#131 — When the Walls Close In — Emergency Pod

<p>https://bit.ly/Go_BelowtheLine</p> <p>For profitable, large businesses, a downturn can be great for recruiting and retaining talent as there is a flight to safety and security. For small businesses that have focused manically on profitability from day one, a downturn in the market is also managed relatively well. This is in comparison to technology startups that often have to spend years building the product before they can monetize or spend the first few chapters of the company's life focusing on growth over revenue maximization. This means that in an economic downturn, these startups are the most vulnerable to shifting markets, especially those that are dependent on outside capital. &nbsp;Living in this provisional existence, where you seemingly require outside resources to continue building towards your dream is extremely stressful for a founder or leadership team. It's hard to think of a time in one's professional career where it could be any more stressful given the vulnerability built into the model of an early stage startup, built with the help from venture capital and investors that believe in the vision before the profits sustain it. This is not the resource for how to logistically execute a playbook in a down market. This is the resource for how to manage one's own psychology, as well as the psychology of the team around them when building and leading a business like a technology startup in the midst of massively changing economic headwinds. &nbsp;In this episode, I outline tactics like getting comfortable with the worst case scenario and order to maximize the chances of the best case scenario, as well as outlining the five guidelines for managing and optimizing your psychology in the midst of circumstances that will present a fog of war type of scenario for most leaders. In short, I put this together for you to avoid that latter scenario area. &nbsp;The guidelines have more details within the episode, but they are here below as well for you to reference. &nbsp;&nbsp;<br> </p> <p>1. Assess and set pr