‘Never waste a good crisis’: Winston Churchill.
Every crisis is an opportunity to reflect and replan. For startups, it is an opportunity to restructure and reboot the business.
Sure, the COVID-19 pandemic brought in unprecedented challenges for the startup world. Unable to withstand the onslaught of the virus, and with no light visible at the end of the tunnel, hundreds of startups ceased their operations.
But could they have waited for the dust to be settled?
“You believe in what you’re trying to build and you never have to shut down. You will shut down only when you lose that belief. You can always pivot if you don’t have a product-market fit; you can always switch if you don’t have or are unable to find alternatives,” says Joseph Phua, a noted entrepreneur and founder of Paktor, which is known as Southeast Asia’s Tinder.
In his view, shutting down is never an option for startups. Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up.
“Even if you go bankrupt, there is still no need to shut down a company because you can always restructure the business. That’s why people go into bankruptcy protection because you want to restructure it so that you can pay off your debts and continue. You will shutter only when you give up,” he says.
In essence, giving up is not an option for the smartest — even if they are in dire straits. They would have hundred reasons to not put the curtain down. They would explore options such as pivoting of the product before resorting to the last step.
Here are the four startups from e27 Luminaries that have successfully restructured/pivoted their product/business model to tide over the crisis and reaping the benefits.
Greenhouse
Co-founded by Drew Calin, Vicknesh Pillay and Viktor Kyosev, Greenhouse is a curated B2B services marketplace. A free service, it matches customers to the most relevant service providers who can deliver on their unique project needs.
The Singapore- and Indonesia-based company provides market research and validation services, market expansion services and business support services for businesses.
Also Read: ‘Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up’: Joseph Phua of M17
In its earlier avatar, Greenhouse operated co-working space in Indonesia. “The writing was on the wall for co-work well before COVID-19 struct. The industry was extremely commoditised, making it difficult to build a profitable business,” said Drew Calin, CEO of Greenhouse, about the pivot.
“Fortunately, we discovered a pain point amongst our members entering Indonesia from abroad — they all seemed to struggle to navigate the local landscape and source high quality, but reasonably priced, business services (i.e. legal, incorporation, accounting, tax, payroll, etc.. etc…). We’d felt the pain ourselves, being based in Singapore but setting up an operational entity in Indonesia,” he explained.
The company started connecting buyers and sellers of these services offline, taking a small margin in 2019, and went all-in in 2020 when it realised that scaling businesses would be more in need of digital services than ever before.
“Naturally, the pandemic has accelerated our use of digital mediums and outsourced B2B services. More than two thirds of businesses (globally) outsourced services last year. 2020 was a staple year for Greenhouse.co, as we grew our supplier network by 4x, transaction volume by 4x, and our revenues by 3.4x. Today, we’re regions largest curated B2B services marketplace with more than 150 service providers, across 16 countries,” he claims.
He further added that Greenhouse is on a mission to accelerate global mobility through tech, for the greater good. “Not only are we an ecosystem by nature, but we prioritise sustainability by planting trees for every new customer, supplier, and partner in our network. To date, we’ve planted more than 3k trees all across the world…and hope to plant many many more in the coming years.”
RewardNation
It is a peer recognition tool for growing employee engagement at enterprises and startups. The RewardNation app lets you set up a points-based system for team members to publicly recognise good work and reward each other.
The company was started in 2019 as a bespoke travel curator (known as Anywhr then), which planned your journeys to lesser-known places worldwide, personalised for you. Anywhr was started to help people explore and experience more of the world, even in less common places they did not expect to visit.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Anywhr hard, with countries across the world imposing restrictions on travel and leisure. Leong and team were left with no option but to switch to a whole new product.
“Being in the travel space, our business was significantly impacted. The shift to remote work also led to team morale and engagement falling. Everyone was working hard and trying to stay positive, but we were all cooped up in our own homes during the lockdown,” founder Zelia Leong told e27.
Also Read: Pandemic or not, here’s why pivoting is good for your startup
During this time, Anywhr founders tried many ways to keep the team bonded. They found that a peer recognition and rewards system worked best in keeping the team members engaged and motivated. Team members can send public recognition messages to praise each other at work, which made individuals feel ‘seen’ and know that their work makes an impact.
“This solution worked well for us, and it turns out that many other companies had the same problem. Thus, after a few months of research and prototyping, we launched RewardNation as an official pivot. We hope to help more companies keep their employees engaged and motivated even remotely, through the benefits of Peer Recognition,” she added.
Sqreem Technologies
It is an Artificial Intelligence company to find patterns and digital footprints across the internet. Sqreem wants to map out human behaviour based on the online data they provide.
The venture delivers products and services to over 40 commercial and public sector customers world wide. Its clients include Nissan, KPMG, MetLife, Guardian Life, HSBC Bank & Insurance, SOMPO, UBS, and Ogilvy Advertising.
When COVID-19 broke out and when many companies struggled to stay afloat, Sqreem’s founders sensed an opportunity in the crisis.
In the early period of the virus spread, the firm launched Channel Sqreem, an AI-driven real-time contact-tracing and communication system, available only for government agencies. It was built to assist governments with contact tracing and direct engagement with people who were potentially at risk of having contracted COVID-19.
The platform functioned as a proximity locator that did not infringe on an individual’s privacy. And it didn’t require users to download an application for their devices. Data on the platform was handled strictly by the government agencies, while Sqreem worked as the platform provider and didn’t at any point have access to the data.
Travelhorse
Travelhorse was started out with just an idea to build a luggage logistics platform connecting users to local shops and businesses for temporary storage, allowing tourists to explore the cities free and easy.
However, the rapid spread of the virus around the globe derailed the founders’ plans, as the pandemic greatly limited the movement of people and goods around the country, heavily impacting the core business.
Also Read: Why startup founders should be open to pivoting anytime
Travelhorse has since evolved to include a dash service enabling merchants in Singapore for their deliveries.
“The year 2020 has brought unforeseen challenges and changes for everyone and Travelhorse is no different. Changing lanes from a luggage logistics platform connecting users to local shops and businesses for temporary storage to a logistics platform connecting businesses with its customers was just a way for Travelhorse to adapt to the new normal,” it says on its website.
Travelhorse revolves around the concept that home-based merchants should enjoy a more convenient and reliable way of last-mile logistics. Through genuine community spirit, it creates a friendly environment for goods to be delivered efficiently.
Accredited by Enterprise Singapore, Travelhorse is now part of the Food Delivery Booster Package to support F&B businesses making the transition from offline to online sales.
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The e27 Luminaries is an initiative by e27 to celebrate the unsung heroes of the SEA startup ecosystem. Discover these notable companies and individuals here.
Photo by Matthew Osborn on Unsplash
The post Meet the 4 Luminaries startups that made a pivot to tide over COVID-19 crisis appeared first on e27.
If you already do plenty of pressing workouts, you may
already work your entrance delts sufficiently, by which case you can save your
isolation work for the following exercise. Carry Out exercises that involve these three motion instructions, and you’ll have worked all elements
of your deltoid muscle tissue. Typically with specialization exercises you’re going to want to dedicate
two or three lifts to the physique part you’re specializing in, making the exercise barely crowded when you fit everything in.
Carry Out Exercise A and Exercise B one after one another and then break for a day before moving to Exercise C
and Exercise D to spherical out your training week. Even this might
be overcome by doing one week of decrease, upper, lower
coaching and the subsequent week of higher, decrease, upper training—and frequently alternating as such.
Here are 5 bodybuilding programs to pack on severe muscle.
When it involves training for performance (such as strength), the
connection between stimulus, rest, and efficiency is usually illustrated with a curve much
like the one below. The similar precept applies in coaching for max muscle progress.
Few issues are extra irritating than when you put
in hours on the gym, without getting any noticeable results.
And conversely, few issues feel higher than when you’re clearly seeing that you have gained
muscle mass and energy.
The squat additionally calls for extra from the posterior chain muscular tissues, together with the decrease back.
There isn’t any official definition of grip width for performing the
close-grip bench press. However, most research typically place the arms
on the bar at 95–100% of the biacromial distance.
When performing upright rows, pull the bar as close to your body as potential all through the movement to take
care of stress on the middle deltoid. Additionally,
focus on pulling through your elbows, not your wrists, to maximize the muscle activity of your delts.
I don’t think anyone truly believes you possibly can turn out to be an excellent powerlifter by only training
leg extensions as an alternative of squats.
Alongside with the normal double-arm press, you possibly can sit sideways and press throughout your body one arm at a time.
This unilateral chest transfer emphasizes shoulder adduction, one of
the main actions of the pec major. Obtain this free monthly workout plan to achieve muscle and improve your physique.
For some muscles, a single train is all that’s essential for optimum muscle development.
For different muscle teams, a quantity of workout routines might be required.
Most exercises that concentrate on the triceps effectively are isolation movements, however a few exceptions
are shoo-ins for this compound workouts list.
This is what actually burns fat and will get you in shape, and
it’s the place you can have fun and add limitless variety to your training.
Some of the most effective exercises for a selected body half are compound.
Even though the anterior delts and triceps come to the get together, the
means in which the Decline DB Press works the pec main is extra
biomechanically optimum than some other train and incurs much less danger.
Master them and you’ll be capable of use them for
a lifetime.
Finally, understanding the advantages of every
cut up will assist you to determine which 5 day exercise break up is best for
you. This comprehensive guide offers you with two distinct 5 day workout cut
up packages that are equally efficient. Progressive overload is the basic
lifting principle that states that to keep progressing,
you should consistently improve the demand placed on your muscle tissue.
Now, to be clear, you wouldn’t switch exercises each week.
You would use the same alternate program for the duration of your coaching, which should be 8+ weeks.
If you determine to make use of the PPL for 5 or 6 days
a week, we recommend periodization. This basically means altering the load
and quantity of your exercises.
This will permit you to hit different angles of the muscle.
It was mentioned that a few of these old school bodybuilders would
practice twice every week, splitting up muscle groups for each
exercise. I notice that’s not possible for most of us, especially when you work full time, have a household,
and so forth.
Beginners can benefit from Full Physique workouts as a outcome of they permit for larger
frequency per muscle group and better movement learning.
Split routines can work for newbies if training quantity is managed
properly, but Full Physique splits are often more practical for early power and muscle features.
Exercise choice performs a big role within the effectiveness of any training break up.
Compound actions should form the muse of your
workouts. These workout routines have interaction multiple muscle groups and permit for
greater general power gains.
One common mistake is not adjusting the split in accordance with personal restoration needs.
Everyone’s restoration capability differs, and sticking rigidly
to a predetermined schedule can hinder progress. You might start sturdy but discover that your power
wanes as the session progresses. By the top of your workout, you might be going through the motions somewhat
than pushing yourself successfully. The Bro Break Up is amongst the most well-known coaching splits.
Additionally, many of these are to be used in the direction of the top of your exercise aside from pre-exhaust.
However, you should all the time be conscious of controlling the load throughout each train, each set, for every rep.
Not solely will you get a whole program on this publish,
but I’m also going to point out you some specific strategies on how one can practice more effectively and without damage.
As a outcome, this is going that will assist you
construct more high quality muscle in addition to get leaner.
The quadriceps, for instance, is made up of 4 totally different muscles.
And if all you’re doing on your legs are squats, those muscles won’t all grow to the identical extent.
You can adjust the volume and depth primarily based in your schedule and vitality levels.
However, the downside is that it could not allow for sufficient give consideration to specific muscle teams, making it tougher to prioritize areas you need
to enhance. Understanding these splits will allow you to make
an knowledgeable determination about which one aligns along with your objectives.
Whether Or Not you’re a newbie or an skilled lifter, figuring out the means
to arrange your training can result in better results.
Use a heavy weight and focus on the eccentric with a three second
lower of the rep. Focus on totally stretching and
elongating the lats throughout this adverse portion of the rep.
For example when you are lowering the barbell throughout a
curl, a bench press, or when you’re decreasing yourself on a chest dip.
Massive increases in muscle mass take months
to years of constant coaching however are potential for most individuals.
Correct vitamin entails adequate protein, fats, and carbohydrate calorie intake that exceeds day by day power expenditure enough to construct muscle
but not so drastically as to cause excess fat gain. In the lengthy run, getting a constant protein consumption and making certain you don’t exceed 500 surplus calories per day are key to gaining muscle without putting on an excessive amount of
extra fats.
This superior energy and muscle constructing program is designed to burst the sleeves of your summer season t-shirts.
It uses muscle-stimulating high quantity workouts to quadruple
the scale of your quads and unleash hell in your hamstrings.
Shredding body fats and getting lean, is basically about coaching depth and optimizing your nutrition.
Train number four is the seated leg curl, which is a knee
flexion exercise for the hamstrings. If you don’t have access
to a leg curl machine, certainly one of these leg curl options will do an identical job.
A constructive mindset might help you attain your
targets in all areas of life, including fitness and muscle improvement.
In quick, hitting the pillow may be virtually as necessary as hitting the fitness center.
Gaining 10 pounds of muscle in such a brief period requires
the proper steadiness of adequate quantity to
rest and recovery. Neither one is inherently better than the opposite for fats loss.
Losing weight is extra a function of your food plan than it’s the rest.
For the identical variety of weekly sets, you’re more
likely to see comparable outcomes with both full body
exercises and cut up routines (assuming the break up
routine is ready up properly in the first place).
Now do one other 6 partial reps, pause for three seconds in the bottom squat after which end
with a ultimate six partial reps. That Is since you’ll be making use of a little identified technique
referred to as Devil Units. The forth session is
for the extremely motivation positive aspects chaser.
We’ve leave it as much as you, but when you can recover correctly between sessions
then go for four. That method you’ll be fueling your physique the right means and supporting what’s
taking place within the health club. For example, rather than selecting the identical weight dumbbells you’ve used for the
final few weeks, force your body to adapt by continually
aiming to test yourself.
So he labored them tirelessly, and after successful the 1967
Mr. Universe contest in London, he attributed the victory largely
to his improved shoulder development. Three years later, at the
1970 Universe, he beat his idol Reg Park, and again wrote that he was grateful he’d
educated his shoulders so exhausting. If you’re just beginning
out with this kind of cardio, restrict HIIT classes to twice per week, and carry out them on your decrease body workout days
in order to conserve your central nervous system.
The rep ranges proven right here have been shown to work for
building muscle measurement, form, and density.
The bench press additionally responds properly to traditional protocols like 5×5 for muscle and energy,
or even 10×10, aka German Volume Coaching, for pure mass.
If you want to get critical, there are systematic bench press packages like Bench 300 to
assist you chase a giant quantity.
Additionally, you’ll be switching from dumbbells to a barbell
for many of your workouts. This is a fairly primordial routine, probably just like the one
you followed whenever you first started lifting. Nonetheless, its aim is much like that first one—to build a strong basis and enhance your power shortly.
This isn’t the time to fret about particulars; there
might be plenty of time for that later. Most people will
be better off with a full body exercise plan that includes lifting weights
3-4 days every week. The greater frequency of coaching additionally lends itself nicely to
higher power features, as it allows for extra frequent apply of a particular raise, such as
the squat or bench press.
Protein provides you with amino acids your body uses to restore
muscle fibers and create new muscle tissue. It’s a tried and examined approach
to power and mass constructing. The feeling of achievement if you smash
a PR or the energetic pumps you get on excessive quantity days is
unrivaled. It’s what will get you off the bed on those cold, darkish
morning and straight into the burden room.
You can try to enhance the number of occasions you eat throughout
the day to help combat this a bit. Fat is a macronutrient that
can assist you to reach your goals in the best amount. It’s higher in energy, so a little bit can go a great distance.
Especially if you battle to eat enough energy, adding more fats to your
diet might help you enhance your energy without feeling
too full. After protein, to get bigger, you
have to eat sufficient energy, and those calories should come
from sources composed of carbs and/or fat. If you wish to maintain it simple,
goal ~1 gram of protein per pound of physique weight (2.2 grams per kg).
If you get all of your protein from plant-based sources, you
might want to purpose slightly larger at round
1.0g/lb (2.2g/kg).
It lets you focus on muscle growth without the constant
cycle of slicing. If you want to truly transform
your physique, committing to a full yr of bulking could be the key.
With our carry movement we’re going to be accruing additional volume.
Our goals with this helpful exercise are to get an additional conditioning impact from the carry, and to construct grip
sustainability which will profit us in our main lifts.
In reality, the Farmer’s Carry is a good exercise
to incorporate in every dumbbell exercise session. Click
right here to return to our full record of strength training exercises.
The reverse fly is a great rear delt train that additionally
works the muscle tissue in your higher back that pull your shoulder blades collectively.
As Quickly As your muscles adapt to the same workouts,
you need to change it up. If your objective is to construct muscle,
exercises with reps as little as 5 and as excessive as 30 will do the
job. We counsel you stick to five to seven reps per
set for heavier, compound motion and between eight and 12 reps per set for smaller muscles and single-joint workout routines.
The driving force behind whether a muscle gets stronger and larger is progressive overload, which is if you goal to
raise extra weight or do extra reps every week. Whether you’re
training for bigger muscular tissues or a stronger deadlift, you’re pushing yourself to do either more reps or raise more weight each session—and doing
more is what drives change.
PRRS training was designed to maintain your physique guessing and
keep the results coming. A positive thing about this program is that you simply never get bored, every workout
is different. Shock exercises are one thing you should attempt;
you really change yourself on those days. If cycled accurately, you’ll by no means plateau and can expect to buy larger
shirts. PRRS uses a lower volume, decrease frequency approach that can be an issue for somebody who requires more volume.
I measure this by placing my palms on the sensors that come with most fashionable treadmills.
Best of all, I’m recovering sooner than ever, and I’m capable of doing much
more work within the health club. Progressive overload stimulates the
adaptive responses that make muscular tissues develop.
Are you an intermediate or superior trainee looking
to build muscle mass fast? If so, welcome to the program I merely call
The Muscle Constructing Workout Routine. But that’s not promoted as a lot as new
exercise ideas like CrossFit. Those other programs may be are
nice for other goals, however not for bodybuilding. If you wish to get jacked,
but can’t ignore these basic bodybuilding exercises and
ideas that go with it.
References:
how to get steroids for muscle growth