“I have to lay off my team because of Covid-19”

Dear Readers,

In the last few weeks, I’ve received confidential messages from founders that went along these lines: “I have to lay off my team because of Covid-19.” 😞

It’s one of the most heartbreaking decisions that founders have to make. But it isn’t just depressing emotions that they have to stomach: the employees that they let go will find it extra challenging to find jobs during this period.

Tech in Asia went through some rough patches a few years ago, so I understand what these founders are going through right now. Over phone calls, I shared what I strongly believe in and practice, which is to be as transparent and empathetic as possible. Admit that we fucked up, and then move as swiftly as possible to course-correct.

Of course, there are things I wish I did differently. For instance, I could have considered giving people options. Maybe a company-wide salary cut could have helped create camaraderie and instill a greater sense of urgency. And if people had chosen to leave instead, then that’s only fair.

We’re also affected by Covid-19, especially our offline events. To curb that, we moved our Product Development Conference online. We recently also had a townhall meeting to discuss the impact of this pandemic. We remain cautiously optimistic and feel a sense of excitement at how we can use this opportunity to improve Tech in Asia on all fronts.

It would mean a lot to us if you can take three minutes to fill out this user survey to give us some feedback. 🙏

A friend who worked at Alibaba during the 2003 SARS outbreak previously shared this with us:

“Every crisis presents opportunities. We could have hung our heads and thought about how none of our original plans for the year could be realized. Change is the only constant and it is important to embrace change. So we were forced to stay calm, face the new reality, and find opportunities where we could.”

Stay optimistic! 💪

You can find the previous commentary via this link: “Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem has a lot of heart ❤️”. You can also read all my commentaries here.

Here are some of my favorite recent pieces from our newsroom:

• 🍺 Singapore company turns bread to beer to cut Southeast Asia’s food waste – Seriously, why throw out leftover bread when you can drink it – eventually? Cuts waste and turns it to something people want.
• 💰 Private exchanges could be the cheaper, faster alternative to an IPO – An in-depth piece that explores these options. Grab, Ant Financial, Bytedance and Impossible Foods secondary shares are in demand.
• 🌊 Gojek mafia makes waves across Indonesian startup scene – We made a list of Gojek alumni who went on to create their own startups.

Thank you and see you next week!