YC advises founders to ‘plan for the worst’ amid market teardown – TechCrunch
Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley kingmaker, is advising its portfolio founders to “plan for the worst” as many startups across the globe scramble to navigate the sharp reversal after a 13-year bull run. The note from YC, which backs hundreds of young startups a year, is a signal that the market…
techcrunch.com
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Ouch.
I guess it's time for open-source/code-available projects to shine.
If your plan is to raise money in the next 6-12 months, you might be raising at the peak of the downturn. Remember that your chances of success are extremely low even if your company is doing well. We recommend you change your plan.
Wow...bleak outlook. Has anyone considered this and come up with a plan for raising money without relying on VC investment?
Which is another way of saying that the peak is yet to come. But I love their highlight on the competition. Many of your competitors will indeed not plan well. They will maintain high burn, and only figure out they are screwed when they try to raise their next round. We can all pick up significant market share in an economic downturn by just staying alive. Let's keep positive I would say.
Well said Ryan.
This article sums up why alternate thinking like indiehackers is relevant for sustainable. VCs and outside money create the bubble but when market is down, everyone who gave and received money panic. Life and time is short, things you can control should always be in your control. Money has value but after a certain need level, it will just eat your time to create more money. If starting a business and stay alive is your option, I'd go the indiehacker way!
The thing is, there are many studies that indicate that the economic downturn is purely down to media buzz and communications of the said downturn. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ultimately there will be peaks and troughs in world economies and your particular market, but our attitudes should remain the same regardless of external circumstances. There will always be financial hardships, seasonality, competition, etc...
In my humble opinion, there doesn't need to be a worst-case scenario plan, just a plan. Let's stay innovative, and keep moving forward. The 'best' is yet to come.
I'm curious what all of you think about how this looks in comparison to Indie startups. I work for a large software company as my day job. We're implementing a hiring slowdown/freeze and it seems to be largely preemptive with the idea that investors might not see our company as being prudent or well-lead. Like most things within every public or VC-backed company I've ever worked for, it always comes back to how it will affect the share price or investors. My initial draw to indie startups is that they aren't as strongly tied to the capital-driven economy. Sure, you might see a slowdown in revenue, but as long as you make enough to sustain your own lifestyle the way you want to live, what's the problem? It seems to me that public companies and VC-backed startups don't have the luxury of living in the present, financially speaking.
this is the best way to parse the message IMHO: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/law-of-the-jungle
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