I believe that the US will have more Covid19 cases than China. Its a byproduct of a country passively watching this across the seas for a month before taking it seriously. Now hard decisions are being made and more will be made in the next few weeks. Time to get over it and make smart choices (I found a video of the states reacting to covid below).
First thing to do is take in a big breath, hold, and release. Second thing to do is to stay home (here are some ideas for the weekend). Third thing is to get on Zoom and keep building, selling, and connecting.
I’m being lazy and just aggregating resources that any founder can take advantage of during this time. My unsolicited advice is to stay motivated, keep your team on schedules just as if you were in the office, and sell. Sell, sell, sell. Monitor your burn rate, cash on balance sheet, MRR and realistic needs that have to be met before bankruptcy happens. Then sell, sell, sell.
- Need to pinch pennies and cancel your video conference provider; check out Jitsi, an opensource alternative to Zoom.
- Need affordable loans (not SVB rates), look at the SBA. Startups, nonprofits, and small businesses can apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Up to $2 million. For small businesses, the interest rate is 3.75 percent, and for nonprofits, the interest rate is 2.75 percent.
- TNW posted a good article on multiple types of resources. For example, Kabbage created a website to help support small businesses.
- Startup Space posted a good support page with multiple items
- The BDC has templates for business continuity
- Deloitte has a writeup for managing cash during covid19
- Real Ventures has a template for prevention – giving you some guidelines on protocols
- Startup Washington has a large writeup on resources
- Stay up to date on how the NVCA is tracking some laws that he’d founders out
- Lastly, my favorite one, GGV Capital did a great writeup for resources.
Keep your mind sharp. Stay motivated. One thing I’m doing is essentially competing with my wife every morning on our runs. She’ll choose a route and the fastest time wins. Use Strava for that. Or compete with your Peloton bikes.
And stay inside.
