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Eric Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom, Named ‘Businessperson of Year 2020’ by TIME Magazine

Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom, has been named the ‘Businessperson of the 2020’ by TIME Magazine for the growth of his video conferencing platform amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yuan, who began at WebEx as a coder, soon became integral to the creation of his video-conferencing platform that served as a communication medium for millions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The birth of Zoom by the 50-year-old founder and CEO became successful after he struggled for a decade to build the no-frills, highly functional conferencing platform for businesses. With his determination and hardwork, Zoom was now being used in all sorts of unexpected places, from delivery rooms to grade schools.

Zoom’s popularity grew in 2020 as the world was hit with the pandemic at start of the year, which forced people to stay indoors, maintain social distancing and work from home. With the pandemic spreading its arms over the world, Zoom started growing with leaps and bounds, helping people to continue with the work through online mode. The video conferencing platform allows individuals to communicate virtually face to face. Zoom is now in the business of connecting everybody, originally intended for businesses and universities. Business Ideas For 2021: Here Are 4 Business Ideas Which You Can Start Next Year.

“We never thought about consumers or K-12 schools when we started planning the year 2020,” Yuan was quoted by TIME while speaking over Zoom from his home in the Bay Area. He had ordered employees to work from home in early March, but it wasn’t until weeks later—around when U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted a photo of a Cabinet meeting over Zoom—that it dawned on Yuan that his company might play a major role in this new virtual world order.

Yuan soon found himself serving as the world’s relationship liaison, social chair, principal, convention-center host, chief security officer and pallbearer. Despite competition from corporate behemoths like Google, Apple and Microsoft, Zoom jumped out in front of the video pack, catapulting from 10 million daily meeting participants in December to a staggering 300 million in April. Zoom became a verb and a prefix, a defining syllable of a socially distant era. As his company’s valuation soared, Yuan crashed into the Forbes billionaires list.

Zoom’s software was released in 2013, promoting a free basic service for different-size organisations along with many paid levels. Although many other startups relied heavily on free goods to cause widespread saturation, Zoom targeted modest school and company networks that would pay year after year for subscriptions.

4 Things to Remember If You Are Planning to Start Your Own Business Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Mumbai, November 20: Starting a business is a paramount task, it is not just an idea that needs to click, but several other things should fall in place. You have been longing to start your own company since long, but the COVID-19 outbreak came as a roadblock. No doubt, starting your own business in the middle of the pandemic is extremely difficult, but it is surely not an impossible task.

We have listed a few important things which you should remember if you are planning to take a leap amid the pandemic.

Study the Market: It is very important to study the market in order to find if there is a demand for your product. There are certain things which need to be considered, for e.g, if you are planning to launch a hi-end product, then keep the current market situation in mind, where there have been job losses, businesses being shut among others. So, if you feel there is no demand, then you can delay the plan for some more time.
Have a strong online presence: Given the current scenario and more months to come, people will feel comfortable to shop online, rather than going out to a physical store and purchasing. The coronavirus outbreak has also changed the dynamics of business. So even if you are planning a store, make sure you are marketing well on social media channels and you have a good responsive website.
Check your finances: In the current market situation, people are not splurging as they are hesitant to spend money. So expect longer than usual time for your business to kick start. Spend wisely and keep a tight budget in the initial few months.
Hire a good team: Don’t go overboard and hire too many people. Recruit the strength which you require. There will always be time to expand.
We spoke about the challenges, but there are certain positives also on your way. For e.g, if you are planning to rent a shop or an office space, it will be a great time because the property rates have slashed. Also, since people are spending more time at home and with their family, it will also be easier to target them.

Being an entrepreneur is the most satisfying job, as you can take your own decisions. So if all things are in place and you are confident of starting your own business, go ahead, and take the plunge.