How Startups Plan to Reopen
Insights from Revolution-Backed CEOs
As states across the country begin to reopen, business leaders everywhere are strategizing on how to keep employees and customers safe. Since the start of the lockdown, our team at Revolution has been in the trenches with our portfolio companies, helping them navigate the current landscape and formulate plans for future phases of reopening.
The leadership exemplified by our CEOs has been nothing short of inspiring. That’s why we decided to expand the conversations we were having internally and share them with our broader community through a virtual series on the challenges startups are facing as they look to reopen offices and retail locations.
Although our sessions covered startups from various industries, geographies, and stages of startup growth, the companies, and their leaders face many of the same challenges. Our most recent session explored how early-stage founders (all with teams under 70 employees) were working to reopen, just with less bandwidth and often, more limited budgets. Early-stage startups don’t have sizeable HR teams or outside consultants to run point on creating return-to-work manuals, but they seek to provide their employees and their clients/customers with the same level of safety and protection. And they are finding ways to do that with commitment and ingenuity, using this pandemic as an opportunity to reinforce good leadership and strong company cultures. For example, Indianapolis-based Anvl, the workforce-first safety solution, dedicated their office manager’s time to reviewing detailed CDC and state guidance to help formulate a plan for employees to return. And Dallas-based Nickson, which is reimagining apartment living, divided its delivery employees (considered essential during lockdown) into rotating shifts so that they only work when necessary and get extra rest when not.
Second, and maybe the least surprising, startups have continued to innovate during this time, no matter what stage of growth. Founders see not just challenges from the pandemic, but opportunities to shift and expand business models and teams. Anvl created a new product to help workplaces manage worker safety, Nickson created a new product focused on outfitting home offices with furniture, and Bright Cellars, a Milwaukee-based personalized wine subscription startup, met increasing demand by expanding its workforce — while maintaining company culture — during this tough time.
And finally, participating startups reiterated that being outside of the coastal tech hubs was an advantage. At Revolution, we’ve long talked about how lower overhead and better quality of life benefits startups in rising cities — something that may be even more attractive following the pandemic. Startups outside Silicon Valley may also be better suited with respect to working with teams and investors via remote technologies given that many of them were doing so before COVID-19. All three of the panelists in our session expressed support for their HQ cities and excitement over incoming talent that saw their location as a reason for joining vs. a hurdle to overcome.
If you are a founder, a startup employee, or an ecosystem builder, I encourage you to hear from these leaders in our portfolio moderated by Ron Klain, Revolution’s EVP and GC as well as the former White House Ebola Response Coordinator. Additionally, please catch our earlier sessions on reopening in hospitality and food and the future of sports.
