Best Practices for Founders in the wake of COVID-19
We’re in uncharted waters and founders are faced with their toughest decisions yet. Members of India’s VC ecocystem put together learnings from our best founders to help startups navigate the landscape ahead.
Team Sequoia India & SEA
Published March 31, 2020
Dear All,
We are in the midst of an unprecedented global health crisis that will have a deep impact on every facet of India’s society and economy. As we weather through this incredibly tough time, we as investors are trying to do what we can in our capacity to help steer our founders through these uncharted waters.
This is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis, and we encourage founders to focus on health and safety – for their teams, their families, their customers and themselves, as the top priority.
It is also a period of very high uncertainty, both in terms of the short term impact on business and the long-term impact on the macro environment in which you’re building those businesses. Founders will inevitably be faced with difficult decisions, tactically on execution for the next 21-30 days, and strategically on how to plan for the next 12-18 months. Through this document, we have come together to pool knowledge and best practices from across the startup ecosystem on how to deal with the crisis at hand. A majority of these learnings have been gleaned from in-depth conversations with founders across our collective portfolio and our collective experience of navigating crisis situations over the past several decades.
This document covers how to manage high risk and uncertainty and how to approach worst-case scenario planning. We think it’s imperative to have an open and transparent discussion for the collective good, and we have endeavoured to do just that. While nobody has all the answers, we hope this will help answer some questions and provide founders with a framework on how to approach the challenges ahead.
As early stage investors in India, we are a group that is unequivocally bullish on the long term outlook for the startup ecosystem. We believe in our founders and teams, and wish everyone the best in navigating through this extremely turbulent and stressful time. This too shall pass and we hope you emerge from this crisis stronger than ever before.
Contents of this document:
[Scenario Planning](https://www.notion.so/Scenario-Planning-c4df8e5dc0074503a0a04925e92e46bf)
[Fundraising](https://www.notion.so/Fundraising-357c5ea82bfa4342a662e860fae4ec0a)
[Company Restructuring](https://www.notion.so/Company-Restructuring-ebb5443aba424eb892655362a37c3e53)
[People Agenda **](https://www.notion.so/People-Agenda-8de2f90b853e4e4d9af8e11b155583da)
[Business Continuity Plan (BCP) ](https://www.notion.so/Business-Continuity-Plan-BCP-69baeb5020ee436181391eb4b2bbc2c6)
[Strategic Relationships/ M&A](https://www.notion.so/Strategic-Relationships-M-A-58bdcbd73e5b41b990fc122358aee0a1)
[Communication with External Stakeholders](https://www.notion.so/Communication-with-External-Stakeholders-d250feb4124a4b7e8287f4a24b971660)
[Assessing/Managing Systemic Risks](https://www.notion.so/Assessing-Managing-Systemic-Risks-503b0f3c557c497aa1005d919f8c9804)
[WFH + Redesign of Business Processes ](https://www.notion.so/WFH-Redesign-of-Business-Processes-518d41000e7b4feab60ef8be234460bf)
[Resources & Useful Links](https://www.notion.so/Resources-Useful-Links-f265557500904b70ad12be174065d80b)
We hope the information shared in this article is helpful. It is being provided with the objective of making relevant information available quickly at a time of crisis. The views expressed are those of individual authors, are provided ‘as-is’, and may not be free from errors or inaccuracies.
This article is not a substitute for professional, management, financial, legal, medical, investment or regulatory advice. You should not act, or refrain from acting, on the basis of this information without doing your own research and seeking appropriate professional advice.
Authored by:
Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Lightspeed, Matrix Partners India, Nexus Venture Partners, Omidyar Network India, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital India