Help for Entrepreneurs to Prepare for Post-COVID

We talked to John Richards of Startup Ignition on how to prepare entrepreneurs, founders, and teams to properly launch a company and take the right steps towards mitigating risk and increasing success and this is what he had to say.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

John Richards: Good

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Startup Ignition. 

John Richards: I am an entrepreneur, angel investor, entrepreneurial mentor, and entrepreneurial educator. After exiting a couple of ventures, I took a teaching position at my alma mater’s university. I later started my own mini “school of entrepreneurship” called Startup Ignition, an entrepreneur bootcamp.

How does Startup Ignition innovate? 

John Richards: State-of-the-art lean startup training and mentoring.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping? 

John Richards: We are a “live” in-person bootcamp, so we have held fewer cohorts during 2020 due to the pandemic. Our region in the U.S. is less lockdown than other areas, so we have been running at about 50% of a typical year cadence.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned? 

John Richards: It was not very difficult. We have learned that resilience is a virtue in these times.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and Startup Ignition in the future? 

John Richards: I handle stress well. Our company will continue to thrive and be on a growth trajectory when the pandemic clears.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game? 

John Richards: We offer a unique bootcamp experience. There are maybe less than ten similar organizations in the U.S. and nothing in our region that compares.

Your website? 

http://www.startupignition.com