The Coronavirus Crisis Checklist for Startup CEOs
Your job isn’t about finding the best option anymore — it’s about finding the option that is least bad
Dear startup CEOs: It’s time to shift your mindset.
Last week might have been about growth and funky new initiatives. It could have been about hiring employees and closing that new financing round and launching that new product. Last week was about shiny things. Growth was your religion, and your North Star was closing deals and booking revenues. Amen.
But we woke up in a different world, a world where part of the population is shielded from normal social life (or will be soon) due to the spread of coronavirus. This new world calls for new rules. Your new religion is now survival, and your new God is called liquidity.
I’m willing to bet none of you had a “global pandemic” section in your 2020 financial planning sheet.
I spoke to a VC today who summarized it nicely: “In 12 months it will be easy for you to explain why your startup didn’t grow in the last six months. But it will be very hard to explain why your startup is dead.”
