Things May Snap Back Fast. So Take Advantage Of This Crazy World Now.

So while Covid rages across the U.S. and Europe, news comes that we may have a 90% effective vaccine coming.  We’ll see, but it could be a big deal.  One thing we know may happen is that things could snap back fast.  They seem to always do that.  Things were slow for a while during the last downturn, but then the Cloud just picked itself up and … ran.

Let’s take a look over in China.  Most tradeshows and events in China are running at their maximum allowed capacity pre-Covid, with the delta being mainly from lack of travel.  And retail spending is already ahead of where it was pre-Covid in China.

As soon as folks can go back to at least some things — they will.

So now might be your Last, Best Chance to “take advantage” of Covid, of these crazy times.  Of taking advantage of things you can actually do better, and faster in these crazy times.

My top suggestions:

1. Hire those “Bay Area VPs” now while they’ll (still) work with startups HQ’d anywhere.  This one is perhaps the most actionable.  Go hire those VPs now that aren’t in your city.  Go hire the ones that pre-Covid, wouldn’t work at your company because you aren’t based “there”.  Go hire those great Bay Area VPs now if you can.  Now.  Before they decide, in 5-6-12 months, that they really want to work somewhere closer to the CEO.  More here.
2. Maybe go grab that office lease at half off.  OK, this may sound crazy, especially as everyone is going to stay at least partly distributed after all this.  But a lot of folks love the office.  Now might be the time to get one for half-off … while you still can.  Those of us who have been around for a while know what happens when office space goes from plentiful to nonexistent.  Not only is office space half off now … but you can get a cool office.  Instead of a crummy office at 2x the price.
3. Do a lot more Business Development and Partnerships.  Building partner relationships is always key, but you can just do so much more of it now.  Because you don’t have to fly there.  And because folks on the partner side will do more meetings now, over Zoom.  So build deeper relationships at your current partners over Zoom — get to know 5x-10x more folks there.  And spend a ton more time meeting with as many potential partners as you can.  Because for now, they’ll still take the call.  They have more time, too.  But they won’t when we’re past this.  Just last week, I introduced a $2m ARR CEO to a $2000 ARR CEO.  Before Covid, the bigger CEO wouldn’t have taken the meeting.  But right now, he’ll do the Zoom because it’s strategic … and because he’s doing more Zooms overall.
4. Move on from any mediocre hires now.  We’ve all done a lot of this already.  Underperformers found it harder to hide after Covid, and many have already left or moved on.  Finish this exercise.  Respectfully move on from any other underperformers by year-end.  That alone gives the whole org a boost.
5. Promote your post-Covid stars now.  Some folks have performed worse since Covid … but everywhere, stars have also risen up out of almost nowhere.  That great remote hire that folks sort of ignored when they were just one of the folks “that worked from home” often rose to the occasion when everything became distributed.  Some sales professionals have thrived in this environment.  Wherever this has happened in your org, go promote those 1-2 post-Covid stars.  Before the year is out.    A bit more here.
6. Plan 2021 like you are going to rock it.  If you’ve grown faster since Covid, well, yes, the “Covid Boost” may be sort of over.  But still, you’re ahead of where you would have been.  So now is the time to rock it in 2021.  Be aggressive.  Raise the round.  Make the hires.  Go more upmarket.  Launch the new edition.  Carpe diem.  While others are still … confused.