Having dubbed COVID-19 “The Black Swan of 2020,” Sequoia challenged all of their founders and CEO’s to question every assumption about their businesses including financial runway, staffing needs, etc, forecasting that private financing is going to be tougher to come by and noting that private financing will likely be harder to come by and that historically “revenue and cash levels fall faster than expenses.
Vasu Kulkarni, a Partner in sports-specific venture fund, Courtside Ventures, is focusing on the health of the companies in his own portfolio first before devoting significant attention to new deals. “I’m calling all of my portfolio companies and asking what they need from me to stay in business...I’m also telling all my companies to get creative, we don’t want to lay people off at a time like this.
However, certain sub-verticals within the sports tech realm are more primed to withstand a crisis of this sports as media, content, and gaming. “If you look at media consumption, everything is skyrocketing and e-sports viewership specifically is off the charts,” said Kulkarni. “What I find most interesting is that stars in traditional sports taking to e-sports and Twitch to engage their audiences.