly on e-commerce solutions. Mikkel also learned that dozens of other small businesses on the island could benefit from hands-on e-commerce consulting. Mikkel is now working with the CEO of the local tourism/retail NGO to raise funding from the Danish government to allow a larger scale SME e-commerce accelerator program that could be scaled to other businesses in the island.
How can Xooglers and Googlers help
I’m sure Mikkel’s story is similar to many other Xooglers and Googlers out there. What was due to happen in the next five to ten years, now needs to happen in six months to one year. This is challenging businesses to change their operating model abruptly, and digital native talent can play a massive role in fast-tracking this change.
So I leave you with a few ideas:
1. Start back home. Your hometown, neighborhood, an SMB, an NGO, a friend, a previous employer or ex-colleague. An ex-colleague may want help optimising their LinkedIn profile to find a job. An NGO may be struggling to reach the people they want to support. An ex-colleague may have just started a new role and could use some mentoring.
2. Every seemingly simple action can go a long way. From showing how to run an inclusive video conference call or setting up an online file sharing workspace, to listing a business on Maps. Explaining the fundamentals of online advertising, talking about a social media strategy or helping build a growth marketing plan.
3. It really takes a village. Many sectors are being disrupted right now and not all businesses have access to the optimum level of support. Conversely, this can give you exposure to sectors and businesses that you never thought you would be passionate about. Xoogler.Co’s newsletter and Slack community regularly post a broad range of opportunities to help.
Please get in touch — we would love to hear and feature your stories. And here’s a special challenge for you… to engage in these conversations without using the word ‘trix’. Because we all know, deep down, that we can’t avoid it.
