Study the lessons of more difficult times.

A shaky economy presents an excellent chance to make competitive business decisions. Everything is subject to reconsideration.

• What has changed in the market?
• Are your clients confronted with problems that present fresh opportunities for your solutions?
• How do new circumstances alter your assumptions, and what actions do you need to take as a result?

Analyze your product roadmap critically.

Is it time to shift course or intensify your current plans? Prioritize features that can be finished in the next 12 months and have the most margin. Reassign and push resources to projects that did not make a list. Examine the budget.

Even as inflation gradually returns to pre-crisis levels, raw material and transportation prices continue to climb dramatically. What would happen to your customers if you boost your pricing to pay these costs?

Hiring has been challenging this year. Many businesses absorbed whatever skill they could obtain. If you have employees or contract workers who would do better in another position, now is the time to let them go. Make tough decisions that will pay off in the long run.

Tighten your hold on money.

Venture capitalists are taking a step back. Crunchbase stated that investment for startups in the United States and Canada decreased 50% year on year in the third quarter. Across the board, valuations are falling. If you are a later-stage startup that has benefited from VC funding make your last fundraising extend longer than planned.

Hold onto your dry powder and wait to start another round until the markets have calmed early-stage businesses with less market validation and a longer time horizon before a potential exit, emphasising the fundamentals once more. Postpone all capital purchases. If possible, use the hybrid work style to reduce office expenses like rent. Use Zoom or Google Meet. The present is not the time to accrue travel expenses.

Talk to customers face-to-face. Now.

How have your paying and beta clients’ business needs changed in the past 18 months? 

Are there benefits to your solution that have more recognised value now?

For instance, practically all organisations, small and large have had to relearn the basics of supply chain management. Startups who can give their clients access to artificial intelligence (AI)-based business decision support, cost savings via better inventory control, or out-of-stock protection from finding new, more regional sources of supply will have an advantage.

Capital without dilution

Venture funders are reportedly becoming more interested in portfolio businesses “whose satellite, robotics and software capabilities can serve double duty” in both military and commercial areas, according to PitchBook. Undoubtedly, one of the causes is international strife.

Another is that the military security and defence sectors are typically thought to be recession-proof. The Small Business Administration offers non-dilutive awards to assist cutting-edge innovations that range in size from $150,000 to more than $1 million. 

Blue-chip talent is drawn to blue-chip cultures.

Company culture can either be a strength or a weakness. A welcoming, rich culture encourages important hires to accept. Finding stakeholders that share your values and adhere to your guiding principles increases the likelihood that they will support you during good times and bad.

The overheated thirst for talent may be cooling off after months of “great resignation” fever. Perhaps offers aren’t as quick or as generous as they were a year ago. Perhaps Twitter will not be the only smart technology company to lay off employees. Regardless, finding outstanding personnel isn’t a switch that a young company can turn on and off. A company may vary the time or amount of recruits, but it must be ready to recruit and screen for cultural fit.

Entrepreneurs can make 2023 a year of striving and success if they have the appropriate mindset and strategy. “Swing at the strikes,” Yogi Berra, a baseball player said. 

In business, as in baseball, the right swing can turn even the most challenging pitch into a hit.