Table 3.

Codes and representative quotes

Codes	Representative quotes
Resolving
Support seekers look for simple solutions without further interaction with the community
Support seekers address specific operational problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic	“My mum has been tasked with finding EU rules and regulations on how companies and especially AI can handle patient’s personal data. She is finding it really hard because she doesn’t know where to look for this info.” “We’re looking for some really enthusiastic people to help us test and feedback the almost finalized version.” “How do I formulate a proper pitch presentation?” “I’m just looking for help on defining who I’ll be transferring these funds to at the end of the day. I want the people to be able to have as much choice as possible in where their funds go because every city will experience different problems in this crisis.” “Since we are quarantined due to covid and it might be a while, I would love to order that chair for myself and use it in my home office. Does anyone know the make and brand of chair used in WeWork?”
Support seekers ask to collect (free) resources that help to be more resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic	“Have you guys switched to work from home culture to continue your businesses and just to minimize the losses and to fight the recession phase in this global pandemic? If you have faced problems doing so with respect to marketing and customer support, so kindly list them.” “I am building a network of health professionals offering pro bono advice for the covid via video conference. Can anyone point me to solutions that are robust cheap and don’t require from patients to download an app? Browser-based the obvious ones are Google Hangouts, Meet, or Skype. But I was wondering whether a solution closer to telehealth exists.” “Google and Microsoft recently made a switch to make enterprise free to help out people are any other companies doing the same thing feel free to share them here.” “To help unemployed Canadian startup workers amid covid you can add your profile here to be seen publicly by employers.” “What are the most useful tools you know and use as a startup free or not for collaborative work; ideation, innovation frameworks, brainstorming, design thinking, etc. Now with the quarantine, I need some really good online tools to digitalise most of the daily work.”
Support seekers look for resources to spend their extended leisure meaningfully during the pandemic	“Here are ivy league courses you can take online right now for free (…) If you have anything more please share in the comments.” “I would like to try to read as much as possible before I go back to work.” “What innovation resources are available websites, books, mentors (during the pandemic).”
Community closes knowledge or resource gaps
Community provides short, clear answers to problems	“I just emailed the local EU office and they helped me for free with detailed answers!” “You must have US bank accounts. You can use a transferwise account without an EIN and still send receive USD.” Support seeker is looking for a particular chair; “The brand appears to be hon.” “Sorry, I wasn’t clear I meant you make a personal account. In the meanwhile, if you absolutely need banking right now and can’t wait the several weeks for the IRS. It’s a temporary solution.”
Community creates a resource base	“You need to take care of cloud collaboration tools. For that, we use g-suite, Gmail, drive, hangouts, meet, gatlabs.” “Worth a reread of Ben Horowitz classic” “Quick reselling eCommerce platform offering free set up of eCommerce stores during the covid pandemic. It is a good opportunity for small businesses and startups also the company has waived off transaction charges in this pandemic” “This is a good resource to help you out with writing your first pitch: [link]” “If you are looking to set up meetings and talk to people through collaboration then you might consider cisco, Webex, Microsoft teams, slack, ring central, and nine (…) those are a few of the collab tools, I have worked with before and they have their own features and interfaces that you can use.”
Community executes requested tasks such as product tests or website development	“It is simple. Do not worry, I can add some input!” “That’s so sick. I love stuff like that. I wish I had more time to tinker. I’m possibly looking for a part-time salesperson in Canada SaaS company. So, I’ll look through that list.” “Todd upvoted and followed you.”
Reframing
Support seekers ask non-specific questions
Support seekers look for funding during the pandemic	“Since I obviously did not plan for a pandemic to be happening, and since no one knows how long it will go on for, I have no idea what to do. I do have the funds to keep the servers going until November without any income but after that, I’ll have to close up shop.” “Sadly, I have no capital but I’m willing to take out loans to support this idea. But due to the cost of app development, I alone will not be able to raise sufficient funds. So I’d be looking for an angel investor.” “With the covid situation, revenue is down as the startup relates to events. That is not the biggest deal as I see this downtime.” “Hey, I am interested to hear what other founders, VCs experts think about fundraising in a recession. We are closing a seed round and our founding team are speculating.” “We’re a group of three people. We are currently facing some cash crunch due to the ongoing pandemic and have been looking forward to get some investment by giving equity.”
Support seekers ask non-specific questions regarding operational problems	“I was getting ready to launch a massive direct mail campaign to the execs at these companies right before the virus shut everything down. I’m not sure what to do now.” “I was wondering if anyone has any tips (…) if any is involved in making the post a success. What we’ve built is a really robust platform with great UX that we are super proud of and I want to showcase it in the best possible light.” “How long is it taking to incorporate a c-corp in Delaware now because of coronavirus and is it still possible to get the EIN, no? Which would be the best company to use in these times for the incorporation?” “As covid worsens in the EU whereas we can see some recovery in Asia what would be the best thing the community here would do? Should we send a few of our top-performing employees over to Asia to push for BD?” “The team is lacking a lead developer. The pandemic only makes the situation worse at least in my city where people are all in lockdown state and so I’m considering hiring a freelance developer for the time.”
Support seekers look for feedback on ideas or strategy	“Not entirely sure what to do with them but want to use them to help provide (…) testing location info.” “I thought folks might be interested in what kind of traffic and conversion numbers we saw. I’m guessing these are atypical considering that we’re in the middle of a pandemic.” “I was thinking about exporting goods to African countries where they lack basic necessities. My idea is to arrange goods from across different countries.” “I dunno if it's something people are even searching for. What do you think? Feedback appreciated [link]. Any ideas on how to explain present the concept to people?” ” We’re considering going open beta with a different vertical like essential goods e.g. hand soaps, gloves, etc. Question: Think it's a good idea to ride the wave or hold out and hope the category recovers? Curious if others are considering pivoting things right now.”
Community tests assumptions
Community questions post information correctness or ask for clarification regarding missing information	“What's the need to rebrand when the sale is happening?” “What do you mean protect yourselves? What are you protecting yourselves from?” “Nobody is going to be able to give you good advice if you're going to be this vague.” “When the outcome is putting your other employee’s lives at risk, I feel like this is not the appropriate way to look at things.” “Agreed. The wording is super confusing. Have you found any clarity?”
Community divides problems into subproblems and explains how to deal with these subproblems	“I mean saying you want to discount the rent can be writing up an addendum to your contract. If they accept, you are good. I’m not sure what other options you have besides organizing a tenants union and negotiate based on many business in the same circumstances.” “I usually define my problem and search how others did it. When I learn a new step or process I do a deep dive until I understand it, then try and solve my problem, then google the error codes.” “You should be achieving demonstrable milestones at least every three months whether technical or customer; not clear on whether in time sales or recurring revenue recurring is much more valuable.” “Take your cash flow with all the milestones you may have up until you become cash flow positive. (…) A good of contingencies is the amount you will need equity call if the amount is too high you’ll have to split it in different rounds lay them on a timetable and understand exactly what you are going to achieve at each milestone. Keep your burn rate waaaay under the limit that will bridge you to the next funding because excel files are not real life if you need a dcf template or a cap table with a funders dilution roadmap.” “If you had a family therapist for example with patience, you could in theory have a beta test group of users instantly, instead of trying to get them one at a time, because it is being offered in an environment where people are already paying for a service.”
Community identifies alternative solution approaches	“Your focus should be to sell right now. No need for a rebranding in a crisis situation!” “Is there a reason you can’t go out to a coffee shop or other public environment a few times a week?” “Well, think about who’s affected by this problem and interview them. You don’t have to intentionally lead the convo towards the problem but ask them about their lives and how they do things currently are doing things in this area.” “Is there way you could modify your business plan or offer a product that could be useful during a lockdown? It’s here for a few months.” “I’d say it’s less about recruiting and more just finding someone with the same goals as you.”
Reflecting
Support seekers try to make sense of the situation through information exchange
Support seekers wonder about the general economic situation during the pandemic	“The startups that’ll shape the future this time will be different although depressing. This recession could have many profound benefits from reducing the harm on the environment to improving the way we communicate and work. The coronavirus means more people will work from home so we’re seeing a rise in the use of remote working tools already people are reporting on the improved quality of life from the temporary changes in their work habits. This is all pretty obvious. What else are we missing? What positive changes, new startups, and exciting opportunities do you think will come out of this uncertain period?” “With the covid and recession looming, is now a bad time to start? It seems like people are in full panic mode and probably trying to save as much money as possible.” “Covid has seen the economy shaken quite a bit with many businesses bearing the brunt.” “I was putting together websites for clients right as the coronavirus pandemic struck and the interest just fell off a cliff. Not good. Maybe I’m wrong but I think people still want to build stuff, they just can’t afford it right now.” “I am interested to hear what other founders VCs experts think about fundraising in a recession.”
Support seekers wonder about the impact of the pandemic on their individual business	“Does anybody here consider applying for this small business support program?” “Are you noticing a significant slow down in engagements (…)? If you are seeing this as well I assume it’s primarily that everyone's organic feeds are filled up with covid based information and non-virus stuff is getting buried.” “Those of you with B2B startups are doing to land deals right now? I was getting ready to launch a massive direct mail campaign to the execs at these companies right before the virus shut everything down. I’m not sure what to do now.” “Just a small startup I’ve been working on for three years blood sweat tears and all of that our whole country is on lockdown and last week we exploded I’ve never had to maneuver and make so many adjustments to our operations in such a short period of time.” “I’m trying to understand how sales have been impacted for other startups so far during the covid outbreak and how they are forecasting sales the rest of the year.”
Support seekers look for others that face the same challenges or have a similar mindset while coping with the pandemic	“I think now is an interesting time to talk about mental health in industry and the startup world should we expect an incoming urgency to track and manage employee wellness perhaps a surge in hr tech what is happening has been happening at your startup in terms of managing wellbeing.” “Have you guys switched to work from home culture to continue your businesses and just to minimize the losses and to fight the recession phase in this global pandemic?” “This is not the easiest time for humanity. There are a lot of crazy things happening and plenty of irresponsible people around. However amidst all of this chaos, many positive things are showing through: People are singing in balconies during quarantines, various businesses and people donating resources to hospitals.” “I’m looking for enthusiastic people to create something meaningful during the quarantine but seems like everyone is watching Netflix or playing video games.” “Ok, so I’ve decided to use this coronavirus time to my advantage and launch a project I’ve always wanted to do.”
Community creates a collective understanding in a backward-looking manner and through deep engagement with a problem
Community provides information regarding the economic situation during the pandemic	“The car bubble finance is expected to be the one that pops first will be interesting to see where that places your offering.” “I think there will be a large bounce. We’re going to have months of deferred purchases, lots of employees are getting govt monies.” “I’m not so sure people lost their jobs or worked less and will have to pay the frozen bills all at once.” “I wouldn’t be surprised if trump dropped taxes for the rest of the year for an additional economic kick.” “I think throwaway restaurant is referencing the stock market circuit breakers were due to such a sharp drop trading is halted to try to restore restive trading stability. I could be wrong though.”
Community provides information regarding business impact of the COVID-19 crisis	“I wouldn’t just ignore this. The earlier you prepare the better off your business will be in handling it. If you don’t, you may wake up one day to find half your staff out sick with no contingency plan.” “If it actually works, it’s a great time. If all you are doing is offering marketing, it won’t because most are cutting back on their expenses to prepare for the coming recession.” “You could start a hand sanitizer business you’d be rich within a month.” “Early Feb was a time when many places still weren’t in lockdown. I’m an engineer and direct marketer and I know for a fact that business owners that have nothing to do with covid are actually spending less on their advertising right now(…). Perhaps you should test your advertising again. What niche is it for and what type of advertising have you tried?” “I don’t think this is an opportunity to make money. Of course, we’re being negative. The world economy is being temporarily shut down that’s the reality. My take: use this time to plan out what your next moves might be, once we do come out of this difficult period. People are going to be craving some things they couldn’t do for a while. Jump on that wagon and you’ll make bank but right now is not a time to thrive it is a time to survive.”
Community explains best practices (during the COVID-19 pandemic)	“The top comments here present a couple of reasonable options holding till things change or negotiating a contract that accommodates you if you keep working without being paid.” “Pick one (freelancer) in your own country as that helps communication and if you can find one in your own timezone even better.” “Put yourself on LinkedIn and state exactly what you wrote here in the summary section. Be bold in your ask. Don’t pretend to know everything and be willing to do the grunt work to learn go for it and read everything you can.” “Facebook is the ultimate example of a product going viral. I too am confused by what the person above you is saying within hours of launching the site had active users. He obviously wasn’t spending a penny on marketing at this point.”
Community collects subjective impressions around a large variety of topics	“I’ve been in a remote job for a little over a year. Honestly, if I had the choice I wouldn’t work from home all of the time. I’ve found much of the human element is stripped away in remote work never realized.” “I personally do not support this trend as gambling has even permeated gaming in the form of loot boxes.” “Having an army definitely helps but it’s not always necessary. We made it to the top of the day without me even realizing someone else posted us. Just like any marketing channel the success of your launch is a function of both your product and distribution. It’s almost never binary.” “There is a huge difference between; do what you love with a calculated plan and just try and hope for the best. I’m not saying he shouldn’t do it because of failure or fear but he should have a plan and a backup plan.” “That’s not true at all. I’ve been an entrepreneur for years with about different entities across LLCs and c2s corps. My wife is an accountant and startup advisor reimbursing owner and employee expenses is an absolutely normal process for a business.”
Community shows compassion regarding fateful strokes	“It sounds like you’re taking some sensible steps to help yourself. Well done. Remember to congratulate yourself for every victory you make on your way to recovery.” “Sorry you are going through this, my family and I are social distancing for my son’s spring break. We will see if we can last in each other’s constant company for days.” “Try to remain civil in how you communicate with others. Even if you feel they are being extremely foolish, I know that can be extremely difficult but rule is important to us, and crossing that line will be met with appropriate action.” “Dude, that’s awesome man. I’m so happy to hear that’s going for you. I don’t know why the mod is talking smack. It’s a good thing to share this. So, people can get certain ideas. Congrats man, the only thing that counts is if you can keep up the pace.” “I’m sorry I made you feel disturbed with my fear of being replaceable.”
Refocusing
Support seekers aim to define future actions through strong interactions with the community
Support seekers address complex strategic problems that emerged during the pandemic	“My company is now segmenting employees based on different locations and packs it diversifies risk. But I still don’t think it’s the best idea as everyone commutes from all around etc. But it still poses risk thanks and would appreciate how some startups are doing this so we can get an idea too.” “I just started making a line of handbags and I realized it’s really expensive to produce inventory. I was curious where I could find funding and what other routes I could take to fund my new business. I was going to produce in china but because of the shipping costs and coronavirus I think I rather produce in the US or Mexico.” “I sold my shares and made a significant amount with crypto that I can reinvest in a startup I would start. I’ve recently been wanting to go back into the startup world but not too sure how to go at it.” “It will be really hard to find someone who’s passionate enough to join me. He stated that it’s a limiting belief that I can’t find someone even if I don’t have an idea. Apparently, if you’re a good recruiter you can persuade someone to do something bigger than themselves.” “What stage in the business I would need to be at to make this a viable investment? How to make sure I’m not ripped off and my idea isn’t stolen?”
Support seekers look for encouragement to undertake next steps	“We have no reason to be in the office other than giving each other this false sense of work getting done. I might take a hike voluntarily because I have at-risk people at home who’s survival I would very much like.” “We became a very essential tool due to covid. We had to scale insanely fast and therefore had to cut corners. So, last week when our user base went up by, we crashed several times. It felt like the end of the world. I had anxiety attacks all week long.” “This is a wild time and I feel very fortunate I’ve been giving back to the community in various ways but I don’t want to look like I’m patting myself on the back (…) does anyone else have a company that unexpectedly started thriving because of the virus? What are you doing about it? Are any of you with companies able to help in your communities at this time? If so, what are you doing?” “I have a business idea that’s a niche version of an existing website. I’d like to pitch the idea to the original site’s CEO.”
Community interacts with support seekers to create forward-looking plans through deeper engagement with a problem
Community makes suggestions for future actions	“Find a cool coworker space and camp there during your work hours. Socializing is great in such places if you have the correct attitude.” “Could you find a mentor, an advisor you trust already to work with you and help you revise your sales funnels and scripts, someone that would work for equity or revenue share or straight commission?” “Don’t take a loan it’s too naive to think that no one has ever thought of a similar idea. Find the target users, show them your idea and see if they hand you over their wallet.” “No point in getting stressed out, customer can squeeze if you let them. You have to be diplomatic where ever required in service. You are right in terms of challenges. You focus on product and it’s very important to keep yourself not stressed out because no one else. It’s a fight.” “I’d try writing to give valuable information and build awareness and tie it to a relevant offer they could benefit from immediately. I mean if your product helps people, why limit the help they can get from you? Offer them more value for a good bargain price.”
Community engages in personal contact with support seekers and often provide companionship	“Guys pm me I have got fews projects where I get juniors who want to collaborate in great startups.” “I can offer help on the front end. Can you explain what you’re working on?” “Can you pm me the link? Would love to check out if it’s not a problem.” “Send me dm if you need help with that. I specialize in digital media and paid social advertising and I’m a big art fan.” “Happy to brainstorm together and share my experience on how I’ve found others to brainstorm with. I’m in NYC with a background in healthcare will dm you resume current project contact info.”
Community seeks to inspire support seekers to undertake future actions	“Congrats on the MVP and being in a decent spot. It sounds like you’ll have some time to find good technical leadership without your hair on fire or at least more on fire than usual.” “He said he’s in high school. LOL, what kind of work can he possibly have done? He seems passionate, why don t you give him a chance.” “That’s incredible, it takes a lot just to keep the lights on. Great work on pivoting so quickly.” “You can go for it—decision is purely yours. If joining summer offers means short term loss but long term gain in terms of knowledge and skills, then you can consider going for the offer.” “That sounds awesome. Sorry for misunderstanding the business model. I’d say, ask for more you’ll need to have tons of runway. I hope to be a customer soon.”