Founders and startups have a unique ability to be productive due to the camaraderie that’s commonly found in their teams. They have the mentality that everyone is in this together. Either we make it to the promised land or we all fall together. This bond is formed in the pressure, mutual sacrifice, and dependence on each other. When morale is lost, productivity dies along with it.
At KY Pitch, we are rising up to lift the spirits around us. It is a weird normal we are now living in and we are just at the tip of it. In times like this is when the community comes together and innovation is at its peak. The world needs all of you more now than ever.
Focus on what you can control, and then fuel it with rocket fuel.
Let’s face it—there’s a whole lot going on that is outside our control. But guess what? Everyone is in the same predicament, so we can either dwell on it or embrace it. If you don’t want COVID-19 to spell the end for your startup, it’s important to stay focused on what you can control.
KY Pitch is the engine to drive startup innovation into the Kentucky ecosystem. Our finals being postponed was something out of our control. Instead of giving up we focused on what we can control and innovated. What we did know was that we believed in all of you, we knew we had tools in our back pockets to use this time to help you innovate and grow as well. Sure, we would have liked to have still had our finals last weekend. We knew all of you had worked so hard and we had spent months preparing for it as well. It was a hard pill to swallow.
This opportunity does allow us to be even a bigger champion for you. It gives us time to help you drive forward. It gives us time to rally even more stakeholders around you when the finals do take place. We did not shrink. We grew and we know all of you will do the same.
What does this big picture look like for you? If your business is direct-to-consumer online sales and your website is looking a little uninspired, give it a face-lift. If your revenue is driven by digital marketing and your funnels aren’t maximizing conversions, build them out. If your SaaS platform lacks key features, now’s the time to beef it up.
That way, when this thing is in the rearview, you won’t have to start the engine back up after a period of stagnation. You’ll be stronger than ever.
SPEND EVERY DOLLAR CAREFULLY, AND IF YOU RUN OUT, GET CREATIVE
Pandemic or no pandemic, this goes without saying for any startup. Every dollar counts, so spend carefully. As tough as it can be to decide where to cut back, especially regarding areas that were once critical for your business, it’s a necessary evil. When you consider the alternative and the fact that failure to adapt could shut you down forever, it’s easy to see that a few tough decisions are better than the most gut-wrenching decision of all; folding.
In some cases, no matter how carefully you spend and as hard as you try to cut back, you just won’t have the runway or the cash flow to cover your burn. You may find yourself on the path to shutdown despite your best efforts, and there will seemingly be nothing you can do. In this case, creativity is your ticket out of the hole.
The people on your team probably have a higher risk tolerance than the average person. They’re in this for the vision, and for the belief that your business can make an impact, not just for a potential paycheck. With millions of people filing for unemployment, this is your chance to scoop up talent by paying them with stock options. If you are a nonprofit, they might be more willing to give volunteer hours that go beyond your typical volunteer jobs.
These are unprecedented times. Businesses are buckling under the weight of a disaster that’s impacted nearly every person on earth. And unless your company happens to sell hand sanitizer or conference call software, you’re probably experiencing some kind of impact.
So, in times like these, is it even possible for a startup to survive? The answer is yes. Not only can you survive, but you can actually set yourself up to thrive.
The sun rises and sets on startups all the time, but there’s one thing that makes this challenge different. We’re all in the exact same boat. It’s a problem we didn’t cause and certainly didn’t ask for, but one that we all must face. My best advice is to find a way to be productive remotely, pour everything into the factors you can control, be exacting about every dollar you spend, and get creative if there’s no other way. As startups we have an immediate bond with other founders. When you launch a startup it is like you gain a new family. It is in times like this where we need to rise up and support each other. We must learn from each other. We must collaborate and join forces like we have never done before.
You will survive this. You will grow from this. You will rise from this.
And we will be doing the same right alongside you.
