SUMMARY
To navigate through the current turmoil, it is vital for startups to be agile to respond to today’s changing environment in a timely manner
Adopting an innovation first strategy throughout the lifetime of the business ensures its longevity
70% of startups in India have less than three months of cash runway in the bank, Nasscom
Nobody ever thought the Covid-19 crisis which essentially emerged as a global health challenge will change the world in such a major way. It led to an economic slowdown and to sail through such unprecedented times startups and big players are leaving no stone unturned to get fit into the ‘new normal’. The whole world has shifted to the digital mode and is innovating new ways to communicate with their consumers.
To navigate through the current turmoil, it is vital for startups to be agile to respond to today’s changing environment in a timely manner. As such, startups are advised to identify, focus, and swiftly address the key vulnerable areas to ensure their survival and business continuity.
Here are some of the ways how they are pushing their limits –
The Real Innovation Challenge
Do not forget the fact that crisis always brings loads of opportunities also with it. An impactful innovator recognizes a string of such opportunities. Their wisdom is helping them link their business with the greater good of society. Thus, their business ideas are surviving the uncertainties that most others find it challenging to get through with. In India, the business ecosystem is changing at an exponential rate.
Also, the product needs, the customer needs, the geography of capital investment are evolving. So, during healthier times, most businesses simply become executors rather than spend time on planning and innovation.
Adopting an innovation first strategy throughout the lifetime of the business ensures its longevity. The major challenge is to make a paradigm shift.
Move From Smart To Fast
Chaos is a ladder whose rungs are the financial, economic, demographic, or even your mental barriers most of the time. Meanwhile, focus derives calm. No one can force-think their way out of all situations. Instead, having discussion provides clarity on how to proceed with goals. Frequent discussions amidst the chaos make market research more parametrized; the team’s ambitious drive helps uncover solutions. The specific nature of the approach provides clarity to the solution. Meanwhile, transparency builds trust within the organization and supports collaborative work.
Charging Innovation Through Action
Switching to FAST goals cannot be done instantly. You can infuse it in your startup strategy over time, charging your innovation with action. Witnessing these changes in the core strategy of a Startup is thrilling. Some of those learnings are:
Explore Relationships
Building a business is all about building relationships. Both internal and external relationships are essential for a Startup. During chaos building, new relationships are as significant as exploring the old ones. Moreover, a rapport with your employees keeps them calm during chaos. This happens when you have the right people doing the right kind of job. If not, then reassign and restructure! Laying off employees should be the last resort.
Explore The Strategies
Time well spent on devising a strategy, mitigates the risk of failure in execution. A visionary tweaks SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis principles to leverage the market trends. This helps identify his Startup’s core capabilities and core competencies to align it with the current trends.
Explore The Execution
Strong executors back every visionary. It is what makes executors crucial. Strategizing and executing determine the future perspective of the business. An executor knows the path of transition from SMART to FAST and its reverse. Wisdom comes from learning from other’s mistakes, and most of the executors implement this in real-time. The visionaries have a strategic mindset translating and matching several approaches at once while the executors look for the correct fit.
Explore The Finances
A survey conducted by the industry body, Nasscom, in 2020, around 70% of startups in India have less than three months of cash runway in the bank. Another 22% have enough to make it to the end of the year barely. One blind spot for many Startups is bootstrapping, beginning with the mindset, “Equity money is not free money.” Bootstrapping provides founders the freedom to put forward their own decisions to drive the startup.
