How Urban Company beat the COVID blues

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Editor's note: It was panic that struck first. Urban Company saw fear taking over its business even before the nationwide lockdown to control the COVID-19 pandemic was announced back in March. With the country on edge, and migrants returning to their hometowns in droves, the home services startup’s network of service professionals was starting to get antsy.  This was deeply concerning as the company faced the prospect of losing the very people who catered to the orders placed on its website and app—plumbers, carpenters, electricians and beauticians. They were the backbone of its business.  The company had built this network over the six years of its existence, and it was all about to get wiped out. Business was already down to zero, and if the company lost its partners, it would have nothing to show for once things reopened after the lockdown ended.  Cut to November. It has been almost nine months since, and Mukund Kulashekaran today sounds as calm as the midnight sea—a sea that has put a massive storm behind it. And it really has. Of the handful of companies …