What sustains founders through adversity? Lora Ivanova has some opinions on it, and she has the “receipts,” as they say, having purchased those opinions at the Hard Knocks Store during the last eight years.

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In 2020, Lora’s startup MyLAB Box was down to one month of runway. Google’s 2018 “Medic” update obliterated the company’s organic business almost overnight. For an SEO-revenue-based company, losing 80% of organic search traffic was cataclysmic. Of course, she and her co-founder Ursula Hessenflow-Cruz responded with everything you’d expect: SEO re-optimization, restructurings, layoffs, losing good people, getting more flexible and just getting small, agile and tough. And desperate.

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And then COVID happened. MyLAB Box was poised to take advantage of the poor state of testing. They rapidly innovated, pivoted and started offering what the market needed. Revenues responded, tripling the prior year and continuing to grow in 2021. Was it determination that sustained her through that difficult year? Was it fear of failure? Or was it unbounded optimism?

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Initially, starting MyLAB Box was an uphill battle. Tucked between healthcare and B2C Ecomm, MyLAB Box didn’t fit any known templates. Healthcare investors didn’t like the lack of intellectual property. Consumer investors didn’t like the regulatory menace. And, if this was such a good idea, why weren’t LabCorp and Quest doing it? And why would two founders with no healthcare or testing experience be the ones to crack this nut?

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What they failed to see was that being in the gap was the opportunity. And, not being Quest or LabCorp was the advantage. It meant that Lora and Ursula were tuned into the consumer-experience and not tied to their enormous infrastructure and existing conventions. All they had to do was find some investors for whom it was about more than the money – who could see their vision and help them achieve it. Find some Angels who get it and self-fund the rest. Lora had to rethink her growth strategy. She had to build a plan to succeed with a modest seed round, because MLB was never going to be Theranos or deposit a Theranos-sized money-bomb. Was it pride that motivated her to prove that she could do it?

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Not many founders, while their business was being squashed by Google’s Medic Update and while the world was being afflicted by a pandemic, would decide the time was right to have a baby. But, Lora did. The pandemic also made work-from-home a necessity, so she could be close to her baby while working. And, she took her newborn everywhere. She found a way to make it work – to juggle the pandemic, the pivot and the precious bundle. Was it stubbornness that wouldn’t allow her to let Google tell her her business couldn’t succeed and wouldn’t allow her to let a pandemic tell her that she couldn’t have a baby?

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Lora had a thriving career before she took a gamble on MyLAB Box. But a serious car accident in 2010 committed her to a long recovery confined to a bed. She realized a few things. If she was going to get out of life what she wanted, she’d better get busy doing it. And, if she stayed in corporate business, she’d always be dependent on other people for her title, her career path and her opportunities. That glass ceiling waited back at the office. She set aside some time to work on projects. She committed to herself that she’d follow her passion when the inspiration struck.

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As a child, she always admired entrepreneurs, those who struck out on their own, but she never really imagined that would be her. Nonetheless, the seed was planted for the desire to forge her own future. In 2013, she and Ursula had an epiphany. Inspiration sprang from a conversation about dating, sexual health, testing, and how complicated medical care was but shouldn’t be. It was a market with a stigma and a profound need for change. Inspiration struck, but would it be enough to sustain her through the worst ordeals?

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The photo of the eclipse above appears on Lora’s LinkedIn profile. It’s part remembrance of her own eclipse experience and part reminder of the sense of awe she experiences in nature. It is a bit of who she was and who she is inspired to be. She loves to climb the hills of Griffith Park and commune a bit with nature. The views from Griffith let her experience the big picture. It’s a fair amount of work to get to the top, which makes it all the more rewarding. The eclipse photo embodies the moment of awe she experienced. It’s a bit ominous – even scary – but it’s also a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there's always a silver lining.

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So, what does sustain founders? Lora had that seed – that desire to build something. And, she’s got that determination to overcome fueled by a passion to change the world. And, she’s indomitable.