We’re officially in a bear market and for some reason, I’m more excited than ever. I never experienced the dot com bubble and the 2008 crisis on the sidelines because I did not work nor did I have an understanding of what the implications were. It’s a strange time spending time at home by social distancing away from people during this virus scare vs watching the economy crumble, however, I believe this also serves as a great opportunity for many new experiments and actions.

Virtual Reality (VR):

VR has found an amazing opportunity to engage with users. There has never been a moment where we have enough technology, capital, and people that are at home distancing themselves from their friends to find new ways to interact with each other. This reminds me of a Ready Player One scenario where people can meet in the virtual world with their VR headsets. Don’t be surprised if you see people looking into Oculus or HTC headsets to try out new ways of interacting with one other. I’m a firm believer that most people are inherently social and it would be great to see VR find its way into the mainstream. These moments in isolation from each other will indeed create new user behaviors that I believe will bode well for VR. I just ordered my Oculus Quest and excited to experiment with some of its capabilities.

Commerce:

One of my favorite quotes about commerce is from Kristen Green, Managing Partner of Forerunner Ventures, where she says that she doesn’t think of e-commerce as a separate category. We’ve come a long way with online shopping that it’s evolved into simply being commerce or a common way of shopping. What will be the next new shopping experience? Will it be shopping in virtual malls or live-stream shopping? I’m curious to see the next few experiments and see commerce break new boundaries, while people spend time at home.

Communication:

My fiance’s family decided to do a family Zoom call today to just hang out together for a half-hour as we’re all home in our respective cities. It’s just another sign that people are looking to communicate and be with each other even when we have to be in isolation. We’re truly fortunate to have access to so much technology that we can communicate quickly. How will this moment in isolation from one another create new ways of interacting with each other over platforms like Zoom? No surprise that Zoom’s metrics and usage is going through the roof.

Remote work:

My employer has asked everyone to work from home for the next month or so. I wonder what productivity will look like? Will companies start to see continue productivity across its employees when everyone is working remotely? Will this force companies to contemplate moving to a more distributed model as opposed to having everyone in my location? What tools are going to help add to this evolution? I know some people may think like, we’ve seen this happening for a while. Slack, Zoom, Skype, etc.. However, we will now see these incumbent massive companies evolve as new discourse, ideas, and communications/presentations take place to help propel them forward. The companies that do not embrace this change will fall further behind.

Crypto:

I was quite surprised that Bitcoin lost 50% in value. People in crypto often talk about how Bitcoin is the ultimate savings vehicle during a financial crisis. My theory is that many people cashed out of Bitcoin for survival. People are losing their jobs as companies and small businesses are seeing a drastic drop in revenue, but at the same time, people need supplies to ensure their families can survive this virus and so needed to cash out on Bitcoin to make this happen. During a crisis, you start to realize what is important and not important and letting go of your crypto to help protect your family is important. 

I’m still very bullish on Bitcoin and crypto as a whole and bought some at the dip. I’m also very bullish in seeing massive ways for families and people to send money to their loved ones in need through crypto. If you have family stranded overseas and low on money, they can quickly download an app like Coinbase on their phone and receive crypto to them sell for the desired currency. Remittances use cases are super quick because of crypto. Currently, it’s quite difficult to use your crypto at the POS, but this will change as major companies like Facebook start investing more in this space.

Healthcare:

Unfortunately, the Trump administration dissolved the pandemic office. The Coronavirus response could have been completely different if there were government agencies that tackled it head-on. Trump is proven to be incompetent in the time of crisis and continually blames people as opposed to taking responsibility himself. 

At the same time, this a huge opportunity to experiment and find new novel ways of solving major pandemics to scale our existing resources. There’s a lot that we can learn from our friends in China and Asia that have the infrastructure in place. 

Some suggestions:

• Quick research on the novel virus’s as they emerge with close monitoring to follow how they spread
• Work with countries that are in the front lines to help contain the virus and collaborate on research for vaccines and tests
• Quick distribution of testing across private labs, universities, and hospitals to help quickly diagnose people and isolate them before they spread it further
• Have clear processes within hospitals to help shepherd people through the treatment process. In China, there are fever clinics and hotels that are used to quarantine people as they fight through the virus.
• Aid for the elderly, such as grocery deliveries through Instacart and delivery services.
• Telemedicine – quick aid for every household via the phone or the internet with the delivery of key supplies that way people don’t have to go to the hospital unless it’s very severe. There’s no cure with this virus. All we can do is prepare our body to fight it by drinking water, eating healthy, and exercising.

I know it’s easier said than done, but the healthcare industry and insurance companies must work together with the government to learn from the mistakes made when tackling the coronavirus.

These are unprecedented times that will dramatically impact our lives but also serve as a great way to experiment with new ideas and learn and improve our lives. I’m quite excited about the new innovations and improvements that this tough period will bring to our world.