How to cut costs on a Mars rover?

Check out our tenth video in the series of 1-minute tips for startup founders from Alexander Konoplyasty, co-founder of Flashpoint Venture Capital.

❓”How to cut costs?”
👉Try avoiding “sausage cutting”, i.e. optimising costs a little at a time, but multiple times

If you, for some reason, haven’t been optimising your cost structure yet, here are some thoughts. We have discussed what to cut in one of the previous posts, some more thoughts on the approach. Try avoiding “sausage cutting”, i.e. optimising costs a little at a time but multiple times. It is best to optimise once and for a longer term. Laying people off is never an easy decision. Be fair with departing people, but the remaining employees need to have a re-emphasized sense of values and vision. Don’t wait with cutting. Some founders delay because of a VC still contemplating a term sheet or a strategy going through diligence. Be decisive. Delaying might kill you. Also, might hurt the morale of the team if they understand the necessity of cutting but have no clarity on actions or path forward.