Earlier today, the International Monetary Fund issued some statements. The one that stood out for me is that China’s economy is expected to only grow at a rate of 1,2% in 2020, significantly down from the 6% growth forecast in January 2020.

This gives us an idea of how bleak the next year or two is going to be. Some commentators and economists are already saying the 2nd order effects (e.g. country lockdowns) of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are going to force economic conditions that will be worse than The Great Depression of 1929 to 1939.

What does this mean for me and you?

Specifically what does it mean for startups?

Charles Darwin, the father of Darwinism or more popularly known as the theory of evolution, argued that all organisms develop and survive through a process of natural selection which results in small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Looking at startups, this is almost the same as the iteration process that a startup has to go through to reach product-market fit. As such, if you look at animals like gorillas, you find that instead of 25 chromosomes (humans), they have 24, and other iterations that appear small (e.g. an opposing thumb) but make a big difference in how better we function. 📷 Gorilla, World Wildlife Fund

The first thing that comes to my mind is that I need to make peace of this. No point complaining or lamenting about the situation we are in, it is here, I can’t change it.

The next thing, and why I think it is important to quickly accept the situation so I (you) can move on, is that as a startup, this is a time to double down. Ship products. Ship new features. Iterate. Try new things to get new clients and earn money.

The environment has changed. It’s now a matter of “adapt or die,” and the only way to adapt, to re-emphasize, is to ship new features and even new products.

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