ÜBERCEO

Jose da Veiga is the CEO of start-up KlickSports, a live sports game where participants make real-time predictions of sports team and players. Like many young companies, the current economic climate is making the start-up world even more challenging. But Jose is surviving by getting back to basics.

He shared with us some tips on how he’s making it through the tough times:

1. Do the best you can do with what have and never try to bet on what you might get. For Jose that means asking for favors, using his network and that of his employees, and encouraging staff to come up with ways to cut costs without compromising quality.

2. Understand there will be sacrifice, both personally and professionally. Being a CEO is not a glamorous job. You’ll need a supportive family, especially if there’s going to be a time when you don’t have a salary. It’s not going to be a sane life.

3. Never hire inexperienced people. If you do, they won’t last long in this environment. Hire people who stick to it and can bring in a special skill-set that allows them to solve problems in a creative way. It will breed more innovation.

4. Seek people who can change as quickly as the business environment changes. Get rid of everything and everybody that is focused on a different future outlook. Remember that some people are great when you’ve got funding but not so good in an opposite environment.

5. Rely on a network of people who have gone through this experience a few times before and talk to them often. Using people who don’t have a stake in the game, but have similar experiences, bring a great perspective.

6. Hire vendors and people that believe in your company and its cause. A CEOs job is to make them believe.

 Jose says that in this market survivability is key. “As long as there’s progress being made, you’re doing OK. The lesson is that you should be going back to the fundamentals, regardless of the current economic situation.”