Starting a company is difficult in any market, so being a founder of a startup in today’s economy can be a roller coaster of wins and losses. Forbes’ Kyle Wong (@kwong47) talks about how startups can make it through what Y Combinator’s Paul Graham calls the “trough of sorrow.” This stage usually occurs after a major setback in the beginning stages of a company. There is no one reason this downfall happens; you could have a great concept in a market that has demand. Yet, if something like a loss of a key team member, or a miscommunication with brand identity, can throw you for a loop.

“Many times the key to winning is just surviving so that market timing finally lines up with your product or service.” - Satya Patel

Wong outlines 3 things you can do, not to avoid the trough, but to get through it:

1. Create a financial cushion while you weather the storm: spending money won’t solve your problems, but it will buy you time while you problem solve.

2. Focus in on what your company is uniquely good at: More isn’t more. Many times when startups fail it is because they try to do too much at once. Figure out what core features you want to have, and do them well.

3. Don’t panic yourself into changing everything: Your first instinct may be to rewrite your whole business plan, but that’s not always a solution. Sometimes you just need to buckle down and win small battles. If you have transparency and clear goals, with awesome team members, you’ll come out on top.

Starting a business is hard! Anyone who said it isn’t is lying. Even companies with huge success like Airbnb, went through a difficult period before hitting gold. Airbnb’s trough was their realization that their images for listings weren’t scaling correctly, resulting in loss of bookings. After fixing that issue they saw their revenue increase. The moral of the story is you have to be smart, calm and strategic. If you do everything necessary to plan for a possible low point, you can get through it.