CNM Ingenuity Helps Local Startups Find Creative Solutions to COVID-19 Problems
The history of the word “entrepreneur” dates back all the way to the 1700s and one of the earliest definitions talks about a willingness “to assume the risk and to deal with uncertainty.” Never has that been more true than the present moment.
In a time when COVID-19 is rewriting all the rules, especially those surrounding businesses, entrepreneurs are finding smart ways to keep the economy going and people employed. Many of those entrepreneurs run local New Mexico startups and CNM Ingenuity is doing everything it can to support them.
“Entrepreneurs were born for this moment,” says T.J. Cook, the Executive Director of ABQid, an entrepreneurial support organization that’s part of Ingenuity. “They’re ready to find solutions to the complex problems now facing us and we want to do everything we can to help them.”
Most immediately, Ingenuity is now running a virtual learning series for startups and entrepreneurs through ActivateNM, an Ingenuity startup accelerator. So far they’ve held seminars on everything from crisis funding to product management, or the process of building and shipping software to customers.
Next up on May 1 is a session with Dale Dekker, an active angel investor and the principal at Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, an architecture, interior design, planning, engineering, and landscape architecture firm. In that session, Dekker will address the opportunities created by COVID-19 and help startups brainstorm how they can embrace the opportunity to provide solutions.
Concurrently, ActivateNM is also running its accelerator and finding ways to re-tool its approach in order to help the newest cohort better serve clients online. Businesses in that cohort include COHGIN Telehealth Solutions, which is creating a telemedicine platform for obstetrics, Rerouted Co-Op, which has a site that makes it easy for people to buy, sell and donate used outdoor gear, and Dromo, an app for home health resource management and compliance.
“The businesses in this cohort are primed to operate in the current environment and we’re excited to see what they do,” says Dan Heron, the Senior Program Manager with ActivateNM.
Finally, ABQid has also compiled several online resources for local startups. One is an evolving list of financing options for startups, and another details New Mexico startups that are offering COVID-19 resources. Additionally, ABQid sent around a comprehensive guide that startups can use to address everything from cash management (how do they stay afloat in the current environment), to communication (how do they communicate internally with employees and externally with customers).
“We need entrepreneurs more than ever, and we believe many new startups can rise up in New Mexico with solutions for these unprecedented times,” T.J. says.