Until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, survival has to be the imperative focus for startups. In this brief survival guide, we provide several tips for startups and their owners and managers to help them get through the crisis and stay in control of their companies.

The pandemic is very different from the financial crisis in 2008. Not all firms are losing out, with the value of some companies increasing on the stock market and certain businesses experiencing more demand than they were prepared for . In fact, some companies are hiring.

In contrast, many businesses cannot use their traditional supply and distribution channels and have temporarily closed or are facing reduced demand .

Challenge No. 1: Cash management

First, the biggest issue most startups face is cash management. Many estimates suggest that it’s likely to take 12 to 18 months (in a positive scenario) until a vaccine is found and approved, although the post-crisis effects may continue for longer . Such thoughts give rise to a fundamental question: how can startups survive during this period?

Companies need to prepare for further lockdowns . Preserving cash for this period is crucial for several reasons. While most investors honor deals, some may not .

Furthermore, the market for investments has also shifted. Valuations are down significantly, so getting money into the business is, and will be, increasingly difficult. Even for companies operating in sectors with high demand (such as health care), if the product-market fit is likely to be more than one year away, investors will be more cautious. Additionally, certain opportunities for generating cash short-term have frozen up.

On the upside, cash-poor startups are less likely to be distracted from their end goals by engaging too much in side-shows and can focus on evolving their core business model. For the next 18 months, the goal is to make sure they can stay afloat.

Challenge No. 2: Changing valuations

A second challenge in this market involves changing valuations so business owners need to have realistic expectations. The stock market has already crashed, but may go further down .

Startup valuations have become more conservative as well. It is harder to attract funding and companies trying to raise money likely lose even more equity. One reality for investors in times of crisis is that their expected returns are often much higher than in “normal times.” During the financial crisis, returns were typically more than double in comparison to less volatile periods . If possible, it may be worth waiting until the market has cleared the impact of the pandemic before raising money again.

Challenge No. 3: Leadership complexities

Third, leadership has become more complex. Transparency and honesty about the situation is key to building, establishing and deepening trust between management and employees . Excitement comes second. Dealing with emotions is as important as showing empathy and making people feel connected. It is important to stay true to values and vision.

Business leaders should consider not only having mentors, but a coach who is not involved in the company and understands the reality of your job. Coaching can contribute to well-being, prompt self-reflection for business leaders and help in making balanced decisions .

Having to lay off key employees is a traumatic experience. The labour market for top talent is still active. This crisis is selective, affecting some companies hard while others thrive. Laying off top talent makes it likely they will find a good offer somewhere else and not come back when the crisis is over. This is a further reason for startups to act very strategically in cash management for the next year.

Challenge No. 4: Changing space needs

Fourth, the disassociation from physical work spaces, and in particular, co-working spaces and incubators , might truncate social interaction. Startups depend on intense personal and social exchanges to stimulate creativity and experimentation; less opportunities for direct communication and spontaneous encounters might endanger respective startups’ growth.

Meeting virtually is particularly effective for drawing on existing social ties, and integrating and taking advantage of this digitalization movement will help startups emerge strengthened from this crisis.

Challenge No. 5: Consider pivoting

Fifth, pivoting your business model is something to consider during these changing times. Several startup firms in various sectors are changing the way they offer value to different customer groups during this crisis, for example by going online. Thinking about locking in existing customers and offering value to new customers with possibly different characteristics is a key to success.

A further consideration is whether to collaborate with complementary rivals, and whether to combine resources to launch new products that may be in greater demand. We have seen 3D printers being reused for protective equipment and distilleries producing hand sanitzers .

It is during crisis that responsible management practices and fair stakeholder treatment is especially visible. Making decisions quickly, transparently and equitably will go a long way.

This article is republished from The Conversation by Felix Arndt , John F. Wood Chair in Entrepreneurship, University of Guelph ; David Crick , Paul Desmarais Professor of International Entrepreneurship and Marketing, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa , and Ricarda B. Bouncken , Professor, Chair for Strategic Management and Organization, Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Building an iOS app? Avoid these critical App Store roadblocks

Apple ’s App Store is a holy grail for businesses, offering access to an audience of about half a billion people per week , according to the technology giant. But that doesn’t mean landing an app in the digital marketplace is easy.

Apple has said it rejected almost 1 million new apps vying for inclusion in the App Store in 2020, along with nearly a million updates to existing apps. Building an app takes a big investment of time and money, so before you get the wheels turning for your big app idea, it’s worth remembering that Apple alone controls who gets to play in its sandbox.

Ambitious founders and entrepreneurs often hate being told no, but the simple truth is that Apple rules the App Store with an iron fist . Billion-dollar companies like Epic Games and Valve Software might view it as an unjust dictatorship and remove their popular products in protest, but the truth remains that you must play by the rules if you ever hope to get an app in front of Apple’s massive audience.

Unfortunately, even playing by the rules doesn’t always get you in. Indeed, most apps do get through, but there’s simply no way to guarantee acceptance. While Apple does publish a thorough set of guidelines , there are still internal rules they keep under wraps. If having to submit to an unpublished set of rules sounds infuriating, I can assure you it is.

Up against the App Store

My app software development company, Synapse Studios, recently worked with a large publicly traded company to create a fitness app as a benefit for members of certain insurance plans.

Part of the content was for plan members, and the rest was available publicly. Apple, however, insisted that we offer in-app purchases so the public could unlock the “exclusive content.” But that content was an insurance benefit, and our client never charges end users.

What’s more, Apple’s own App Store guidelines don’t even allow for insurance payments through in-app purchases.

We couldn’t win, and after the client spent hundreds of thousands developing the app and content, Apple simply said the business model was “incompatible with the Apple App Store.”

How to better your chances

No one wants to go through this kind of nightmare, and though you never know whether your app will be accepted, it pays big time to do your homework beforehand.

Learn as much as possible about the App Store’s published guidelines, and follow these three steps to give your app the best possible chance of making it to the virtual App Store shelves.

1. Quality assurance is key

Test, test, test. Bugs are one of the top reasons apps get rejected by Apple. App reviewers test your code to make sure the app is usable and secure from start to finish, checking to make sure it doesn’t crash, it’s not nefarious, it doesn’t have some kind of malware, and more.

It’s honestly a good thing that Apple rejects buggy products. What good is the App Store, anyway, if the apps available on it have serious security flaws, scam their users, or don’t function properly?

Still, ambitious leaders often operate under the “move fast and break things” mindset, aiming to get products out quickly and fix them later. But Apple doesn’t want broken things in the App Store.

Implement a thorough app QA testing strategy that includes a checklist of mission-critical items to test before and after deployment.

Many founders assume that developers will do double-duty as testers, but a dedicated app QA testing team is a worthy investment to maximize the chance of your app getting accepted on the first try.

2. Build your business plan with Apple’s take in mind

The infamous “Apple tax” charges developers a certain percentage of the money that they collect from every transaction for a digital service in the App Store, such as in-app purchases.

It’s one of the reasons Epic Games brought Apple to trial in federal court. While a huge company like Epic might have the means to push back, however, smaller businesses won’t likely be so lucky.

The “good” news is that small businesses now pay 15% instead of the historical 30% fee. But once a company hits its first million in revenue, the 30% fee takes effect. It’s important to factor in just how significant 30% of your revenue will be to your ongoing operations and the prices you’ll have to set.

And trying to skirt the charge is one of the quickest ways to get rejected from the App Store. For now, the only thing you can do is incorporate this number into your cost and return estimates and move on if you can’t make it work.

3. Do something interesting

Apple can still reject you based on the value proposition of your app and not its technical merits. If the app doesn’t produce novel value, or if it’s too similar to an existing offering, expect to be turned away from the App Store. Some 150,000 submissions in 2020 suffered this fate because they failed to sufficiently differentiate themselves.

Apple is the judge, jury, and executioner in this arena, but a good guideline is: if your app could be considered a clone or near-copy of an existing app, don’t expect it to be accepted into the App Store.

One of the most difficult parts of starting a company is tapping into an audience, and the Apple App Store offers incredible access to potential customers in 175 countries around the world. It’s an exciting opportunity, but not one that should not be taken for granted.

Plenty of apps get rejected every day, which is why you should put in the work upfront and maximize your chances of acceptance.

How to build high-tech tools for low-tech industries

The past two years have provided some extreme dynamics for technology and innovation. Business and industries were shaken up and some were forced to adapt to digitization faster than planned.

2021 was the year to refine goals and adapt to a new reality. However, 2022 has the potential to become a year of even bigger changes.

When experts discuss fast-growing trends in technology , eCommerce is one of the leading examples. No surprise there, we’re talking about an industry with a tremendous growth history. Not to mention its ability to adapt to challenges (and world-wide pandemics) is faster than the wind.

But, instead of rushing to adapt to new technology, some industries are considered late adopters — or so called “laggards” in the technology adoption cycle. These are industries with long histories and a workforce which is often less tech savvy than in emerging industries. While many had been able to resist digital transformation in an ever evolving digital world, the pandemic made it necessary to kick tech adoption into high gear.

There’s now high demand for user-friendly tools that can help less tech savvy users adopt change quickly. But how do you go about designing tech tools for these industries? Can we use the same processes?

We interviewed two entrepreneurs from the latest batch of Techleal’s Rise Program , FeedbackFruits and RoomRaccoon, who are set to shake up the (slightly more traditional and less tech savvy) education and hotel industries with innovative ideas and approaches.

From helping teachers design digital learning experiences to giving small-scale hoteliers a tech boost, here are five things you should know about designing tech tools for late stage adopters.

Speak their language

Education and students were hit hard through the different COVID-19 waves and variants, leading to a rapid and often not fully prepared switch to online education. A McKinsey report expanded on the effect that “unfinished learning” can have on students. It also notes how technology could provide the boost the education system needs to bridge the gap.

FeedbackFruits is on a mission to transform the education system through EdTech. Founder and CEO, Ewoud de Kok, designed tools that are easy to use, and understandable for both teachers and students. For him, having an open mindset to EdTech and new methods, can move the adoption cycle faster.

But how can you help your users develop an open mindset to new tech?

First, as Ewoud explained, you need to make it as close to the user’s current reality as possible.

During FeedbackFruits’ 1.0 version of the product, pedagogy and online education still had a long way to go in technological adoption. Ewoud and his team spent a lot of time and energy to properly understand their users and make adjustments to create a more seamless solution.

An insider-tip he shared was to focus on terminology.

When you design a tool for late stage adopters, simply taking the time to learn how to speak your users’ “language” will make user education and adoption much easier and faster.

What if you’re already on your 2.0 version? Well, take that extra mile to get even closer to your users and design an even better 3.0 version. Optimization is an always-on approach.

Have an outstanding customer service experience

This is strongly connected to the previous point. It seems simple, yet it has a domino effect.

When you keep polishing and tweaking your product, users will have different interaction points with it. Some can adapt to it fast, some can get confused. And when confusion and frustration sets in, this is often the point when less tech savvy users will give up and go back to the old way of doing things.

Remember that your overall user experience is connected to how your users receive help when they feel stuck or have an issue with the experience. Hiring a team of patient, easy to understand customer support professionals (who, again, know how to speak your users’ language) will give late adopters a stronger sense of security when diving into the world of tech. Ewoud explained:

Motivate the hell out of your users

The hotel industry’s adoption of technology has certainly quickened during the COVID-19 pandemic . This means several businesses had to improve their approach, and rethink their strategy to get the most out of their internal systems, while keeping their guests happy. The demand for new technology in the industry is exceptional. In the past two years, RoomRaccoon grew its team by 210%.

There are so many tech tools being created everyday, but the trick to getting users to choose yours over others is to, not just solve your users problems, but to go beyond by showing them new opportunities and possibilities they may not have thought of before.

Co-founder Tymen van Dyl explained that hoteliers in general are not the most tech-savvy people, and they’re aware of it. Thus, one of the key factors for designing your tool is user experience and motivation.

RoomRaccoon is a platform that helps hotels automatically optimize their rates according to room-sell-probability in real-time. Beyond this, it also offers a solution to automatically upsell room upgrades and extras to guests.

Van Dyl’s team provided an incredible amount of content to help educate users about their tool and new traveltech trends. Their aim is to activate their users, while keeping human interaction alive.

Localization plays a huge role in this. When you’re active in multiple markets, providing localized content and interface help for your users around the world speeds up the process of trust-building and adaptation.

Be agile and flexible

Always be looking for new opportunities to develop your product and be ready to adapt to new customer pain points.

During the pandemic, the hotel industry faced major changes in dynamics. With travel agencies like Bookingom giving bookers preference when making cancellations, many hoteliers realized just how dependent they were on such agencies.

Challenges like this can be seen as opportunities to re-prioritize. When direct booking became more popular, and the dependency on travel agencies changed, RoomRaccoon’s team introduced Google Hotels integrations, which boomed during the pandemic.

Additionally, gamification became a new trend in customer experience and employee engagement. On the hotel-side, customer support started using gamification to keep employees engaged and motivated by helping them “level up” and gather points for rewards based on their achievements. Meanwhile, gamification provided new ways to engage customers via loyalty programs and reward-systems, giving fast moving brands a competitive edge.

As Van Dyl explained:

Tech adoption is about enrichment, not replacement

Finally, it’s important to address one of the biggest fears that often hinders tech adoption: the fear of being replaced. During the pandemic, social distancing protocols forced many industries to replace human contact with technology. In the hospitality industry, this meant contactless check-ins.

But, as van Dyl explained, once restrictions were lifted, many hoteliers found that travelers actually wanted to be welcomed by someone at reception — even if they were still using a contactless check-in system. There will always be a need for human interaction. First and foremost, as van Dyl explained, technology should be considered as “enrichment, instead of replacement.”

There you have it, with these five insider tips it’s time to go forth and build your products. All you have to do is listen to the voice of your users, provide outstanding customer experience, motivate like you are reaching for the stars, and be flexible. Keep an eye on what’s happening in the industry and transform it into an opportunity. Finally, don’t forget the human factor. It’s important to stress to your customers, especially late adopters, that technology won’t replace people, it should only enhance your offering.