How has COVID-19 changed the landscape for those wanting to start their own business?

Brendan Harris is British but lives in Italy. After a long career with Coca-Cola Brendan turned entrepreneur, starting and running several start ups. Last year he launched a new Italian drinks brand ('Heaven') with two other co-founders - only to run straight into the COVID 19 storm, including a total shutdown for 3 months in the middle of their launch. In Monday's Huddle, Brendan will talk about the major challenges facing entrepreneurs in the post COVID world - and how to meet them head on.

Traditionally, investors were looking for 3 boxes you needed to tick - Market, Idea, and People. Investors want to know about the market. Is it growing? Who are the competitors? What are the challenges? They want to know about the idea. Is your idea special? Why is it going to work? And most importantly, the people. Are you the right people? How do they (investors) know you are committed 100% to this? But with COVID-19, there's a new box. Can your business survive a lockdown? What is your business going to look like if the post-COVID world is one of face masks, social distancing and hollowed out cities? So what does this mean for people who want to start their own business? 1. Be really realistic. Test your business against the reality of where we are today. Don’t give up. Give it a year or 6 months 2. Troll through all of the public programs. Tap into any/all public funding you can get. 3. Get some help. Don’t think you can do it on your own. Go find mentors and co-op them into your business. People love to help people. 4. Don’t give up.