Using your head and your heart.

Our friends at Angel Association New Zealand have shared some insightful suggestions for both founders and investors to consider at this time.

INVESTORS.

The rationale for angel investment remains as valid today as ever – from a head and heart perspective. It can be easy to let emotion override reason, be careful that feelings of scarcity don’t chew you up.

AANZ recommends that angel investment should only make up 5-10% of your NET wealth and you should review your portfolio to assess which have the best chance of surviving, sustaining and thriving.

Make value based decisions and support the founders you’ve backed - say yes or no quickly, even small(er) cheques can make a difference.

Be generous with contacts, intel and emotional support. You're an angel investor, now is the time to act angelically.

FOUNDERS.

Engage your customers. Be proactive in supporting them to ensure the best chance of being paid. Churn costs more than lost sales.

Extend cash. Develop tactics to reduce costs as well has accessing funding to bridge from survive to sustain to thrive. The sustain piece is important. This will pass. And companies that get out the other side will be a in powerful position.

Preserve value. Weigh up short term loss versus long term gain with a view to leading the recovery. Out of chaos comes opportunity - every time there has been an economic downturn (1929, DotCom bust, GFC) some massive companies have been created including Xero, Lanzatech and Vend.