Coronavirus is here and we are all locked up at home. If you are a startup founder who is reading this, then let me tell you that your focus now should be on ‘survival’ than working on great plans to come up with unbeatable products or services. Yes, chuck those 1-year or 5-year plans or atleast I shall say keep them aside for now because you are not going to work on them anywhere soon. Governments, startups, SMEs, multi-national organizations all are at the same boat of market downturn now. Here are some suggestions of how you can sail your startup through coronavirus pandemic:
1) Reserve your cash:
Your startup may not die because of lack of ideas but definitely due to lack of cash reserves. Ensure that you atleast have 12 months of cash in your hand because you surely need money in this difficult time.
2) Revenue is likely to be reduced:
Everyone, including your clients are going to go in survival mode. If your product or service is not mission-critical, you can expect cancellation of projects or discontinuation at least for the next six months.
3) Downsize:
This is the toughest decision because it involves humans. No employee would like to hear this from his boss to take a pay cut or else pack their bags for the company’s betterment. But if your accounts show that downsizing can help your company survive in this challenging situation, then you have to take the tough call. If you communicate it well about the bad market situation, your employees will atleast try to understand if not support you completely.
4) Remain alert:
No one can predict what is going to happen the next moment. No one has a 100% answer if we are going to pass through the end of this tunnel. So, take each day as it comes. If your company is alive and flexible after this coronavirus epidemic goes away, there will surely be great opportunities to climb up the ladder of success.