5 Ways Founders Can Navigate The Changing Times

Much has changed in the last two weeks, but one thing that hasn’t is our commitment to the Jane VC community and the female founders at its core.

It takes guts to start a company, and it takes even more guts to successfully lead a company in a moment like this. We are in awe of what the women in our community are doing — the leadership they’re demonstrating, the decisions they’re making, the things they’re making happen.

We are also firm believers that a disruptive moment like this brings great opportunity. New industries will emerge and old ones will be reinvented — this is fertile ground for startups who by their very nature are solving problems by introducing new behaviors and solutions. Starting a company now won’t be easy, but those that do emerge will be strong and have staying power.

Here’s what we believe companies need to do now to regroup and weather this storm:

• Rapidly Adjust to This New Reality: What’s become clear in the past two weeks is that this is not a fleeting moment — instead, it is a highly disruptive event that will have lasting impact on the economy and behaviors going forward. It is too soon to predict all of those outcomes, but companies must seriously consider the scenarios that might emerge and be decisive about what is necessary to weather a prolonged storm.
• Preserve Runway: Capital will be more cautious so companies can’t rely on raising another round to get through this cycle. Therefore, we’re encouraging our companies to do everything they can to extend their runway, ideally 18+ months given the uncertainty of how long this contraction will last.
• Over Communicate: It is tempting to keep uncertain situations, hard decisions, and tough news to yourself, but then everything remains your problem — it all rests on your shoulders. Open communication with your team, investors, advisors, and even potentially your customers brings other people to the table to help address issues that will invariably arise. More communication also creates greater transparency — no one wants to be surprised more than they already have been.
• Set Your Team Up for Success: We’re likely to be remote for awhile, so make sure your team is set up with the tools, routines, expectations and culture to be productive and motivated as a distributed team. The good news is that there have never been more ways for teams to function efficiently and effectively across geographies and time zones. Use these tools, create new routines, communicate expectations, and set an example as the leader — your team will respond. And feel free to comment on this post and share your most valuable remote tools!
• Innovate: Innovation comes from constraints — think about what in this moment creates an opportunity for your team, your product, your value proposition? What can you do more effectively or efficiently? We are firm believers that companies that innovate in this moment will be stronger and see great opportunity on the other side of this turbulence.

It is with this view that we are excited to double down on our support of the women we believe are building the platforms of the future. Like many of you, we’re going virtual and innovating on our model to best serve founders in this remote and turbulent time. Here’s what we have planned:

• Virtual Workshops: We know how valuable these workshops have been (thank you for the feedback and demand!), and we have no plans to stop the series. Instead, we’ve moved them online for the foreseeable future and adjusted the topics according to what is top of mind for all of you. Respond to this tweet to weigh in on what you’d like to discuss. Follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter for details and registration.
• 1v1 Office Hours: We’re taking the time we would have spent commuting or traveling and redirecting that towards you. We’re launching weekly Jane VC office hours with experts to offer private coaching to founders and our portfolio companies. Check Twitter for future sessions.
• Jane VC AMA: We’re going live on Elpha (portfolio company shoutout!), for an AMA with one of the Jane VC co-founders, Jennifer Neundorfer. We invite everyone in the Jane community to check out Elpha if you haven’t already — it is the exact type of resource that can keep women in touch when we can’t be together in person. Check out Twitter and Elpha’s news feed for more details.
• Founder AMA’s: Social distancing creates a real need for connection, particularly with your fellow female founders. This connection is our goal in launching our AMA series with female founders in our network. This informal setting is your opportunity to ask the questions and build the relationships needed to navigate the uncertain times ahead. We’ll be announcing these 60 minute sessions on Twitter — stay tuned!

We hope you’ll join us for these and future events. Please let us know if you have other ideas for how we can best bring this community together — we’re all ears.

Best,

Jane VC Team