A website for startups, entrepreneurs and family businesses changed up its strategy and its content to give viewers what they needed most: information to help them survive the pandemic and plan what’s next.
Cathy and Bob Buday have worked closely with Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange since its launch in 2014, helping the online resource for small businesses, startups, professors of entrepreneurship and students get off the ground. The site has grown rapidly from its roots as an academic research journal on entrepreneurship to one that attracted 1 million viewers last year. Recently, EIX’s editorial board rallied to bring small businesses what they needed most: advice on how to survive the pandemic.
EIX.org features research on best practices and articles on the experiences of entrepreneurs. Given its home at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, EIX also provides teaching tips to help professors of entrepreneurship teach more effectively.
A companion website that sprung up in 2018, familybusiness.org, has the same mission for family-run ventures. Both sites are funded by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, a charitable organization funded by Best Buy founder and former CEO Dick Schulze. Best Buy is America’s largest consumer electronics retailer.
In mid-March, the editorial board of EIX and familybusiness.org began publishing crisis management advice. The board is largely composed of professors of entrepreneurship with deep experience in examining businesses in crisis and how they respond. The topics included how to care for employees, how to work from home effectively, what the post-Covid world means for handshakes and hugs, and how to decide which innovations to keep after the crisis is over. As professors and students moved off campus to online education, the site also published articles to make the experience less traumatic and more engaging.
While both sites are now adding more non-Covid articles to their mix, the crisis management articles remain the top draws. This year, the sites are projected to surpass last year’s viewership by 20%.