Crisis Management Resources for Startups ⦨ Midstage Institute

The Corona-COVID-19 crisis and its economic impact are putting many startups in crisis mode. Together with key clients, we are rapidly developing new tools that can startups help lead through the crisis. While they are still in alpha/beta, we share them here for other startups to use.

Tools and Templates

Leading your Company through the C.R.I.S.I.S. Webinar

Webinar deck

On April 9th, 2020, together with Emplify, we organized a joint webinar about “Leading your Company through C.R.I.S.I.S.” Here’s the video and the slides that we used.

Crisis Team Tasks Template

A simple Google Sheet template to keep a crisis team focused on the key CRISIS dimensions to be solved:

Keep your people on one page when it counts most. Use this One-Page Crisis Bridging Plan to outline all key decisions and priorities, while also outlining to everyone what hasn’t changed.

One-Page Crisis Bridging Plan

An adaptation/abbreviation of a typical One-Page Strategic Plan, focused on getting your company through the crisis. The plan is based on one-page plans by Verne Harnish, Shannon Susko, Jack Stack and others.

C.R.I.S.I.S. Framework Videos

For the founders and leaders of start-ups, the current public-health and economic crisis has been by no means easy. However, there could be ways to turn a negative into a positive by spotting new opportunities. The only thing we know for sure is the world will look different coming out of the crisis than it did before the crisis. But these changes can be viewed as opportunities to get ahead of your competitors. The start-ups that can change and adapt to this new reality are the ones that will survive and thrive coming out of the crisis. Here are a few ways that business leaders can adapt and find new opportunities to ensure they come out of the current crisis in a position to succeed.

For startup founders and leaders who have been able to successfully navigate the worst of the current crisis, the next step is to start infusing your business with positive energy. Most companies have undoubtedly gone through a period letting some employees go while asking the employees who remain to take on an increased workload. This can harm morale, almost like a mourning period for the company and its employees. Because of this, it’s important to slowly build positive energy and positive action within the company before you start to make any big moves. Let’s look at four key elements of inspiring positive action and energy following the crisis.

Sustain the future of the business. That is your core assignment as a leader of a startup in this crisis. I want to get to the core of (what many people feel) is the core of adapting a startup to a crisis situation such as this one. It is to make the numbers match with the expected future. In other words, we’re looking at potentially cutting costs. Now, the four blocks I’d like to explore with you…

Instruct your people. Tell everyone what you want them to do right now, even if you’re not quite sure how things will pan out in the long run.

The third step in our C.R.I.S.I.S. framework, for leading your startup through crisis, is “Instruct your People.” It is about giving clarity to people what you want them to do right now, even if all your plans for the future may be up in arms and you may have to come up with new action plans over time. Don’t leave people hanging. That’s what we’re trying to say.

Reassess your reality. What are the truths you have to give up on to lead your startup through the crisis? It’s all about reassessing your reality, finding the truth that you have to give up on, and some new truths that you may have to accept as driving your business now. We divide it up in a few steps.

Many of us are facing challenging times going through this crisis. We will talk about the steps you can take to lead your startup through CRISIS with maximum chances of survival and success. This first step is all about communication.

These are challenging times. Many are worried about the very survival of their startup. Worried if they’re doing the right thing by their employees, by their customers, their suppliers. Worried if they’re even focused on the right way of bringing their startup through this crisis.