Jo Lee’s new business was on the fast track to success.
In a single year, she’d transformed PopUp Rhody LLC from an idea into a registered company with a website. She won a pitch competition for local startups and was preparing for a beta launch.
Then, COVID-19 hit, and the online marketplace designed to connect artisans with property owners looking to rent out retail space – think Airbnb for business pop-ups – fell apart.
“The whole point of PopUp Rhody is to bring people together, and it became very clear that was not going to happen,” Lee said.
But then came a new idea: revamp the service as one focused on experiences in addition to products. The idea is in its infancy, but Lee is hoping to develop a clearer direction and strategy through Social Enterprise Greenhouse’s virtual COVID-19 Response Incubator.
Lee is among 17 people who recently began the seven-week crash course in starting a business venture. Participants include students and working professionals, those with already operating businesses as well as undeveloped ideas, and experts in industries from web design to health care, nonprofits and education. What unites them is a shared application of their proposals to solving some business, social or health problem posed by the current coronavirus crisis.
In some ways, the program is like any other SEG offers: lessons and expert advice on topics such as determining corporation structure, developing a mission, hiring and finding funding. But the emphasis on a design-focused approach is unique, intended to help participants more quickly and nimbly take their ideas from vision to reality in a time of crisis, explained Meg Wirth, SEG’s health and wellness initiative director.
And while a pandemic might not seem like an opportune time to start or upend a business, the disruption can lead to inspiration and innovation. Indeed, more than half of Fortune 500 companies were started during a recession or bear market, according to a recent report by Startup Genome. And while new business applications nationally declined 30% in April compared with the same time frame in prior years, Rhode Island fared better than many other states, with a 14% drop in new business filings in April, according to a study by SmartAsset.
“This is what being entrepreneurial is all about: finding an opportunity,” said Bradly VanDerStad, one of the incubator participants. “The pandemic poses the opportunity of crisis, which allows for change. People are going to put their faith in new institutions.”
Having been laid off from his full-time job as a substitute teacher in the Providence Public School District, VanDerStad now had a 40-hour work week’s worth of time to devote to the idea he’d been mulling for several years. Unlike existing business or government groups, VanDerStad intends the Providence Growing Business Coalition to offer Providence-specific marketing and advocacy for businesses, as well as a designation to highlight companies that focus on sustainability, diversity and other socially aware corporate practices.
“It’s not a great time to start a profitable business, but this is the perfect time to start an organization that brings people together around a common goal,” VanDerStad said. He added that heightened focus on racial justice through the Black Lives Matter movement makes his idea for a social-consciousness business designation particularly relevant.
‘The beauty of doing it right now is that you can kind of roll the dice with a half-baked idea.’
JO LEE, PopUp Rhody LLC founder
Luisa Murillo’s idea also developed increased relevance since the onset of COVID-19.
Murillo, who works as director of social programs for Progreso Latino in Central Falls, explained how the economic downturn had increased demand for and donations to food pantries such as the one run by the Central Falls social service agency. While more donations were welcome, it was difficult and labor-intensive to field calls and emails from donors unsure what items to give.
She hoped to launch a mobile app that would let food pantries specify items needed and update their lists in real time, ensuring donors who want to give food rather than money can address pressing needs.
Murillo’s decision to develop the app now was in part a function of relevancy, but also one of personal need. While still working full time and busier than ever, the single mother of four said having her children home from school all day has increased her food and utility bills significantly.
“The pandemic has become very expensive for my family,” she said. “This might be a way to bring in more income.”
Another benefit of launching a business now? It’s already such a risky time that the dangers of a business venture gone bad seem less consequential, according to Lee.
“The beauty of doing it right now is that you can kind of roll the dice with a half-baked idea,” she said.
Still, the pandemic will make some aspects of entrepreneurship harder: financing, for one, as well as networking, user testing and any other activities best done in person.
Even the incubator itself is virtual – held over Zoom and Google Classroom. But having a group of peers to bounce ideas off and connect to, even remotely, can be hugely beneficial along the often-lonely road of entrepreneurship, said Social Enterprise Greenhouse CEO Kelly Ramirez.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
