Source: steveblank.com Author: Steve Blank

This is the one blog post that I hope I’m completely wrong about.

With the Covid-19 virus a worldwide pandemic, if you’re leading any startup or small business, you have to be asking yourself, “What’s Plan B? And what’s in my lifeboat?”

Here are a few thoughts about operating in uncertainty in a pandemic.

Impact
Social isolation and a declared national emergency have had an immediate impact on industries that cluster people; conferences, trade shows, airlines/cruise ships and all types of travel, the hospitability industry, sporting events, theater and movies, restaurants and schools. Large companies are sending employees to work at home. Large retail chains are shutting down their stores. While the impact on small businesses and workers in the “gig-economy” hasn’t made the news, it will be worse for them. They have fewer cash reserves and less margin of error for managing sudden downturns. The ripple and feedback effect of all of these closures will have a major impact on our economy, as each industry that gets impacted puts people out of work, and those laid off workers don’t buy products and services.

It’s no longer business as usual for the rest of the economy. In fact, shutting down the economy for a pandemic has never happened. Millions of jobs may be lost in the next few months, as entire industries get devastated, something not seen since the Great Depression of 1929-39. I hope that I’m very wrong, but the impact of this virus social and economic effects are likely to be profound, and will change how we shop, travel and work for years.

If you’re running a startup or small business, your first priority (after your family) is keeping your employees and customers safe. But next the question is, ‘What happens to my business?”

The questions every startup or small business CEO needs to ask now are:

• What’s my Burn Rate and Runway?
• What does your new business model look like?
• Is this a three-month, one-year or a three-year problem?
• What will my investors do?

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