Making More Out of Less

“Making more out of less.” The entrepreneurs who live by this mantra are often the ones who beat the odds and thrive in today’s increasingly competitive market. With so much going on in the world, such as increasing violence in the Middle East, the Australian wildfires, and the coronavirus outbreak, it is hard to imagine that now could be the time for another startup to burst into the scene. However, looking back on history, there are several prominent cases where start-ups that knew how to “make more out of less” were able to thrive under severe economic conditions.

1930 Depression

Do you eat cranberries often? In the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, the cranberry industry became stagnant as the delicious red plump fruits were only in demand around the major holidays. That was when Marcus Urann, John Makepeace, and Elizabeth Lee combined forces, merging together to create Ocean Spray, a cranberry growing organization which consists of 700+ grower families today. During a time when many were hungry, homeless, and out of a job, collaboration became necessary as these families split costs and created new innovative products to help the corporation thrive.

Disrupting the cranberry industry, Ocean Spray began releasing new products that others have never seen before. Did you know that they were the first producer of cranberry juice drinks? Bonded together, these families overcame major obstacles that came in their way. In 1959, the U.S. government released research that showed that herbicides used by cranberry growers have connections to causing cancer. The extreme drop in sales volume discouraged many players in the cranberry industry. Ocean Spray confronted this problem with their innovative spirit, by diversifying its products through the mixing cranberry juices with blends of other fruit cocktails, and thus increasing the involvement of other fruit producers as well. Through the collaboration and creation of innovative products, Ocean Spray survived the worst economic downturn in United States history and continues to thrive today, passing the billion-dollar sales mark and becoming the top producer of cranberries in the country — and quickly gaining international traction as well.

2008 Recession

Evaluated at thirty-one billion dollars, Airbnb has become somewhat an icon in terms of thriving under tough conditions — as it was founded during the Financial Recession. The 2008 Recession is termed to be one of the longest economic downturns since the Great Depression. With many people locked out of jobs and the economy plummeting, it is surprising to think that one of the hottest startups today was founded during that period. Two broke individuals living in San Francisco, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, were desperate to find a way to pay their expensive rent — and that was when they turned to entrepreneurship to make a quick buck.

Riding the entrepreneurial wave was not easy, especially during the 2008 recession. At first, the two young entrepreneurs created a website, airbedsandbreakfast.com, in order to market their services — which pretty much included providing a traveler a low cost place to stay. When their website wasn’t making money, the founders sold politically packaged cereal boxes during the 2008 Democratic National convention in Denver to raise around $30,000 in capital to put towards building Airbnb into what it is today. Bouncing back from several rejections from major venture capitalists, the founders eventually secured a spot within the Y Combinator accelerator to perfect their business. Airbnb’s unconventional ways to create necessary capital, coupled with a marketplace model that has few fixed costs, eventually turned the company into the international phenomenon that it is today.

Today

Fast forward to now, where swarms of people possess bright ideas they want to implement. To think, “Now is not the time,” is a thought that will only lead to the dwindling of innovation and change. In other words, good ideas go to waste due to hesitation and inactivity. We are often swayed by our surroundings as frightening external events make us doubt ourselves. But we also live in a world full of abundant opportunities. So it’s time to take innovation as your sword, and attack the problems you see today, to make more out of less.

Written by: Yifei Gao | IQ Associate