Launching a venture during a pandemic is no small feat. In the edited and condensed interviews below, four founders share actionable advice and insights on small business growth during the pandemic.

Khadijah Robinson, founder of The Nile List, a digital community connecting consumers with Black-owned brands:   

Navigating Growth During Crisis

Robinson: We didn't realize how much we relied on in-person events in getting the word out about what we're doing and the businesses we work with. Trying to work around that and reach new audiences—especially as everyone's taking to social media—has been a challenge. We've learned that it's a lot about word of mouth for us, so leaning in and making sure that we're continuing to prompt people to tell others about us. As we're building out our new platform, we're making sure that the community aspect is strengthened—not just around shopping, but discovery of different brands, founders, entrepreneurs and artisans.

Rewards Of Customer Connection

Robinson: Getting reach-outs from business owners who say 'We got some customers coming to us from your website' and 'Thank you so much for building this.' Or from people who've found brands on our platform that they now love. I love seeing people who are like, 'I found this coffee brand on The Nile List and it's my favorite coffee now!'

Reimagining Business In 2021

Robinson: We did a lot of brainstorming and ideation in 2020. 2021 is all about efficiency. I've given myself time limits on meetings because I spent so much time on calls. In some places, we weren't pushing the ball forward as much as we could, and now we're trying to just do rather than talk about what we could potentially do.

Setting Boundaries

Robinson: After feeling completely burnt out, one lesson I'm learning is you really have to pace. People kept telling me that, but I was like, 'I got to take advantage of this time window and my mind is bursting with ideas.' By Christmas, I was so tired. I just couldn't sustain. The moment you burn out will always be the least convenient and everything grinds to a halt. It's always better to take care of yourself because if you don't function, the company doesn't function.

Michael Lai, Forbes Under 30 alum and founder of Tinycare, a network of Covid-safe micro-daycare centers:

His Biggest Focus In 2020

Lai: It's what I would call balancing the triangle. Our triangle is teachers, parents, investors and children at the center. With loneliness and isolation for your employees, with uncertainty around customers and with maybe the difficulty of finding funding, parts of this triangle are shaky at different times. You have to be on the ball, constantly balancing and realizing that there are multiple stakeholders—that you have this entire community you're supporting.

Tinycare's Points Of Pride

Lai: It's the trust that our families, teachers and community places in us. Hearing from parents, 'We don't see a daycare or preschool out there that is handling Covid as thoughtfully and in as rigorous a way as you are.' Or our teachers saying 'Thank goodness I have a job at a company that I believe in.' And then seeing we have a long wait list for families. There are a lot of teachers interested in working at Tinycare. There are real estate companies that want to partner with us. We're continuing to work to earn that trust with every interaction.

Three Goals For 2021

Lai: A big focus is safely navigating this sensitive stretch of Covid, when people are somewhere between the second and first dose of the vaccine and their immunity is not totally there yet. Our teachers are all going to get vaccinated, but the parents won't yet. [The second focus] is continuing to build scalability and [third] is launching a second market later this year.

 

Tony Shu and Connor Schoen, Forbes Under 30 alums and cofounders of Breaktime, a nonprofit empowering young adults experiencing homelessness:

Thinking Creatively About Community

Schoen: We have a growing team and community of partners and young people. Not being able to physically be in the community can be really challenging. One way we've addressed that is a team game night and that?s been a great way for us to bond. We're also doing as many virtual check-ins as possible throughout the week with our young people to find sustainable, virtual ways of creating community.

Teaming Up

Schoen: Organizations' openness to collaboration has been absolutely game-changing. We prioritize collaboration as the way to create transformative social change because we understand that as social entrepreneurs, our role isn't to reinvent the wheel—it's to work within the existing systems and infrastructure to better coordinate resources and to maximize the impact of those resources. Because of the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, folks have been more open to working together in innovative ways.

Establishing A Vision—While Being Flexible

Shu: One of the biggest things for us is hiring ahead. There's demand and interest in our program, from young adults experiencing homelessness and on the partner side. The important thing is building out our team of full-time staff, but also being cognizant of hiring people who are flexible so that if our model continues to evolve, they can be part of that pivoting. We're intentionally leaving job descriptions focused but relatively flexible to accommodate that.

Published in partnership with Forbes

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