COVID-19 has left few industries untouched.
One of the sectors to have been most comprehensively stopped in its tracks is travel.
At TravelPerk, we have seen the near shutdown of global travel up close.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Startups are having to handle the movement of their employees being severely restricted.
Governments are taking these decisions in the interest of public safety.
As we adjust to lockdown across Europe, keep paying attention to local and national advice on COVID-19.
The past weeks have shown how rapidly the situation can evolve.
Keep your own internal travel guidelines updated based on that public advice.
And dont let any of your team, no matter how senior, be exempt from these guidelines.
If you have members of staff that are still abroad your priority should be to help get them home.
Expert providers likeInternational SOScan help with repatriation and provide up-to-date information to keep them safe.
I am really proud of how well the TravelPerk team has adapted to 100% remote working.
Founders should lead by example and encourage regular check-ins, via video call, for internal teams and clients.
For many startups, I know this period may feel like stagnation.
Invest in R&D.
Because it will end.
Control your runway
More than one politician has compared the current situation to being at war.
For a business, it really isnt very different.
Cash is king and you must protect your business by making sure you have enough of it.
Right now it’s crucial that you do some basic things.
First up, review your Opex budget, all of it.
Cancel or pause any recurring spend that you dont100percentneed.
Renegotiate your contracts with suppliers.
They wont want to lose customers during a crisis, so they may well be open to better terms.
Take a look at every big spend, and consider pausing it until the crisis is over.
Also, dont do an out of home campaign right now.
No one is leaving their home for a while.
Next up, do what you might to extend your runway.
Go back to your investors to see if you’re free to negotiate a new internal round.
Looking to the future
Going forward, companies should continually review their COVID-19 crisis plan.
This could be a regular leadership conference call or a company-wide discussion to gather employee feedback.
The situation is moving fast; see to it you are too.
These are early signs, but they remind us that sooner or later, this crisis will pass.
Meanwhile in Europe, disruption from COVID-19 is the new normal for startups, at least for now.
