Sima Sistani has been getting through the coronavirus outbreak’s shelter-in-place order the past month in many of the same ways others have: home-schooling her 7-year-old, trading off parenting shifts with her husband, and jumping from room to room to find a quiet space for phone calls.
"I’m basically in whatever room my kids are not in,” she said. But Sistani’s work life has been dramatically changed in one way that’s unique: as co-founder and chief executive officer of video-chat app Houseparty, which has surged in popularity since early March, she’s suddenly leading a company that has evolved from a low-pressure way to chat with friends to a legitimate lifeline for those unexpectedly stuck indoors.
"I used to always tell people, like, ‘hey, we’re not curing cancer here,’” Sistani said in an interview-conducted over Houseparty from her home in San Francisco this week. "This is the first time where I feel like, wow, we have such a responsibility and an obligation right now to maintain this service because people need it. It’s critical for them right now.”