By Jason Eisenberg

Community Program Manager for Office Depot

After over a month of stay-at-home orders and temporary closures in the United States as a result of the pandemic, businesses are truly feeling the impact of the receding economy. But not all businesses are in dire straits – some have pivoted and answered a new need during these challenging times – some already had infrastructure in place to adapt to the new business environment, and some are making bold moves to grow through partnerships. Below we’ll discuss each of these scenarios with entrepreneurs who previously shared their expertise in our web series, #DepotBizChats, to spark some inspiration for your business in these trying times. 

It turns out, while they served Austin well over the years, they are now getting interest from mentors and experts all over the world. They even had countries like Colombia asking if MediaTech Ventures can start an incubator for their local startups.

“It was a ‘DUH’ moment. We should have done this beforehand,” said Paul on moving incubators online. “By getting out of your comfort zone and sticking with your mission, you can find new and innovative ways to accomplish your goals.”

Paul is incredibly active on  social media as well as in the Austin community, putting out informative and thought-provoking content faster than most content producers – and so does his team for that matter. Besides just being a prolific writer, it helps to have the right equipment to work from anywhere – or in this particular case, home. This goes double for video conferencing.  

 “Often the quality is poor because the equipment is poor. We’re still a small business, as best we can we’re investing in better quality media equipment for our employees to use. But it’s incredible how much more fun it is when your stuff works!”

Make work fun by using the right tools for your work from home setup.

For more of what MediaTech Ventures is doing to help the business community, visit  Rally Austin.

A tech company that sells cookies?

For co-founders of Tiff’s Treats Cookie Delivery, Tiffany and Leon Chen, the key to their success was adapting quickly to the coronavirus environment and being a beacon of light in their community. One of the first things they did was change the user experience on their delivery app to allow for no-interaction pickup – yes, their own app – which is what allowed their own team of developers to make the change literally overnight.

“Tech has always been forward for us. We have our own app so our customers have known this experience for a long time. Because we own our tech, we can make changes fast when we want to adjust.” – Leon Chen

They also closed their walk-in experience early on but made space for curbside pickup. If you also have a storefront and need to inform your customers about curbside services or of any other update, posting clear signage that you’re open but with some limitations can help with foot traffic.

Take this opportunity to move forward

While it may not be plausible for all businesses to make big changes at this point in time, Rush Tech Support founder Andrew Lassise believes if you had a plan in the pipeline, now could be a good time to move forward with it. As a company that made everyone work from home since March 23, Andrew was forced to go ahead with plans he had intended to roll out at some point this year.

“All of a sudden we needed cloud, we needed security, we needed devices, we needed it now. It was a great opportunity for us to push forward with plans we had in the pipeline.” – Andrew Lassise

For Andrew personally, he attributes “tons of hours of productivity” to the work from home movement.

“The product and the service are the same but now that everyone works from home, it doesn’t have to be a question of who’s within a 10-mile radius of the customer. It’s more flexible.”

Another example Andrew presented was a channel partnership with a web design and marketing company. Since the services aren’t the same but often complement each other, they can add on Rush Tech Support to their package, and on the flipside, Rush Tech Support would send their own customers to their new partner for marketing and web design.

While times are difficult for everyone, it’s inspiring and important to see that there is still opportunity to pivot or find a new way to operate. The trick is to still stay focused on your mission.

About the Author

Jason Eisenberg is the Community Program Manager for Office Depot, specializing in small business and entrepreneurship. Based in one of the most exciting cities for startups — Austin, TX — Jason is plugged into the business community, often connecting with thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and strategists to help identify and find solutions to common pain points all business owners share.

All content provided herein is for educational purposes only. It is provided “as is,” and neither the author nor Office Depot warrants the accuracy of the information provided, nor do they assume any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.