Three unicorn companies founded during the crisis
Hackernoon spoke about the unicorn companies that they founded during the crisis. Among them are Mailchimp, Slack and WhatsApp. AIN.UA provides a brief translation of the material.
A number of global companies created during economic downturns can replenish today. Now is the right time for entrepreneurs to honestly ask themselves if COVID-19 is a startup disaster or an incentive for innovation.
“Many unicorns were founded or built during crises – lack of resources can be a source of creativity and promotion”, – Inca Mero, founder and managing partner of Voima Ventures.
Mailchimp (2009)
The world-famous marketing automation platform, too, Mailchimp was transformed during the global economic crisis.
Initially, Mailchimp was focused on serving exclusively large corporate customers with an annual fee. However, the crisis in 2008-2009 dictated new rules, and the company was forced to completely revise its business model.
The great solution of Mailchimp was to switch to the freemium mode in 2009 – the company offered free services to users. This change has yielded incredible results – in just one year, the Mailchimp user base has grown from 85,000 to 450,000.
Groupon (2008)
Groupon was founded during the financial crisis in 2008. The IMF concluded that it was “the most serious economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression”.
Just at that time, it was necessary to create a website that was promoted by other companies, offering customers deals on their services and products. It was the idea of Andrew Mason, he came up with the Groupon platform.
The difficult economic times did not prevent Andrew Mason from finding a company that could supply high-quality and high-performance marketing to enterprises around the world. With ultra-creative marketing approaches, Groupon has shown a new way to present products to customers.
Slack (2009)
Slack has become one of the most famous messaging apps. It has become especially popular today, when many work from home in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. This company was also founded during the crisis.
The 2009 global economic crisis was a great time for Stuart Butterfield. He created the new Slack business communications platform.
“In a way, we’re made for that. Slack is not about “remote work”, but rather a tool for “creating organizational agility”. However, the full transition to telecommuting creates a great demand for organizational agility”, – wrote Stuart Butterfield on his Twitter.
Conclusion
The global economic crisis is a difficult time for everyone. However, this can also be an ideal time for those who are ready to rethink their business models, incorporate innovation in their processes and approaches, and continue implementing their big ideas.
Source: ain.ua, hackernoon.com
