Running a startup is like raising a child. It requires time, care, attention, finances, love and strength. Even in the best of circumstances, it's a tough environment for startups, when three out of every four venture-backed companies fail, according to a Harvard Business School study.
Now add a pandemic, a financial downturn, working completely remote, homeschooling your children, participating in an online accelerator and keeping the creative ideas flowing to the mix.
This is the reality during the Covid-19 pandemic for Danielle and Daniel Major, married couple and co-founders of Smart Convos, an Atlanta-based conversational marketing and advertisement startup that uses AI to make ads jump off the screen and interact with users.
As the country began to brace for a strange virus back in February, Danielle Major said she had heard about it on the news and her husband was monitoring the situation to plan for their family. At a meeting in Ponce City Market on March 9, Major said she told a business associate she thought the ordeal would blow over quickly.
"Within two or three weeks, schools shut down," she said.
After caring for her 7-year-old daughter, who had come down with strep throat around that time, Major said the severity of the situation became more apparent.
"She came back on a Thursday," Major said. "Everyone started talking about (the virus). She went back for one day, on a Thursday, and because of the virus, we thought, 'Maybe don’t go on Friday.' Friday afternoon we found out schools were shut down."
A week later, the daycare Major sends her 3-year-old daughter to closed. She said the priority became preparing for her daughters to be home full-time.
"I’m used to having both kids gone at 6:30 a.m.," she said. "I was kind of taken by surprise by it, how it was shut down so quickly."
Ever the optimist, Major said she looked at the situation like an extended spring break. But quickly, the days and weeks morphed into months. Like parents across the country, the Majors had to not only work to keep their children occupied and monitored while they worked remotely, but homeschool them as well.
"I will be the first parent to admit, I'm not meant to be a teacher," Danielle Major said. "I just try to keep (them) on track and be there to answer questions."
"we’re fortunate. None of my family’s sick. We’re really grateful to all be in good health."
Working from home was less of a shock for the couple. Major said she and her husband have been working remotely for years, though their schedules are different today to take care of the kids. The couple works in shifts, between teaching the girls, making meals and getting to work on their third child, Smart Convos.
"I work 9-to-5. 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. That’s my 9-to-5 now," she said.
When the girls were first at home, Major said she tried her best to keep a normal schedule, but it ended up being more frustrating than it was worth.
"It’s very difficult to keep a 3-year-old on something for more than 30 minutes," she said.
Instead, Major spends the daytime teaching the kids, playing with them, doing arts and crafts and even finding time to unpack the last few boxes from their move five months ago.
"This is what they need. I can do other stuff later," she said. "I can make compromises to keep my sanity rather than getting myself more frustrated. I tried to be an intelligent person about it. You’re not getting stuff done, so stop trying."
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Daniel Major, a lifelong coder, works best at night. He wakes up every day around 2 p.m., spends time with the family and works alongside Danielle till about 9 a.m.
"It’s quiet, he can think straight, he can do his hackathons all night," Danielle said. "Everything is kind of shifted late. We do everything later."
To stay creative and give herself a break from work and childcare, Major finds herself making marble paint-pours and playing the drums.
But when it comes to work, the Majors have found the best approach to running a business during Covid-19 is giving back as much as you can. Before the virus hit the U.S., the Majors were preparing to scale the business and pour thousands of dollars into advertising. Instead, they thought of ways their product could help others during a critical time.
Smart Convos has since partnered with Goodr, an Atlanta company that limits food waste and provides food security for those in need, and other nonprofits.
"It makes me feel like we’re making a difference," she said. "Instead of trying to get money, we just want to make a difference. Help people instead of just trying to look out for yourself."
Major has also been able to stay plugged in with other local founders during a period of social distancing. She was selected as one of the first founders to join the Google for Startups Atlanta Founders Academy. Because of coronavirus, Major said the program has moved entirely online rather than at the Google Atlanta headquarters in Midtown as planned.
Along with the classes, instruction and connections, Major said one of the best parts about the program is the optimism of the cohort.
"Everyone seems like they have a good attitude about it," she said. "Everyone seems really happy. There's always a way to come out for the better."
"We've been getting a lot more quality time with them and enjoying the opportunity to take a step back and reflect on everything we've done and the progress we've made while planning for the future with a different lens of perspective and gratefulness."
Major, who describes herself as an extrovert who enjoys meeting others and networking around town, misses the community at the Atlanta Tech Village, where Smart Convos is based. But the easiest part of the pandemic is not having to drive downtown and deal with traffic, she said.
"The (best part is) the kids," she said. "And we’re fortunate. None of my family’s sick. We’re really grateful to all be in good health."
On Memorial Day Weekend, Major and her family lived some form of normalcy. She and her husband went out to a bar with less than ten patrons for a date night. Her mother came in for a visit and the kids played with a giant blow-up watermelon sprinkler. The holiday was filled with laughter, biking, steaks on the grill, water guns and quality time.
"It’s been weird, because seeing how things were before and how things are now... The week this all happened, if you had told me, 'You're not going to have access to daycare for 60 to 80 days...' It's fun having them now. At this point, my body is kind of acclimated to the way it is now."
The Majors have even found time to explore a new business using their technology, a website called BuyfromAI.com that will serve as an interactive e-commerce tool.
"The main fuel came from a concept I had... Husbands have a hard time shopping for their wives. They don’t know what to get," Major said. "(What if an AI bot asked them to) answer ten questions about their wife? What’s her favorite color? How does she dress? What are some brands you know she uses? What are some of her activities? Then take those suggestions and make purchases... We’ve been doing B2B for so long with Smart Convos, we’ve always wanted to take our technology to a B2C chat wave."
Major said this time spent with her family, her work and her creativity has allowed her to take a step back and think of new ideas.
"Our daily lives before the pandemic were really hectic and sort of fragmented," she said. "We've been working like crazy for the past year-and-a-half to balloon the startup --- going through different accelerators and programs while we were working 70-80 hours a week. I'd maybe spend four to five hours with my kids a day on average between dinner and bedtime, but now with working from home, it's 100%. We've been getting a lot more quality time with them and enjoying the opportunity to take a step back and reflect on everything we've done and the progress we've made while planning for the future with a different lens of perspective and gratefulness."
