I was at Amzn early '00s when we lost 95% of our market cap. Later at FB I negotiated a down-round in '09, and then in '12 our stock dropped 50% post-IPO. I was on the board of a public company that went bankrupt (Borders) and a start-up that went under (Hello). Some lessons:
1/Raise capital when you can, not when you need it. Amzn tapped convert debt in Feb '00 - if we had waited another month we would not have survived. 9 years later at FB we raised a 33% down-round despite having plenty of runway. Don’t wait until your back is up against the wall
2/Cash is king. Forget about valuation, dilution, etc - if you run out of cash, none of it matters. Borders used its free cash flow to buy back stock for yrs, ignoring the internet. By the time a PE firm fired the board and asked me to join in ‘09, we had no runway for turnaround
3/Growth can wait, survival cannot. Amzn’s stock price crossed $100 in '99 and bottomed at $6 in '01 (months from bankruptcy). We cut burn from >$1B to positive free cash flow by raising prices to stop the bleeding. Revenue growth slowed to 3% but we lived to fight another day
4/Change the tone. Amzn did a small but symbolic RIF in 2000. Around that time, Jeff was presented with a team t-shirt - he threw the team out of his office and banned all company swag. We even removed aspirin from the break rooms, served coffee and water. Small acts set the tone
5/It starts from the top. Zuck showed up to work in Jan '09 wearing a tie, and he wore it every day for an entire year. His message to the company: “it's time to get serious about our business.” Every time we walked into a meeting with Mark, we were reminded things had changed
6/Reset the team. In the middle of covid I addressed the exec team of a travel start-up whose revenue dropped to zero overnight. I encouraged them to re-evaluate their team. Some people step up in a crisis - they are your future leaders. Others will jump ship - good riddance
7/Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. 5 yrs ago I was the only outside board member of a start-up that was struggling to raise capital. I should have helped prepare for soft landing, instead we ran head-first into a wall. It’s tough to accept reality - most start-ups fail
8/Accept the unacceptable. Amzn stock doubled after I joined, but I was under water by my 1-year cliff. 3 yrs later I sold new RSUs at $8/share. In '08 I sold FB stock in a secondary transaction at $1/share to cover my rent in Palo Alto. Do what you need to do, never look back
9/Communicate, a lot. When FB’s stock plummeted after our IPO, I addressed the issue with employees rather than pretending stock price didn’t matter. It’s tempting to go into a foxhole when times are tough. Don't do that, your team needs you more than ever
10/Keep telling your story. I stayed at Amzn during this time because Jeff sold me on his vision. When GFC postponed FB’s IPO by 4 years, Zuck never stopped talking about the mission. Churchill taught the world the power of storytelling in a crisis
https://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Vile-Churchill-Family-Defiance-ebook/dp/B07TRVW6VX/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1651706618&sr=8-1
11/Embrace the abyss. Every great leader has their mettle tested in crisis. Every great company overcomes existential threat. A hero must traverse the abyss - nobody chooses it, but everyone eventually faces it. How you respond...that is all that matters
https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell-ebook/dp/B08MWW2VDL/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1651707710&sr=8-2