Y Combinator recently warned that the good times may be coming to an end for startups and the venture market in general.

“No one can predict how bad the economy will get, but things don’t look good, ” YC wrote in a letter sent to its portfolio founders this week titled “Economic Downturn”.

“The safe move is to plan for the worst.” Managing your startup in an economic downturn is like riding a roller coaster. There are ups and downs, surprises, celebrations, and disappointments.

The difference is that for a roller coaster, it feels like a journey, and for your business, it feels like an up-and-down struggle to survive. But if you get moving with a few steps now, you can ride these waves of uncertainty instead of being swept away by them.

It’s not all doom and gloom, here are some things you can do to ride the wave of an economic downturn and keep your startup afloat:

Get creative with cost-cutting

You’re a startup, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a startup of the past. If you’re planning to survive the economic downturn and thrive when it’s over, you need to get creative with cost-cutting. With the economy in a downturn, it’s more important than ever to keep your startup’s costs under control. Here are some steps you can take today to keep your startup’s costs down:

Consider moving to remote work to cut office overheads

One of the first things to consider when cutting costs is how much office space you need, do you really need an office at all, or can you get by with your team working from home?

Going fully remote means reducing or eliminating high office space rental costs and equipment costs like printers and furniture. Going remote also has the added advantage of allowing you to expand your talent pool outside your area.

If you’re looking for temporary help filling vacancies, consider using freelancers

First, make use of your network. Ask around on LinkedIn for recommendations for a few good freelancers or temporary staff members. Some of these people may have valuable skills that you can use for certain projects or roles within your business.

Also Read: Winter for tech startups is here? Here’s how to deal with it

This can help you keep your job roles flexible and also bring in extra revenue by hiring an expert for a specific task. Some freelancers are willing to work on an ad-hoc basis, keeping you flexible and nimble.

Look into any grants, subsidies, or tax exemptions in your area

Can any grants be applied for? Do you know about any subsidies or tax exemptions in your area? Have you checked your local government’s website or tax centre for this info? These considerations may help you look at your business from a new perspective, which may result in some innovative ideas for saving and getting funds.

For instance, the Facebook Small Business Grants programme is a great place to start! Or even better, you can now save big on Cake with new AU tax breaks, which means that for every US$100 you spend on your subscription, you get a US$120 cashback. Amazing, right?

Can any people’s costs be moved to options from cash?

Sometimes you can extend your runway and cut costs but pay for things in equity, or options. Advisors will often accept options, especially when cash is tight.

Some team members will also accept options instead of salary which can help you maintain your team and keep ahead of your competition. Be careful that you follow employment laws but there are creative ways to do this!

Consider your subscriptions/software costs and ensure you’re getting your money’s worth

Remove what you aren’t using or downgrade plans if possible. Are there any subscriptions or software that you aren’t using regularly and could get by without? Now is a great time to shop around for new solutions that may be more in your price range.

Check out some of the best ESOP management tools for startups. These are all excellent tools for managing your benefit plans, with varying features and prices.

Pro tip: save on legal/accounting fees by using Cake to manage your raise and employee stock option plan instead of paying lawyers and accountants thousands of dollars each year!

Keep your existing investors sweet

One way to keep your startup on track during an economic downturn is to ensure that your investor relationships are strong. When times are tight, you need to keep track of every dollar in and out and communicate this clearly with investors, advisors, and employees.

Below are some steps you can take:

Keep investors up to date

Communicating with investors can be tricky during an economic downturn because they may be dealing with uncertainty themselves. It’s important that they know what’s going on at your company, though, so they can make good investment decisions.

Cake allows you to send out updates quickly so that everyone can read at once without worrying about replies getting lost in an inbox somewhere or forgotten due to busy schedules.

Also Read: How do investors evaluate SaaS companies?

Investors that are kept up to date can and will help more readily than investors that are kept in the dark!

Let employees know their options are safe

If employees have questions about their options, you should let them know what’s happening in clear language, so they don’t feel like they have to worry about losing their jobs or benefits. You can send out employee communications via email or on Cake.

Be sure to help employees know what their options are worth, and what they can do to help increase their value. If there is the possibility of seel options in the near future, let them know as this can be inspiring for your team.

A team that is aligned around ownership will be more aligned, engaged and motivated to pull through!

Clean up your cap table

Keeping track of who owns what in a startup is not easy. You have to keep track of all the different share classes, vesting schedules, and stock options, among other things. For lots of startups, this is done on traditional spreadsheets. But spreadsheets are hard to update, difficult to share, and hard for employees to see where they fit in the scheme of things.

Cake makes managing your cap table much easier by automating updates, providing transparency for employees, and making everything visible in one easy-to-use dashboard. We’ll even take your existing messy files and get them set up on Cake, for free. So, get it off a spreadsheet and on to Cake.

Raise cash innovatively

It’s no secret element that most startups mainly rely on venture capital (VCs) investments, and VCs may be reluctant to fund during an economic downturn.

The market is cyclic, usually, there’s a subsequent boom after an economic crisis. As we all know, VCs are looking for opportunities in most cases.

So why not remind them that this is the best time to invest since they’re set to earn big when things turn around. Make sure to communicate to your investors that now is the time!

Also, consider raising money through crowdfunding, a project-based funding approach, where you raise money from many people, usually the public (crowd), hence the name crowdfunding. Crowdfunding can increase exposure to investors and help cultivate the brand love all startups covet.

Robin Holt from Birchal writes, “Traditional sources of finance may come from individuals or entities who only have an interest in investing to generate a return.

“While this is an interest of the crowd, the crowd attracted will likely support companies because they want to support the brand/company and have a desire to see the brand become well known and their revenues grow. The broad range of investors can also result in the business making valuable new connections and further growing the business through this network.”

Finally, instead of raising cash, you can also consider using founders’ own funds to sustain the business for some time, a technique usually known as bootstrapping. Of course, you should know what, when, and why to use bootstrapping to fund your startup.

While difficult economic times may ebb and flow, there is always an opportunity to abound. The future belongs to organisations that think outside the box.

Just remember that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and we’re here to help guide your business through troubled waters. Cake is easy to use and free to set up. Get in touch with us today and see how you can easily get started.

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Almost fifteen years ago a new era began to dawn on the world. Apple’s first iPhone had just been released and a tidal wave of applications flooded in behind it.

The technology, which might as well be magic, was nothing short of revolutionary. Developers, tech entrepreneurs and industry heads quickly followed, scrambling to revolutionise everything else.

For the music industry, that revolution was music streaming.

In 2008, Spotify allowed anyone with an internet connection to now appear on the same stage as the biggest musicians in the industry. Yet it still wasn’t the utopia moment so many of us had been dreaming of.

In the years that followed, several more music streaming services began to appear and musicians began to notice something sinister was at hand. Big label money poured into the back pockets of the CEOs who owned these growing giants, and black market-style websites turned “pay-for-play” into an almost legitimate business model, eagerly pouncing on anyone naive enough to fork out their savings for a spot on a playlist, new followers, track likes and even streams themselves.

This utopia turned out to be nothing more than the latest iteration of big labels and big corporations dominating the music world.

Enter the NFTs

In the past eighteen months, Non-Fungible-Tokens (NFTs) have been mocked, laughed at, “died out”, sold for millions of dollars and reincarnated into just about every animal you can think of.

Even more recently, however, musicians have begun to catch on to the massive potential that NFTs hold and are finally beginning to realise, along with the rest of the world, that not only are NFTs here to stay, but they’re actually bloody useful.

How many streams does your favourite indie musician have on Spotify? Ten thousand? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand? It is, however, a small return, as you would have only earned US$40, US$200 or US$400 respectively. Their mixing engineer probably cost ten times that.  

When the pandemic of 2020 put the brakes on live entertainment, musicians were forced to think outside the box and look for ways to earn revenue outside of traditional merchandise sales or music streaming.

While it’s clear that music NFTs are going to play a vital role within the music ecosystem, the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly increased the speed at which musicians rushed to the new technology; jumping from a sinking ship that was doing them little good in the first place to one that offered them genuine growth opportunities.

Also Read: How blockchain is giving a bigger boost to musicians than streaming startups

What NFTs do is allow musicians to connect directly with their audience, cut out the middleman and sell to fans at the price they think is most appropriate. Mintsongs, Rarible and Opensea are just a few examples of NFT marketplaces helping musicians take back control of their work and their money.

Not only that, musicians can add utility to their NFT, giving those that hold them infinite added extras. These extras could be entered into a concert or website, and give holders first access to new music or content; the options are endless and they’re part of what makes NFTs so valuable and so exciting.

Would someone buy an NFT if they didn’t buy the song on iTunes?

That’s a good question. And the answer is: They probably won’t.

NFTs does not magically guarantee that the music is now good or indeed worth anything, but what they do can be broken into two sections.

The first is that NFTs make music collectible again. The unique collection aspect of CDs and vinyl that musicians and fans enjoyed has been lost for almost two decades. In the same way that Netflix killed off DVD sales, music streaming decimated both physical and digital music sales.

We have collectively opted for convenience over paying someone what they’re worth and we’re only hurting those we need to prop up the most: the ones making the art!

If a musician can find the right balance between scarcity and utility while offering their fans some amazing art, the sky’s the limit.

Second, is the money that NFTs can make. Remember how much ten thousand streams get you on Spotify? Sell two NFTs to two fans of your music for US$20 each and you’ve just done the same thing, and the only person taking a cut is you, bar a small percentage the market owner takes (typically one or two per cent).

Also Read: Social music creation platform BandLab closes US$65M Series B round

As the word gets around, how many musicians do you think are going to bother chasing streams?

And then there’s the resale value.

Let’s say that your favourite indie musician drops a new single, which they minted as an NFT, which is one of 50 limited copies. Anyone holding this single in their wallet also gets access to any show they’ll play in their hometown and entitles holders to a free t-shirt that they can claim through the website.

They also decided to set the royalty percentage fee (the money you get from each concurrent sale) to two per cent. If all these NFTs were sold for US$10 each, the musician just made a quick US$500 and gave you something tangible that you actually own and use. If one of the fans decides to sell theirs for US$200, earning the musician a bonus of US$4.

Whether it was Beeple, Bored Ape, Gary V or all three, NFTs are now part of the mainstream. We are beyond the tip of the iceberg and those that aren’t in aren’t necessarily late, but they have some catching up to do.

NFTs and blockchain technologies have matured more rapidly than anything seen since the dot com era, and the infrastructure to support and sustain it all is keeping up with the frantic pace.

In order for savvy musicians to break free from the chains they unwittingly shackled themselves in throughout the past decade, they need to catch up to the future they were promised.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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In this episode, we are excited to welcome Bianca Martinelli, Partner at Brazilian venture capital firm Alexia Ventures, Co-Founder of International Mastermind, a global network of professionals focused on international expansion. Previously, Martinelli was the Senior Vice President of Global Operations at global entrepreneurial community Endeavor and Vice President of International Expansion for digital marketing and CRM platform company RD Station.

In our conversation, Martinelli talks about the importance of having strong company values that can be universalised to have global appeal, how HQ can be an enabler of global growth and trust-building instead of a command-and-control mechanism, and how it is crucial to create internal systems for unifying knowledge and facilitating strong communication, why iterating and embracing failure are key in succeeding with global expansion and how to architect your company to go global when you are ready, among other topics.

This episode is sponsored by our partner ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets here.

Also Read: Pipefy CEO on why founders should prepare for international expansion since Day One

Find our entire podcast episode library here and learn more about our forthcoming book on global business growth here.

Interested in learning more about our book Global Class? Be the first to get a copy (coming out August 23, 2022), and get many valuable free bonuses for pre-ordering. Learn more here.

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The article was first published by Global Class.

Image Credit: Global Class

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Indonesian F&B and lifestyle giant Ismaya Group today announced a US$18.1 million (IDR266 billion) funding round led by East Ventures. Existing investors Falcon House Partners also participated in this funding round.

The company plans to use the funding to expand the reach of its retail F&B businesses, exclusive lifestyle products, and food delivery services. Apart from that, it also aims to optimise the use of tech in accelerating business growth through personalisation.

Founded in 2003, Ismaya started by opening its first entertainment business outlet in South Jakarta. After that, the company entered the F&B scene by launching restaurants such as Pizza e Birra, Kitchenette, Publik Markette, and Tokyo Belly.

Ismaya eventually expanded to the event promotion industry by launching Ismaya Live, which has worked with leading artists to run live music festivals and shows. Flagship events such as Djakarta Warehouse Project and We The Fest have become successful annual events that gained the attention of music fans in Southeast Asia.

Today, Ismaya Group is one of the market leaders in the Indonesian F&B and lifestyle industries, with more than 100 restaurant outlets, lounges, and music festivals.

Ismaya Group CEO Bram Hendratta said that many people had lost their human touch and craved physical interaction for more than two years of lockdown due to the pandemic. This seriously affected the F&B and lifestyle industries, especially those working in the dining experience and music festivals. The CEO sees today as a momentum to bring back these interactions.

Also Read: SEA’s F&B tech startups raised a record US$461M funding across 49 deals in 2021: report

East Ventures Managing Partner Roderick Purwana expressed his trust in the brand image and operational know-how that Ismaya has built in the past years in both local and international markets.

“We have witnessed the team’s resilience in navigating and handling crisis; now that the situation has become normalised, we are confident in Ismaya Group’s ability to grow and brings back fun for the future,” he said.

East Ventures portfolio in the F&B industries

Founded in 2009, Singapore-based East Ventures has grown into a holistic platform that provides multiple-stage investments, including seed and growth-stage investments in more than 200 companies in Southeast Asia.

Based on the newly released Startup Report 2021 by DSInnovate, East Ventures is one of the top investors in Indonesia in terms of the number of funding rounds that they participated in 2022 with 22 funding rounds. These numbers do not stray too far from their 2021 counterpart.

As the most active VC firm in Southeast Asia, East Ventures sees itself as a sector-agnostic investor. Almost all verticals in the local tech industries have been embraced by East Ventures, with F&B being one of the biggest. Before Ismaya Group, East Ventures has also invested in several foodtech startups such as YummyCorp, Kulina, Greenly, and most recently, Legit Group.

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The article was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Kristin Siagian for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: East Ventures

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Smile API, an information infrastructure startup in the Philippines focused on employment and finance data, today announced a “significant” undisclosed funding from its new investor Afore Capital, a US$300 million US-based venture firm focused on pre-seed startup investing.

In a statement, the startup said it was the second seed round since its founding in April last year with CreditEase and Plug and Play as investors.

Anamitra Banerji, the Managing Partner at Afore Capital, said they invested in Smile API because of the progress the startup has made in a short time with its Application Programming Interface (API).

Claimed to be the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific, Smile API aims to enable broader financial inclusion by serving as a bridge between the public and financial institutions for financial data or source of income data. Smile’s major focus is on employment data of casual employees and freelancers, including gig workers.

Banerji pointed out that one of the main challenges in the local market in Southeast Asia is data, including banking and finance data, which lenders require before making credit decisions. Smile aims to bridge this gap by enabling people to get and use their employment data.

Also Read: Meet the 22 notable startups that have brightened up the Filipino tech ecosystem

Besides employment data, Smile’s digital platform also allows e-wallets, loans, insurances, digital bank accounts and many more applications to become available through a simple, white-labelled interface. At the same time, it keeps the end-user in full control of what data is shared and with whom.

Smile API CEO Jerome Eger, along with Smile Chief Product Officer Jan Alvin Pabellon, announced that the company had expanded its coverage to 40 million workers in the Philippines.

Its latest customers include local B2B logistics provider Tarana.ph and fintech startup Plentina.

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