Impact of Coronavirus on Kansas City Businesses
(Source: Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, KC Area Development Council, Heartland Black Chamber, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce, KCSourceLink)
At the end of April, we partner with Resource Partners to survey 565 KC small businesses about how the coronavirus and shut-down orders have affected businesses across the metro, including minority-owned and women-owned operations, microenterprises (like solopreneurs), startups and Main Street brick-and-mortar shops and services. Full results can be viewed this report, but here are a few takeaways:
A majority of business owners have positive expectations about the future regarding:
But you also noted challenges, like:
-
It took longer than five business days to be approved for a government loan and longer than that to receive funding
-
Minority-owned and women-owned businesses believe their businesses should be offered dedicated financial assistance
-
Nearly half of you with five or fewer employees said you saw revenues decrease more than 50%
What many of you said you’ve experienced since March:
When you reopen, you said that your top priorities are:
And businesses with fewer than five employees said when they reopen, they’ll be concerned with:
- A majority of you said if businesses reopen by mid-May, you think you’ll be able to get your businesses on track, and more than 2 in 3 of you said you plan to restaff your business.
U.S. Small Businesses and the Impact of COVID-19
The sixth through ninth waves of a study by Thryv and America’s SBDC revealed:
A sixth wave of the study occurred April 24 – 26. The biggest change from wave 5 is that funds have begun flowing for businesses in need.
-
Slightly more than one in four (28%) say they have received funds, up from 5% in wave 5.
-
Most businesses (61%) say they have applied for SBA loans.
-
One in three said their loan has been approved, increasing from 21% in Wave 5.
-
Looking only at those that said they were approved for the loan, 78% said they had received the funds.
Download the full wave 6 study findings.
Seventh and eighth waves of the study have been completed, with the most recent wave occurring May 4 – 10. The most significant changes show that business owners are beginning to feel less concerned and have received funding from the SBA.
-
The level of “extremely concerned” has hit its lowest point at 70% in wave 8, down from 74% in wave 7
-
The “large decrease” in change of demand has also dropped to 69% for the first time since wave 1.
-
Slightly more than one in four (28%) say they have received funds, up from 5% in wave 5.
Additionally, feelings about bringing employees back and longer-term prospects are improving.
-
The number of employees still working jumped to 41%, and another 28% said employees will return when they are allowed to reopen.
-
Businesses that believe they would completely recover one year from now increased to 28% in wave 8, up from 21% in waves 5 and 6.
Applications and loan payouts saw significant changes, as well
-
Most small businesses that applied for SBA loans have now been approved, increasing from 43% in Wave 7 to 65% in wave 8.
-
Among businesses that said their loans were approved, 92% said they have received the funds.
Download the full wave 8 study findings.
The ninth wave of the study has been completed, with the most recent wave occurring May 10 – 17. For this wave, small businesses answered new questions about concerns that a second wave of the virus is imminent and how their volume now compares to 12 months ago.
-
Many of the trends continued in a positive direction. For instance, those saying they are extremely concerned about changes in demand has fallen below 70% for the first time since the study began.
-
Also, businesses saying they will not have to decrease employees hours has continued to improve, with 30% saying they do not need to reduce employee hours.
However, some businesses are torn between staying safe and the need to save their businesses.
-
64% are very or somewhat concerned about a second wave of the virus.
-
However, more than half (57%) think waiting a couple more weeks to re-open is too long.
-
Even among those that are concerned about a second wave of the virus, 38% think a couple more weeks is too long.
Other major impacts of COVID-19 include SBA loans and overall business volume.
-
Almost half (49%) the small businesses that received an SBA loan think they will not need to repay it.
-
Most (57%) small businesses are operating at 50% or less of their volume this time last year. Slightly less than 15% say they are operating at 100%.
Download the full wave 9 study findings.
Census Bureau Releases Interactive Data Hub in Response to COVID-19
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
A new interactive data hub centralizes demographic and economic data to facilitate pandemic-related decision-making. The data hub, released as a beta version, will be updated periodically as the situation changes and as feedback is received from users.
Which Workers Will Be Most Impacted?
(Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia)
These disruptions disproportionately affect communities that were already struggling. In the United States, at-risk workers are more likely
-
to be younger, to be nonwhite or Latino
-
to have lower levels of formal education than lower-risk workers
-
to earn less than those in lower-risk jobs but nevertheless contribute significantly to their households’ earnings
-
to rent their homes and have housing costs that eat up more than 30% of their household income.
Survey Results: Midwest VC Activity during COVID-19
(Source: Lewis and Clark Ventures’ Tech Between the Coasts and Jonathan Ellis, Managing Director of Chicago-based Sandalphon Capital)
Over the past few weeks, Ellis reached out to 106 VCs and other early stage investors throughout the midwest for their thoughts on how the state of investing will change in the coming weeks and months. A few highlights:
-
28% reported things are “business as usual”
-
69% are focused on their current portfolio; of that 69%, 54% said they’re still taking some meetings with the intent to invest near-term, while 15% are only taking early-stage meetings for the time being
-
46% reported they are being “a little more selective” when taking meetings
-
19% said they’re being “much more selective”
-
The most common response when asked how 2020 valuations will compare to 2019 was a 20% discount
Impact of COVID-19 Crisis: Insights from Global Startup Survey
(Source: Startup Genome)
To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on startups globally and equip governments with tools and actionable insights to support their innovation ecosystems, Startup Genome launched the first-ever global startup survey on the topic. Some key highlights:
-
41% of startups globally are threatened in what we call “red zone”: they have 3 months or fewer of runway.
-
74% of startups saw their revenues decline since the beginning of the crisis. The most common type of change in revenue is a relatively modest decline.
-
Only 2/3 of startups have reduced their expenses since December 2019.
-
38% of startups have not received assistance and do not expect to be helped by policy relief measures related to the crisis.
-
20% had term sheets canceled
-
58% of startups have done layoffs
-
71% are in industries negatively impacted by COVID-19