Learn the keys for startups to emerge stronger from the health, social and economic crisis caused by COVID-19.
At the Bankinter Innovation Foundation we have held a series of webinars to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on different social and economic areas and the opportunities we can find within this situation.
The fourth and final webinar has served to highlight the challenges and opportunities that startups are facing during and after this crisis.
Moderated by José Carlos Huerta, Head of Analysis of the Startups program, the director of the Startups program, Javier Megías , and Samuel Gil, Partner at JME Ventures, participated in the webinar.
Below, you can watch the video of the webinar and learn about its most relevant points:
- We must not underestimate the crisis we are going through. The economic effects of it are still difficult to quantify but could be devastating.
- Depending on the sector in which startups operate, the crisis is serving as an accelerator of their activity or a brake.
- For the most digital startups, experts warn that they must be very attentive to whether the use of their services and products is temporary or could be part of what is called the “new normal”. Another key aspect is the cost of acquiring new customers and their payback: if it is fast, excellent. If it is several months, pay attention to the fact that they are customers who can be loyal beyond the confinement situation.
- For the latter, which require physical interactions, it is time to rethink the startup’s business model, distribution channels, and processes to minimize risks.
- In all cases, they recommend great caution and making early and severe decisions: if you have to cut costs, do it immediately.
- Javier, using an automobile simile and the concept of the “Hammer and the Dance”, introduced by Tomás Pueyo, showed us the complicated balance between the measures designed to act immediately and forcefully to avoid the blow of the crisis as much as possible (Martillo) and those that are aimed at taking advantage of the way out of the crisis and push towards a reactivation of the economy (La Danza).
- As a general recommendation, all startups should work on antifragility, a concept introduced by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in the sense that they can withstand events that are difficult to predict. The probability that this will not be the last pandemic is high, prepare for the next one to catch us prepared.
- Another trend that our experts point to is teleworking, where opportunities arise not only to move towards 100% remote business models, but also around the social changes that can occur such as living in rural environments, reconfiguring office spaces or rethinking coworking.
- Great opportunities will arise, according to Samuel, for those who detect changes that are already happening and that are not at all obvious to others to perceive.
- Streaming and e-commerce are consolidating and opportunities may arise in new forms of digital social relations, beyond the usual social networks.
- Regarding investors, our experts perceive that decisions are going to slow down and that startups operating in markets that have been badly affected by the crisis are unlikely to receive capital injections due to the difficulty in assessing risk. If anything, his message is positive: Investors are eager to invest and there is plenty of capital available. They are open to studying new operations.
- Regarding the most favored sectors, the following are noted:
- Those related to Health and Education, due to the demolition of bureaucratic and regulatory barriers caused by the crisis.
- The “Passion Economy”, a term coined by Adam Davidson and which refers to the networked monetization of our talents, passions, hobbies, curiosities.
- Traceability, supported by Blockchain.
- At the industrial level, automation and robotization, in search of greater resilience.
- As a transversal sector, everything related to cybersecurity.
In conclusion, our experts recommend distinguishing very well between challenges and opportunities that are circumstantial and those that are structural. And, above all, to assume that we are all afraid and that an entrepreneur has to try and try and try.
After learning how to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on our brains, the impact of this pandemic on the economy and work, and innovation as a tool for creating opportunities, this is the fourth webinar of the cycle on the Impact of COVID-19 on various aspects of our daily lives.
