There’s never a good time to be locked out of your business bank account, but the week before Christmas is probably one of the worst. When it happened to Ateria Health, a nutraceutical startup focused on improving the gut microbiome, the team’s resilience was put to the test. “It wasn’t just our bank account that was frozen but our employees’ and our suppliers’ accounts too. No one could run payroll,” says CEO Neil Wickers.
The issue took several days to resolve, and he admits it was difficult not to panic. “But I think you’ve got to be authentic as a leader and I told people I was finding it tough. In a startup, there are great days when things are going fantastically well but there are also days when things go wrong. In order to survive, you need people to embrace that, roll up their sleeves and get on with it.”
