Time for startup founders to adapt

Lets face it. Covid-19 is here to stay, and we just might be staring at a Covid-20. Most countries are beginning to report a second "wave", exacerbated by a failure of populations to maintain caution. And its global: As of 25th June 2020, Germany, the Ukaraine, the US, Switzerland, France, Bangaladesh, Sweden, Iran, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia all reported a rise in infection after an initial (small) drop. Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico are still rising. And that's not all: even the assumption that humanity would build mass immunity very quickly seems to be wrong.

The global economy is in a meltdown, and is contracting. 1.6 Billion people (including the self-employed) are now either unemployed, or under the threat of unemployment. Globally, healthcare costs per person has increased by 7%, while by all accounts, global per capita income is expected to take a hit for 2020 (compared to the approx US$ 18,000 per person in 2019).

It does seem that we are well and truly f***ed, doesn't it?

But hey, its time to move on.

As a race, we are incredibly adaptive.

These are images from the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic period. Stunningly similar, aren't they, to what we see today? Hey, we adapted and moved on. Even fought a world war a couple of decades later. The world didn't stop. The descendents of the folks who were alive post the Spanish 'flu survived, and thrived.

I think its time that we come to terms with this, re-adjusted our lives, and moved on.

The new "normals"

First: lets accept this - we are afraid. We fear the unknown, change, failing, our health declining, or the loss of income. And we don't know what the future holds (or could hold) for us.

But we need to understand that fear is normal. We have felt this before. And will continue to feel fear many more times in the future.

But we have overcome our fear earlier, and we can do so again. And as startup founders, we are uniquely equipped to do this.

Think back to the times we struggled before. The time when cash ran dangerously low, when we rallied, raised revenues from clients, and met the payroll? The times when we lost those key employees? When we pivoted our products or services to create something new that gave us that breathing space? And those times when we faced competition?

Founders adapt.

And that's the point I wanted to make.

Most of us choose to become entrepreneurs because we wanted to chart our own paths. We knew that things weren't going to be perfect all the time. We wanted to be self-starters, determined, and open minded. We knew that our resilience was one of the key skills that would be called upon not once, but multiple times in this journey.

Its time to call upon those skills again, in the light of this new "normal". Determination, resilience, and open mindedness to build again, if needed.

And I think there is enough support that is available to all of us, from other founders.

I'm personally more than glad to help, to the best of my ability, any other founder who needs support in these testing times. Let me know how I can help you.

-- Guhesh Ramanathan