Jamie and Brian Ratner needed something good to happen.
The owners of Potomac deals business CertifiKid LLC had found a recipe for success. Their decade-old family-focused startup had maintained profitability, landed an investment on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and expanded its local platform to the rest of the U.S.
Then the pandemic hit. Those partner businesses that offered events, activities and goods went dark. The “Shark Tank” effect dissipated. Revenue tanked.
The husband-wife team needed to change its game plan. And fast.
Jamie led the pivot. The CertifiKid CEO turned to paid advertising, and refocused her deals strategy toward national products and at-home activities (think crafts, grocery deliveries and virtual birthday parties). Brian, the company’s president as well as an attorney, cranked out federal relief applications and handled conversations with banks and advisors. Together, they figured it out — alongside their kids, ages 11 and 12, who were home indefinitely amid school closures.
Soon, business — albeit different business — began to come in for the founders. They got a PPP loan. They brought back a couple of furloughed employees. Things got better.
Now, the partners are slowly but surely hitting their rhythm. But on the other side, a new set of challenges await. And it’s unclear what that new reality will look like.
“I’m very worried about which businesses are going to exist on the other side,” Jamie says. “It feels like it’s going to be very hard to rebuild for everyone — the whole country, including us — but I know there will be a need for us.”
The Washington Business Journal has followed CertifiKid’s journey through the age of Covid-19. See those stories here and here, part of a national series from the Business Journals’ 44 newsrooms across the country.
