From ‘the great resignation’ to ‘the massive redundancy’

How marketers who have lost their jobs as we move towards a near inevitable recession can find their way through the carnage

Article written for Marketing Week, 20th June 2022

Sequoia Capital knows a thing or two about making money.

As one of the most aggressive Vampire Cockwaffles (or whatever ‘VC’ stands for these days) in the world, they back companies that control $1.4 trillion of the total combined value of the stock market (at least, they did…).

When Sequoia sneezes, everyone gets a cold.

So their delivery of four presentations to founders in their ecosystem in May of this year had everyone reaching for the Kleenex.

Titled, respectively, ‘Adapting to Endure’, ‘Forecasting & Scenario Planning’, ‘Extending Your Runway’ and

‘Leading In Uncertain Times’, the decks are effectively doomsday manifestos designed to meet one objective:-

‘Don’t go bust (and lose all our money) during the inevitable recession’

So, not really heart-warming stuff — it’s like reading Orwell on a rainy comedown.

It’s no coincidence that the business press (and my own LinkedIn feed) have been littered with a litany of bad news in recent weeks.