No one is having fun right now
and that’s okay
November 15, 2022
About a week ago, I had a call with an early-stage VC friend in Israel. We serve on a board together, but this was just a friendly call. “You know,” he said, “no one is having fun right now. Even my best companies are struggling. Sales are hard right now. Managing teams is hard right now. Layoffs and cutbacks are happening everywhere.”
A few days ago, I sat down in London with another (this time late-stage) VC friend — and the sentiment was the same. “Boards,” he said, “are really challenging right now. Even for companies with $100M or more in the bank. Burn rates are high, VCs are freaking out, and growth levels are not what we hoped for.”
And just yesterday, I found myself chatting with a founder and hearing the same message. His company is solid. His product is used and loved by customers. His team is lean, united, and effective. They would like to raise capital, but can get to breakeven if they need to. And yet, he sounded exhausted and — temporarily defeated. Fundraising is hard. Sales are hard. People are tired.
Let’s be honest: these market conditions are challenging, frustrating, exhausting, and demoralizing. Worse yet, we don’t know how long they will last and that’s even more demoralizing.
The obvious points to make here are that (1) these are the times that forge great businesses and great business leaders; (2) the past few years have been deceptively easy, (3) this is what you signed up for when you joined the startup ecosystem, and (4) the bad times won’t last forever so there is good reason to be a long-term optimist, keep the faith, and keep working at it.
A less obvious point — but a very important one — is to remember that this period is extremely challenging for everyone no matter how outwardly successful, confident, and happy they appear. Every company I know — and probably every company on the planet — is making tough decisions right now that affect the lives of employees. Every CEO and every manager has probably just been through a round of layoffs and is staring down the barrel of more. Every sales pipeline is getting re-evaluated, and every sales target is looking a bit too optimistic right now. No one is having any fun. No one is “killing it.” What this means is that your situation is probably better than you think it is — on a relative basis. You have your problems and your competitors have theirs. Maybe you wish you had more cash in the bank and are considering laying off 25% of your 20-person team to extend runway. Your scary competitor with $50M in the bank might be burning $3M a month and is trying desperately to figure out how to lay off 30% of their 100-person team. He might also be dealing with pretty challenging board dynamics, or other issues you might not be aware of.
Just as the rising tide lifted all boats previously, the storm we are weathering right now is battering everyone. The frustration and exhaustion you are feeling right now are common to everyone — and it is not necessarily a sign of something specific to you and your business.
Hang in there.
