209. Crisis Coverage w/ Steve Blank - The Playbook for Startup Survival

Steve Blank joins Nick on this special "Crisis Coverage" installment to discuss The Playbook for Startup Survival. In this episode, we cover:

• What industries will be most affected by social isolation?
• How do you see this playing out over the next 3 - 6 months?
• How does this pandemic and the impact on the economy compare to the past 3 market crashes? Similarities/differences?
• Having lived through 3 crashes, what's the biggest mistake CEOs make?
• So lets say I’m a startup founder -- What are the major questions I should be asking before putting a new strategy together?
• Let's talk about burn and runway -- can you break down the key elements and how much runway one should plan for?
• What are the first cost cutting measures that should be taken?
• Should startups consider a change in business model, go-to-market or even target customer -- why or why not?
• Do you have any guiding principles when it comes to communication -- whether it be to employees, customers or investors?
• What happened to startup fundraising at different stages (seed, A, B, C) in the last crisis of 2008?
• You've stated that the health of the venture business may depend on what hedge funds, investment banks, private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds and large secondary market groups do. What are the possible and likely scenarios in your estimation?
• What advice do you have for those companies that have limited runway (3 months or less)?
• How about advice for pre-funded startups that are just getting off the ground?

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