29 tech startup founders and CEOs share their biggest challenges as they face a recession and their strategies for overcoming them: 'We are now wartime CEOs'

• The coronavirus crisis is an unexpected blow to many enterprise startups. Some CEOs have experienced previous downturns, including the Great Recession in 2008 and the tech dot-com crash in 2000. Others are facing a major crisis as a business leader for the first time.
• We reached out to 29 tech startup CEOs and founders to hear their fears and strategies as they navigate this global crisis. As Drift CEO David Cancel put it: "We are now wartime CEOs."
• A few leaders vowed to try their best to protect their employees' jobs, whether through pledging a "no-layoff" policy or asking workers to take pay cuts.
• Clari CEO Andy Bryne believes the market will bounce back, but that, in the meantime, his startup will be ruled by three words: "Embrace the suck."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories

For many founders and CEOs, the coronavirus crisis is an unexpected blow that could make or break their startups.

Some of them are drawing on lessons learned a decade ago, when they worked at companies that struggled through the Great Recession, the devastating downturn triggered by the 2008 mortgage crisis.

Others are looking back to an earlier collapse, when the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and was followed a year later by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Still other leaders are grappling with a market crash and global crisis for the first time.

To help guide business leaders through this uncertain time, Business Insider reached out to dozens of startup founders and CEOs for their advice.

Subscribe to read: 29 tech startup founders and CEOs share their biggest challenges as they face a recession and their strategies for overcoming them: 'We are now wartime CEOs'

And get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.

NOW WATCH: How flight attendants are trained