Pete Flint · @peteflint · May 2022
Seemingly overnight, everything changed. It was 2008 and I was running Trulia. We not only faced a recession but a catastrophic meltdown in our core market.
It wasn’t my first crisis. I’d been in the eye of the storm once before when lastminute.com, a European online travel site where I was one of the founding team, was massively impacted by the 9/11 crisis and 2001 recession.
So when the Covid-19 pandemic landed hard in March 2020, I decided to write about what I’d learned managing the previous crises. I listed out several tactical decisions we’d made at Trulia and lastminute.com that worked.
Decisions that not only gave us a fighting chance, but the chance to pull ahead of our competition. These learnings helped many of our NFX Guild companies gain ground, at speed, while others stalled out during the pandemic.
Today, it seems we’re on the cusp of another economic downturn. Only this downturn is different. It’s bigger. And it’s likely to last much longer.
We’re facing a confluent swirl of the following: inflation rates hitting a near 40-year high; rising interest rates, oil and gas prices skyrocketing; a pullback in public equities and the crypto markets; a snapback of tech growth as the pandemic recedes; increasing layoffs; and socioeconomic and political turmoil due to the current war in Ukraine. It’s not pretty out there.
Your journey in this new bear market is only now getting started. Startup CEOs, Founders and teams: if you’re working at a startup today, this will likely be among the most challenging climates you’ll face.
That’s why I want to take an updated look now at what lies ahead for startups, and share an actionable list for how to find the opportunity in the storm. I’ve built this list pulling from my experience both as a former Founder and now as a VC.
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Know this — crises always end. We have seen repeatedly how economic shocks drive efficiency and accelerate automation, which in turn drives tech adoption. They are a cyclical part of our market economy and there are black swans that inevitably occur. Many of the most successful technology companies (Airbnb, Uber, WhatsApp, etc) have started during periods of market uncertainty. You’ve probably heard this many times, and I know it’s small consolation for what is going to be really tough times for many.
But the point is this: The only way to build an iconic company is to do things differently. And in a crisis, survival requires being and thinking differently. There is an abundance of opportunity in this moment, if you can see what others do not, act quickly, and keep your head up.
My 3-Part Framework For Managing A Crisis
To continue – go to : https://www.nfx.com/post/39-moves-survive-thrive-downturn
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