3 Actions to recreate a sense of belongingness and found a new ‘social'

Since we first got together to create Navivest months ago, our mission had developed loud and clear - to help startups navigate their challenges as they grow; including user acquisition, product market fit, content marketing and more with our roster of experts. But as we geared towards our launch with our carefully planned timeline, Coronavirus took over the world. True to the nature of building startups, Navivest is born into a world of unforeseen, worldwide crisis; caused by one of the most mysterious beings that have ever walked the Earth, Viruses, in particular Covid-19.

Like everyone else, we did worry and suffer anxiety about the virus' impact on us, our loved ones and our nascent business, but then it dawned on us that our company name embodies exactly what we should be doing right now - helping startups navigate these challenging times and put out the fire. With this reinvigorated focus, we've developed a series of articles to help all startups globally to pause, assess, realign and continue executing. To make sure you get them all, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn.

There are many facets to the current challenge from motivational to financial to operational. What's certain is that yesterday's agenda is effectively dead, and there needs to be an immediate re-prioritisation where you focus on the critical and assess any opportunities the current environment presents.

In today's post, we want to focus on the motivational aspects. No one has ever been here before so everyone is freaking out! The day-to-day changing landscape can easily stun anyone into a state of inertia. Given most startups are small teams, if not sole founders, loneliness can easily set in in self-isolation. Despite being digital-first and remote-working already, as we mentioned in our first article, our whole social lives are disrupted, and we are a social species.

The most helpful thing we can do is to recreate the sense of belongingness and found a new ‘social.’ Towards that goal, we are announcing three actions to create a virtual office for camaraderie and collaboration.

🍻Weekly TGIFs every Friday 4pm London

TGIF is one of the longest running traditions of Silicon Valley companies which is widely adopted by many others globally and which successfully brings colleagues together from all teams. While we were at Google, TGIF had always been the highlight of the week for us; we learned about the new products that were developed by the company but also had the opportunity to participate in discussions about the culture, company policies and important matters of the day at TGIFs. We made friendships and came up with business ideas at TGIFs. So let’s get together with a coffee, tea or beer depending on your preference in our TGIF Zoom room to meet new people, discuss the good and the bad, highlight common needs, and just socialise and share. Sign up here!

🎟Weekly Workshops every Wednesday 12pm London

These workshops will cover popular topics of the day such as remote working but also growth strategies in times of uncertainty, or financial health check / runway management which is crucial now. We will share the schedule of the next few weeks shortly and the Zoom room with you. Please do not hesitate to let us know which topics would be of interest to you via info@navivest.com. In the meantime, we’ll do our best to invite the best experts to cover them all in the future (and yes, you can have your lunch while listening in :))

👊#3hrPledge to #LeaveNoSMEBehind

We’re joining Farillio’s #3hrPledge campaign and offering 3 hours of free consultation per week per topic across the following areas. Just register your interest here, and we will get back to you with some time options. If you have other, more general needs, please get in touch at the same link and we will do our best to find an appropriate expert for you to connect with.

• Business pivoting

• Content marketing and strategy

• Digital marketing

• SEO

• Managing/Motivating a remote team