Considering the multiple crises that challenge our societies, scholars have become increasingly interested in how we can organize for more desirable futures. One way to contribute to this conversation is through the study of prefigurative organizing, which is characterized by the rejection of norms, the implementation of envisioned alternatives, and a contribution to the transformation of the economy. This paper presents a qualitative study of the German Premi-um Kollektiv (Premium Collective), a purpose-driven enterprise that prefigures its desirable future by organizing itself according to a strongly held and shared value system based on the premise of ‘hacking capitalism’. We trace the history of the collective from its inception to the present day, focusing on the COVID pandemic as an incisive crisis event that not only threat-ened its existence, but also entailed profound changes in its organizational order and practices. Findings show that, on the one hand, the relational resources created through prefiguration served as a buffer in times of crisis. On the other hand, our case provides evidence that exter-nal crises can shrink the spaces for prefigurative organizations to experiment and force them to take actions that are incompatible with organizational values. We show how their moves to-wards a more formalized, conventional organizational order led to extreme tensions within the collective. This case expands our understanding of what aspects afford prefigurative organiza-tions resilience in times of crisis and how this affects their ability to uphold their core organiz-ing principles.