The ability to pivot and adapt to change are key to entrepreneurship. Learn about the history of these three Mexican startups that anticipated and evolved in the face of adversity.
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November 9, 2020 3 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
By Ximena Soto
This year brought with it not only a pandemic, but the closure of activities in different industries, a health emergency and an economic crisis, rapid adaptation to circumstances has been key to entrepreneurship.
Today, the theory of light companies must be present in the minds of entrepreneurs. Not only due to the implication of having a capacity to operate efficiently with few resources; the pivoting of business models is also necessary.
Thus, these three Mexican companies that participated in the INCmty festival’s contest for startups INC Accelerator , developed their ability to anticipate and evolve in the face of adversity instead of giving up. Find out how they did it and use their experience as inspiration for your business.
Anticipate to evolve
For TINC CMMS , a software development company focused on Biomedical Engineering, the need was in the processes. “When we saw what was coming with the pandemic, we were concerned about the infrastructure in the hospitals,” says Luis Fernández, founder and partner of the company that won the INC Accelerator Challenge in 2019.
TINC entrepreneurs were also clear that hospitals would suffer financially. After four weeks with 20-hour working days, the TINC team created a digital solution for the registration of information and management of medical equipment under a freemium format.
The TINC LTE application is available free of charge for any organization that wants to use it in its light version. While the Pro and Enterprise versions offer different functions: from the notification of purchase or maintenance of equipment, to the directive management of the purchasing strategy.
For Cuéntame , a technological platform for emotional well-being aimed at company employees, the pandemic was a trigger that opened the door to new markets. This marketplace covered the growing needs of users by increasing its work team from five to 16 elements. They provide technological, content, design and even data mining services for the entire company, which also saw a 200% increase in the providers of psychological services within its network.
Image: INCmty
“It was a great challenge: learning to work remotely, leaving the office and not having contact with anyone,” says Regina Espinoza, co-founder and CEO of Cuéntame. “Thanks to social changes, we opened our capacity to recruit workers and psychologists in different cities,” he adds.
That same case of pivoting occurred in Urbvan , a shared transportation service in vans, which anticipated the impact of the pandemic with a flexible business model. At the startup they knew that the income from their mobility app – which represented 90% of their operation – would be drastically reduced with confinement.
“We think about the companies that would have to continue working, in the weakest link in the chain of exposure to the virus, and we approach companies with essential work,” says Vicente Torres, director of public affairs at Urbvan.
With disinfection protocols, seat dividers to keep users safe, and sanitary measures, Urbvan developed its business service muscle (B to B). Today, it tops its billing, while street customer service recovers.
Although each industry or sector faces different challenges, companies can also change their business model and find the need to cover in the midst of adversity. So it is time to evolve, not to stop or give up.
