Building Meroxa During COVID: Turning Market Constraints Into Competitive Advantages

Starting a company during a global pandemic wasn’t in anyone’s business plan. But in a recent episode of Category Visionaries, DeVaris Brown, CEO of Meroxa, revealed how his team turned unprecedented constraints into lasting competitive advantages.

The Unexpected Launch

The timing couldn’t have seemed worse. Meroxa had just joined Village Global’s accelerator program when the pandemic hit. DeVaris recalls: “I remember sitting in, we had our first cohort orientation week, and then the next week it was Covid. And it was like, no, I don’t know how we’re going to have an accelerator.”

Finding Focus in Chaos

While many saw the pandemic as a catastrophe for startups, DeVaris discovered unexpected benefits: “For us, we benefited because everybody was at the same spot. It gave us a point where we can just focus and concentrate without a whole bunch of noise.”

This forced focus became a crucial advantage. Instead of getting caught up in the usual startup distractions – networking events, pitch meetings, office space decisions – the team could concentrate entirely on building their product.

Learning to Work with Constraints

The pandemic’s limitations became valuable learning experiences. As DeVaris explains: “It taught us how to work within constraints… Like whatever it is to strain the capital mobility, like all these things, were born out of that, right. And so going forward, everything looks kind of rosier.”

This ability to operate effectively under constraints would later prove invaluable as Meroxa tackled complex government contracts and enterprise deals.

Building for Real-Time Needs

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation across industries, aligning perfectly with Meroxa’s vision. DeVaris articulates this opportunity: “This world is going to get increasingly more and more real time… Consumer expectations are like, we want our thing and we want it now, and we want it personalized and contextualized for whatever it is that for our preferences.”

The Remote-First Advantage

While established companies struggled to adapt to remote work, Meroxa built their processes around it from day one. This gave them advantages in:

• Talent acquisition without geographical constraints
• Efficient communication protocols
• Streamlined decision-making processes

Focusing on Fundamentals

The uncertain environment forced a ruthless focus on business fundamentals. As DeVaris notes: “We’re not running a nonprofit here… you got to generate revenue.” This focus helped avoid the trap of pursuing growth at all costs, a common startup pitfall during more optimistic times.

Building the Right Team

The pandemic highlighted the importance of having the right team. DeVaris emphasizes: “You have to find people around you that have the same hustle mindset, that have the same work ethic, that have the same intellectual curiosity.”

Looking Forward

The lessons learned during the pandemic continue to shape Meroxa’s approach. DeVaris reflects: “Those times have made us more resilient, and it gives me the ability to talk about it comfortably to help other founders so that they don’t kind of make the same mistakes that we made.”

For founders building companies in challenging times, Meroxa’s experience offers valuable lessons:

1. Use constraints to force focus
2. Build processes around current realities, not ideal conditions
3. Stay ruthlessly focused on fundamentals
4. Find opportunities in market shifts
5. Use challenging times to build resilience

The key insight? Sometimes the worst conditions for starting a company can create the best foundation for long-term success. As DeVaris puts it: “We just needed time to concentrate without a whole bunch of distractions to do the things that we’re doing and look FPS we do on the platform.”