Welcoming another year of uncertainty

Along with many of my clients, I watched the roller coaster of 2022 and wondered when we were going to be able to get off of this ride. Excited CEOs focused on growth had to do some serious thinking about what to prioritize in 2023 given persisting challenges in fundraising. Consumer goods has gone a little out of style as the consumer discretionary sector was one of the worst performing of 2022 and a recession might be in our near-term future. And at the same time, consumers as a whole are still out there buying - record sales over the black friday and cyber monday weekend.

So my advice, make products that solve real consumer problems at a reasonable price point - this has been a winning strategy in all markets. Find the right customer acquisition channels that you can afford. Don’t try too many new things all at once - it is too expensive. If you build a company that can survive in a bear market, then you’ve built a resilient company that can also flourish in the next bull market that is sure to come.