BatteryXchange founder Desmond Wiggan knew he couldn't sit back while Charlotte's fellow founders struggled through the pandemic.
So Wiggan swerved out of his lane and began holding virtual conversations around topics related to the thoughts, needs and concerns of the startup community.
"As a tech company you can get lost in the product, and you forget to be human," he said. "I wanted to figure out how to engage with the community and see how we could add value to what everyone was going through."
BatteryXchange is a fast-charge battery solution that make it easy for users to locate portable batteries and help local businesses provide battery kiosks for their customers.
Wiggan said the virtual conversations evolved out of an initial sharing of resources with non-profits throughout the city.
"I felt like that was cool, but it wasn’t enough," he said. "So after that, we started with this whole theme of recharging Charlotte and giving Charlotte what it needs to come out of Covid and be better than ever."
Wiggan's ReCharge CLT took off in early April, and since then he's held Zoom conversations every two weeks that vary in topic, like managing finances, wellness and mental health.
"It's been so organic with people were coming in and sharing so much knowledge," he said. "The feedback I’ve gotten was about how empowering and motivating it was, how they were taking away from it things they could use to move forward."
For Wiggan, pivoting away from regular business operations to focus on ReCharge CLT was an easy decision, made easier by the fact that the company had done crowdfunding prior to the pandemic.
"We had some crazy momentum and were really hitting a stride," he said. "Luckily, we’d done a crowdfunding raise prior to Covid-19, which allowed us to use this time and have runway for this period where we could invest in new product and build out our application."
As the conversations continued into May, Wiggan began to understand the full scope of the impact they were having on the startup and small business community. He said he began to look at how BatteryXchange could use its product to help businesses as they began to reopen.
"We started to have conversations with different bars, coffee shops and restaurants and ask, 'What are your needs, and what do you want to do as you begin to reopen?'"
Wiggan said he noticed many establishments that were still operating via curbside pickup or take-out only had paper signs posted on doors and windows. He realized BatteryXchange's new product, a digital messaging board, could be the perfect solution.
The boards are 43-inch digital screens that users can program to display a message, image or video of the user's choosing. Wiggan said he expects drink and dining establishments will use them to display messages about Covid-19 safety.
"They’ve been attracted to that, so we’re going to see what the implementation is like," he said. "This is a new product, so with the crowdfund we were able to develop and build it out and get it ready to go when everyone opens the door."
The product was already in the works before the pandemic hit, but Wiggan said it became a viable tie-in to help keep Charlotte safe. Implementation hasn't begun, but he said he expects the digital message board to roll out later this summer.
"As an entrepreneur, as far as new products, you’ve got to let the consumer and climate navigate what’s needed," he said. "I think we can leverage this product to help people out in this way."
