I called out to Twitter for some positivity as we turn the page on a unique, challenging, and resolve testing 2020. As always, the social media platform and its users responded with stories, anecdotes, inspiration, perspectives, and entrepreneurial spirit. We all know the headwinds the pandemic brought, but what about the tailwinds? There have to be some, right?
Throughout the year, I’ve talked a lot about the headwinds and tailwinds we’ve faced in our startups, businesses, careers, families, economy, health (mental and physical), and society in general. We are always facing macro and micro crises, and it’s how we respond that makes all the difference. As we move into 2021, we wanted to share the unedited replies on the York IE blog.
The request:
The replies:
“The crazy, tumultuous upheaval that it brought to tech (aka “Digital Transformation”) has execs wondering now how they can keep up the pace. We enable architectures that can change in real-time, so that’s gold for us.” via @tkunze of @glasnostic
“Kyle, I love the positivity! Once work-from-home accelerated, and spending slowed early in the year our team got creative and released a free version of Defendify. We had thousands of signups and looking back it feels good to know we helped those businesses get better protected.” via @RobSimopoulos of @Defendify
“A huge part of our revenue comes from processing collections at doctor’s offices. When collections dropped because things like elective procedures and in-person visits tanked and we saw a 3,400% increase in daily telehealth visits across our network we seized that opportunity and built, launched, and brought to market a cloud-based telehealth solution to enable providers to continue to provide needed, regular care in lieu of in-person visits.” via @ItsTomSnow of @athenahealth
“Taking on a new adventure in joining @yorkgrowth, launching the startup services and helping so many startups double down on drumbeat marketing.” via @BostonKate of @yorkgrowth
“Although work from home has a lot of pitfalls, it has also meant a crazy amount of focus and productivity allowing us to launch a new company from cradle to paying customers in 6m
@finmarkhq.” via @ramiessaid of @finmarkhq
“Launched a paid family and medical leave product as a private alternative to state funded programs. Interest in the product spiked when employees had to stay home to take care of loved ones or themselves.” via @GVanderbeken of @TheHartford
“We learned to rely on each other even more than we did before the quarantine. Transitioning to a 100% virtual company made us more efficient and effective. Our productivity skyrocketed as did our CSAT!” via @stevebainz of @Forcivity
“Challenges in our supply chain forced entry into new services & product categories, created differentiation, new and improved vendor relations and overall a path to improve our way through the stress test of COVID.” via @PTsAreHeros of @PT__United
“A number of positives in the past 4 months Kyle! 1. we launched our iOS and Android apps and data platform and had/have great traction with little mrktng. 2. Raised >$270k preseed from a starting start. 3. Wonderful motivated team & advisors. Nicely setup for 2021!” via @ravroberts of @PharmaSentinel
My tailwind:
“It may sound crazy but this was the best year of my working life from a happiness perspective. Everything came together for York IE and our team — and most importantly I was able to spend more time with my family. Work travel has its place but man I loved not having any of it. ❤️” @kyork20
Instead of talking about the obvious momentum in enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, digital transformation, alternative investments, rolling funds, remote work et al., my biggest tailwind is more personal, and I’m blessed. We wish you all good health and happiness. Carry on, and Happy New Year!
