In the wake of widespread closures and global recession, the prospect of starting a business during COVID-19 is unthinkable for many. The current situation is particularly challenging for startups and innovators. The fast running business world has not faced such uncharted situation for decades. Instead of scaling the startups like a fast-running rabbit, the turtle is the more fitting in current days. A combination of turtle and rabbit startups within all industries and sectors can teach us valuable lessons on how to survive in tough times and grow in the future.

Remember the childhood story of the turtle and the rabbit? In the first race, the rabbit raced way ahead of the turtle and fell asleep. The turtle won the race by moving slowly and steadily. Later, the rabbit challenged the turtle to another race. This time the rabbit remained focused and finished the race way ahead of the turtle by being fast and consistent. Then the turtle challenged the rabbit for a race again in a different route. The rabbit sped off just as focused as the last race but arrived at a broad river. The turtle arrived later, swam across the river and reached the finishing line. After the race, the both realized that the last race could have been run much better if they work as a team. So, in the next race, the rabbit carried the turtle till the riverbank. There, the turtle took over and swam across with the rabbit on his back.

Moral of the story is…

• The race is about who will survive the longest, not about who goes to market first
• Compete against the situation, not against your competition
• Balance the business growth instead of burning through free or discounted offers
• Pool resources and work as a team. This will beat individual performance in the long run
• Invest time on the developing business model and an operation that can scale in future

This broad perspective should help the entrepreneurs and innovators to expend resources on activities that are self-reinforcing and self-balancing. Only by executing balanced growth, with a long-term outlook, and investing time in reinforcing successful actions will help the business to grow sustainably.

If you want to discuss sustainable and balance business strategy development over an energetic cup of coffee, just reach out to us via the contact form and we will get in touch with you at lightning speed.