Work the Problems

How To Respond In Any Critical Event

These are a set of key principles, actions and steps that have helped me throughout my career in addressing critical issues and events. I have provided these primarily for Founders of startup teams in this context, but they apply broadly.

1. Triage Phase 1: Orient yourself as to the facts at the moment
2. Communicate Phase 1: communicate, communicate (not necessarily video, not email — the damn phone lines…whatever is friction free) and put an immediate comms plan in place. Remember: everyone is feeling uncertain and in the absence of a leader providing information or updates, that uncertainty and anxiety rises. As such, put a regular con call in place internally, with customers who want / need it, with your board and investors, etc. Make it a standing time and FAST (Factual, Actionable, Safe (to communicate anything), Team (oriented…everyone on board)) and fast (15–30 minutes) every other day or 2x weekly or 1x weekly (audience depending) but be consistent!
3. Resources: Get anyone (and I mean anyone) you need to help…get resources anywhere you can and assign clear actions. Any hierarchy, titles, whatever…ignore!!! I repeat, ignore — go around, go through, do whatever it takes to get the right resources you need…period! If you piss someone off…good, you’re probably doing your job. As an aside, I’m seeing Founder’s split team members between companies so individuals don’t have to be laid off to Founder’s reaching out to the public community for volunteers. You’d be amazed sometimes. That includes assigning and I mean assigning actions to your board / investors. You’re the CEO — act like it!
4. Triage Phase 2: stop the bleeding. In this moment if it’s cash runway you don’t have, determine what you need for 12 months — preferably 24, but enough to keep surviving. Review employees, cut salaries if you can and still retain folks, eliminate non-essentials (people and extras) bump up equity for all, ask insiders for $$ for runway and don’t let investors try to put punitive terms in place. That’s bullshit and some will try. Review debt options. A note on eliminating people during this time. Do everything you can to not, but remember you have to save the ship or you’ll lose everyone. Do everything with compassion and heart, but you have to move quickly!
5. Communicate Phase 2: Communicate, communicate, communicate (see point 2 above). An important note here: you have a team, bring them in on the communications as much as possible! Be open, honest and transparent including on what you don’t know...don’t sugar-coat information. But most importantly, you have a team for a reason…leverage the power of them and bring them into the fold to help…leverage that diversity and power in the team to problem solve. Your job is to set the course and direction and course correct along the way, but empower them and help them feel empowered. People being able to help problem solve (particularly engineers) will help eliminate anxiety and will get folks focused on working the problems vs spinning in their heads.
6. Triage Phase 3: [Maslow’s hierarchy of needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) — for your team, your customers and investors. In moments like these individuals, families, organizations focus on that hierarchy of critical needs. I personally believe that any product / any solution that hits those sweet spots will survive and thrive — this plays out in every crisis; every critical event; every war. It’ll still be difficult, but companies need solutions that allow them:
   a. to make faster and better decisions
   b. work in the new environment they are confronted with and
   c. cut costs
   Determine what you have or can course correct to. And make doing business frictionless. Payments: defer them if possible for your customers while keeping your investors informed of your approach as -at the end of this- it’s those with the most customers who are truly helping their customers and still standing wins. Review Steve Blanks [post](https://steveblank.com/2020/03/17/the-virus-survival-strategy-for-your-startup/) as well. He sums it up well.
7. Survive: make it through each moment and the next…it’s all ANYONE can ask or do. This is all about navigating with a team to a target that is moving in a storm. Keep moving and course correct.
8. Communicate Phase 3: thanks, compassion, reminders (send them regularly to your team and those that help — you’d be amazed what a small thing such as a gift card can do).
9. OODA Loop: You all know this. You’re in a constant [OODA Loop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop) — work it.

Three final notes:
1. A note on investors and their own situation around capital calls that I’ve found many Founders are not aware of nor familiar with…they typically don’t have money on their balance sheets…they keep a minimum on hand as to not effect their IRR and they then have to do capital calls to their investors. Their investors may (will) start freezing up. In 2008 we saw LPs default on their fund commitments. I expect to see the same here with the caveat that if the government does a truly effective stimulus to cover Main Street and Wall Street simultaneously we may recover quickly. But I expect not personally. So the questions you need to keep in mind is what dry powder do the investors have and what situation are they in. NOTE: there are always investors with deep balance sheets during times like this that will be acquiring and investing in Maslow’s solutions for now and the future.

Lastly: Yourself, your family, your people: sleep and exercise. Seriously — make the damn time! You can be doing calls still when you’re out exercising — not the whole time but at points. If you need a lifeline, call, text. Email and other technologies are just too slow right now. Do everything with the least amount of friction.

Final Note: You’re going to fuck up (I still do every god damn day and it still sucks every time), but inaction and second guessing will kill you…make a decision and course correct along the way.

On that lifeline: if you need help, reach out: https://calendly.com/matt-abrams/covid19-support

The Watney Rule — Just Begin: https://youtu.be/S9RvHOQO6EA

Work The Problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0h2Wk6-C_I

Lessons from Ebola: https://youtu.be/simm5nLxhp4