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The Lobo Rainforest building was largely empty during the pandemic, but Rainforest Innovations maintained programming online. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Long-time angel investor and serial entrepreneur John Chavez had an unenviable front-row seat during the economic devastation wrought by the Great Recession in 2008.
John Chavez
At that time, New Mexico’s incipient startup ecosystem had limited resources to support many struggling businesses that had recently launched prior to the crisis, and investors like Chavez could do little as numerous startups crashed and burned in the downturn.
Now, 13 years later, it’s a very different story as the state and country emerge from the pandemic, which plunged the economy into a far-worse crisis than the one a decade ago. This time, the local ecosystem was well-prepared to weather the storm, armed with an extensive statew
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Once statewide vaccinations got underway, people started trickling back in. As of late June, about 50 people were renting space again.
And now, with the state’s full economic reopening on July 1, FatPipe is set for a new surge in activity.
“Things are definitely picking up,” Adkins said. “Things are really flowing again.”
Like FatPipe, New Mexico’s myriad entrepreneurial programs, startup accelerators, newly launched businesses and networking forums are all preparing for a robust return to in-person activities. And most of the community’s movers and shakers expect the startup ecosystem to come back even stronger than before, buoyed by a virtual world of interaction that kept the bustling, pre-COVID startup landscape alive and vibrant, even during the pandemic.