When my cofounder abruptly quit in August 2018, we were on the verge of bankruptcy. In just 2.5 years, we scaled to over $1M in revenue and in another 6 months, we got acquired in a multi-million dollar transaction.
Here are 6 things to do when things are going wrong in Business:
1. Meet your customers: Your chances of success drastically increase when you’re building something for which you already have a customer pipeline. Meet your customers and sell them the Product roadmap before building anything.
2. Focus: I’ve seen that when a crisis happens, many entrepreneurs try 10 different things in 10 directions. STOP. Figure out who’s your most profitable customer and find one more like them. Repeat till the crisis is gone.
3. Talk to 5 other Founders: You’d be surprised to know that what you consider as a unique problem, has been faced by 10 other founders multiple times. Just go and talk to 5 other Founders in your network, ideally from your industry. If nothing, speak to your Advisors/Investors and ask them for references to other Founders. Almost always you’ll get a solution.
4. Hire someone who has handled that problem: There are many smart people out there who have “been there, done that”. Go hire them. Interview the best candidates you can and find out someone who has exactly handled the kind of situation that you are dealing with. And hire them.
5. Double down on what’s working: In a crisis situation, many entrepreneurs start looking for other markets, other ideas, other problem statements, other products, etc. Don’t do that. Figure out what is working for you, and double down on that.
6. Communicate the problem to your team: Many entrepreneurs think that if they share the problems with their team, it will lead to a bad impression. This is totally wrong. When people join a startup, they know what they are signing up for. So, go ahead and conduct a town hall and explain the situation to your team members. There is a high probability that someone will take responsibility and solve it for you. If nothing, you will definitely get some meaningful suggestions and your team will start trusting you for being transparent with them.
What did you do when your Startup faced that crisis?
