Is Work From Home after Covid the new norm?-Startup Concerns

The pandemic has no wonder had a severe impact on many. Not only are we grappling with the direct impacts, but also looking at the indirect influences such as recession and depression. Being in about 4-5 months of lockdown, we are waking up to a new reality of working from home.

Although it felt a bit odd to be remote working all day, for the first few days. I am now wondering if this remote working after covid continue as the new normal?

It is probably too early to say, but we are certainly looking at a fair few challenges in front:

Challenges of work from home after covid for a startup

The scope of challenges of work from home after covid for a startup clearly depends on the stage it is in.

Early Stages and Fund Raising:

During the early stages of ideation, MVP and initial prototypes – collaboration is everything. In this, I not only mean people in the same room and discussing ideas but also going out pitching. If we are talking about startups pre funding – networking plays a significant role. How is a startup expected to continue networking from home?

Team Building while working from home:

If we are looking at a startup immediately after fund raise, the questions immediately after are about using these funds. One of the most common reasons for fund raise is building a team. How to work this model of building a team while we work from home?

The type of people needed for startup are different from a codified standard in an established set up where work is clearly defined. How to go out in search of people. And how to convince such people to work with the startup?

Suppliers:

You might catch a break as a startup with this. Particularly if you are a software based business trying to find outsourced partners, this is a good opportunity to establish certain communication touchpoints.

Of course, it doesn’t mean this is easy, but this is an area where some sort of standardisation has been established and you might catch a break.

Marketing and Sales with remote working:

We have seen a boost in digital marketing and sales activities while people work from home. One of my recent conversations with a friend also highlighted that the marketing spend has reduced due to less travel, meetings, etc. However, this also means that a key touch-point has reduced.

Of course, marketing is spreading the news about product/company but the sales are certainly taking a hit. I can almost immediately see a longer turnaround time for these sales and pipeline to materialise into revenue streams.

Operations:

This has again seen a positive side in terms of communications and establishing patterns of reporting. However, it is not an ideal one. There have been conflicting reports of people over working and a direct impact on the work life balance.

To an extent, I understand that a startup might not have all the luxury in the world to think about work life balance. It still is people working with us and if we are to build lasting partnerships, we ought to be thinking about this.

Work from home after covid?

At this point in time, this seems to be an open quesiton. Will work from home continue even after the pandemic? There are both positives and negatives to this question.

Part of me says – there is a huge benefit in working from office and people would be very eager to get back. At the same time, the benefits of reduced travel time, cost etc also play a role.

Between the two, are we now looking for a compromise? Working from office as a culture is not going to cease. Has the work from home scenario offered enough positives for us to consider this as a good option to mix and match?