4 Things A Pandemic-Struck Start-Up Can Do To Recover

Entrepreneurship can be a cruel saga for some. Lack of awareness, wrong timing and assessment can burn more cash than you can imagine. The consumer centric market of today’s world may seem like a huge opportunity but every coin has a certain flip side that every new entrepreneur must be prepared for.

Any instance of a regional collapse was far from reality 30 months back. Instead what transpired was a once in a lifetime tragedy that along with taking millions of lives, also drowned many businesses. There can be a handful of reasons behind any new startup’s failure to rise in the last few years, most of them out of our control. If we consider the last few years as a harsh learning curve, we can chalk out some core reasons that sank many aspiring startups. These reasons could prepare us for anything of the magnitude of global collapse we went through.

Biggest Reasons Why Many Startups failed During the Pandemic

There were many intangible aspects that played a pivotal role in the global slowdown but a wider understanding of the last few years can help us churn out the core reasons. These reasons may stand true for any major travesty that either we may have encountered or might do in the future. Following could be held as major reasons behind the slowdown.

Wrong Timing

Clearly the pandemic or pre-pandemic was not the right time to launch any consumer product as the whole year of 2020 was the year where people only wanted to survive and acquire the bare minimum essential goods. Any value added product or services saw a massive rejection and any subsequent effort to spread the awareness of the same did not help the cause. 

Low Sentiment

Global markets are fairly affected by a unanimous sentiment. Any instance of regional conflict, natural disaster or even major changes in general trends affect many businesses. The pandemic hit people where it hurt the most – the morale. There was no sentiment among the people to venture anything unheard. Anyone who dealt with essentials or services that helped the rather awkward times during the lockdowns and remote working had an overwhelming response. At the other hand, any startup that aimed to offer anything new or anything that was close to the pre-pandemic lifestyle struggled a great deal to survive. 

Technology

Any business that did not regard technology had to suffer greatly. Even businesses like grocery stores that are believed to have the least desire to adapt to the technological route, bowed down to the internet and technology. From grocery stores to manufacturers, all had to take the technology route to gain sales momentum. 

Personal Loss

Perhaps the saddest reasons of them all for startups to fail are the personal losses individuals may have faced during this unfortunate period. Any instance of misfortune within the social circle of entrepreneurs caused a great trauma to them and resulted in decreased efficiency and concentration. It took all of us a long time to recover from the torrid times.

The true gauge for the economic loss we all suffered collectively could be impossible to comprehend. The only way from here should be upwards. The general sentiment seems positive but nobody has yet completely forgotten how bad things truly were for businesses.

Time stands still for nobody. Whether you are ready or not, you have to keep going and try everything you can to recover from the losses for your precious business. There are many psychological ways through which you can overcome these hurdles but we are here to talk about entrepreneurial remedies that you can opt for to get things back on track.

Remedies

From what seemed apparent, we can narrow it down to four possible remedies to recover from the slowdown that was caused due to the pandemic. There may be different bespoke solutions for your business that you can expand upon based on detailed market feedback but these remedies are quite basic and appeal to almost every business.

Create Content

What may have sounded very hipster-ish is now a reality in today’s times. It is evident that most of us spend our time staring at screens. The amount of content people consume through various mediums from their devices is quite significant to make an impact from. Any appeal for your business may sound a direct sales pitch that people on the internet might not connect to. But if you create relevant content that connects to relevant matters then there are chances that people start listening to you more seriously. This content can be in the form of pictures, videos or even blogs or articles. People love interactive mediums of information sharing and creating original content as a separate section can draw people’s attention towards you easily. Adding subscription based exclusive content provision can act as an additional source of revenue as well.

Get Web & App Development

This was a must even before the pandemic as we started seeing the norms of sales changing hands from retail to online. Offering your product or services on the internet eliminates any need of a middleman and adds a new stream of revenue. The trends of online sales for all kinds of businesses were on a rise even before the pandemic. Locked up people with high speed internet and fancy mobile devices just took it to another level. A study finds that 32% of small businesses already have a mobile app and an estimated 42% plan to build one in the near future. A mere presence on the internet with web & app development will help your business to create a unique brand identity and will surely open many gates and invite crucial leads. 

Expand & Collaborate

For any business to generate the numbers, scaling up is the only possible measure. If you deal with a product or a service that has a niche customer base, besides broadening your product line what you need to do is to expand to newer territories. One fruitful way to do it is by collaborating with people who do similar businesses in those newer territories. The logistics and connectivity facilities are at an all time high and it is very easy to now deliver your goods anywhere in the world. Expanding territories helped Paradise Ingredients, a banana puree manufacturing company from Costa Rica as they boosted sales by reaching out to countries like Israel and New Zealand. By collaborating with regional businesses and offering them a good margin, you can boost up your sales and scale up your business overall. Limiting your business to certain geographic regions could be against your ambitions in this day and age. 

Recalibrate Marketing

Marketing norms have changed a lot since the eruption of social media. The usual targets for advertisers used to be places that get maximum notice and traffic like hoardings on busy roads or newspapers and magazines. Since the maximum traffic and attention has now shifted to social media, it has now become the best place to advertise your business. With smart content creating strategies and a well-developed website and app, you can create a smart ad and run it to your target audience and invite traffic on your platforms. Participating in social media marketing opens up new possibilities and gives you great leads.

You may opt to take some specific actions based on the needs and feedback for your business but these four steps essentially cover all the major concerns you may have faced during the pandemic. Most revolve around adapting to technology and rerouting your whole call to action through the internet. Partnering with the right agency that offers wholesome tech solutions is also a key factor in the recovery. By carefully taking these steps you can create a strong platform that helps your business to take off just the way you had imagined.

The Final Word

The above-mentioned remedies could stand true in the pre-pandemic era as well. What has changed in the last few years is the urgency required to take those actions. It is no longer an added benefit to have a web presence or to expand your business digitally. Involving technology at the very core of your business is pretty much a necessity today. The transition may seem tougher for some but in the end, opening your business up to a larger audience through technology will reward great benefits to you.

Saroj Goda

Mrs. Saroj Goda is a certified Startup and Business Analyst Professional, with her years of experience she interested to consult entrepreneurs as well as startups to guide them how to grow and how to come out from the mistakes. She helped many businesses either Startup or looking grow more with limited time duration. She also has good knowledge of Technology which helps to guide in more detailed way.