The Virus Survival Strategy For Your Startup
“Winter is coming.”
This is the one blog post that I hope I’m completely wrong about.
With the Covid-19 virus a worldwide pandemic, if you’re leading any startup or small business, you have to be asking yourself, “What’s Plan B? And what’s in my lifeboat?”
Here are a few thoughts about operating in uncertainty in a pandemic.
ImpactSocial isolation and a declared national emergency have had an immediate impact on industries that cluster people; conferences, trade shows, airlines/cruise ships and all types of travel, the hospitability industry, sporting events, theater and movies, restaurants and schools.
‘It Was Inevitable’: How Teachers are Handling the Transition from In-Person to Online Instruction
When it was first announced on March 10 that all classes would go online after spring break, faculty and students were given over two weeks to prepare for the unprecedented shift. But that two-week transition period was expedited even further after President Martha E. Pollack’s sudden decision to suspend classes on March 13th, catching professors off guard.
WeWork’s new crisis: ‘Workplaces will never be the same after this’
For the shared-office company, already weakened after last year’s failed attempt to go public, complications from the coronavirus could deal a fatal blow. (Bloomberg)—WeWork executives used to obsess over the number of people they could pack into each of the company’s shared workspaces. They said a more crowded office helped make the space feel active and spark collaboration when desk mates slid past each other in the hallways.
Zoom Video, Microsoft Lead 5 Work-At-Home Stocks For The Coronavirus Stock Market Crash
Your stocks to watch this week are five software names whose businesses can still function as more people work from home during the coronavirus pandemic: Microsoft (MSFT), Zoom Video Communications (ZM), Adobe (ADBE), DocuSign (DOCU) and Citrix Systems (CTXS). Microsoft stock, Adobe stock and the others are all outperforming the broader market amid the coronavirus stock market crash.
App-Based Concierge Doctors Are Booming in the Age of Coronavirus
“We can assess their symptoms and quickly triage those who may have the virus,” one CEO tells InsideHook. “We doctors are just a tap away,” says Dr. Nate Favini, a doctor in a video message to the members of an app-based concierge medical care company, Forward. “If you’re experiencing any symptoms, use the tool in our app; our coronavirus assessment tool.” Imagine it was all that easy? To test yourself for COVID-19 from the comfort of your home through an app, by taking an online test and texting or face-timing a doctor?
Addressing the coronavirus crisis like the Estonian startup community
The Estonian startup community is teaming up with Mistletoe Singapore, the European Commission and other local and international supporters, to organise a 100-hour free online accelerator for startups with potential to have a strong impact on shaping today’s and the post-crisis world; the mentors include the Estonian president, Kersti Kaljulaid and the cofounders of Bolt, Skype, Pipedrive, Veriff, Testlio and many others.
Americans Unfit to Fight a Pandemic
My dad made a Costco run a few days ago. Shocked by the crowd and lines he snapped a picture and sent it over to our group chat. As I scanned the photo, my first thought was that these lines were quite a perfect way to spread the coronavirus. In looking more carefully, I also recognized that as Americans we are not prepared to fight a virus outbreak. From cart to cart, I saw boxes of soda, chips, candy bars, and a whole lot of frozen chicken wings. This picture epitomized the bandage-based approach we have as a country towards health and disease.
WeWork’s new crisis: ‘Workplaces will never be the same after this’
For the shared-office company, already weakened after last year’s failed attempt to go public, complications from the coronavirus could deal a fatal blow. (Bloomberg)—WeWork executives used to obsess over the number of people they could pack into each of the company’s shared workspaces. They said a more crowded office helped make the space feel active and spark collaboration when desk mates slid past each other in the hallways.
Investors poured nearly $3 billion into Pittsburgh tech ecosystem in 2019
Pittsburgh-area startups raised nearly $3 billion in 2019, a five-fold increase from the year before and the most dollars funneled into the city’s tech ecosystem in the past 10 years. That investment funded 139 startup companies, which are doing everything from using artificial intelligence to fuel farming to building robots that can scale factory walls to working on cars that can drive themselves, according to a yearly report from startup investor Innovation Works Inc. and Ernst & Young LLP, a global audit, tax and consulting firm.
Fresh Ideas Winners 2019 – 20 announced!

The winners of this year’s national Fresh Ideas competition have been revealed today (25 March 2020), with seven entrepreneurs from across Scotland recognized for their innovative business ideas. Fresh Ideas is Scotland’s longest-running national student enterprise competition for early stage ideas. Run by the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE), 15 finalists were in the running to be awarded a cash prize and continued business support from leading advisors to help progress their change-making concepts.