What options do entrepreneurs have in times of crisis? If you want to seize the moment in rough times, you have to be cautious first.

It’s February 28th, 2026. The morning news reports that yet another war has broken out in the Middle East. Israel and the United States have attacked Iran, which started to strike back at the Gulf states immediately.

I sighed.

It’s only the 4th time since we incorporated Yonder, a B2B SaaS company serving the aviation market, that a major crisis has hit.

COVID-19 in 2020.

The war in Ukraine in 2022.

The war in Gaza in 2023.

And now the war in Iran in 2026.

What can entrepreneurs do, and what should entrepreneurs do? As a leader, you need the skill to endure tensions and uncertainty. But being able to endure tensions and uncertainty doesn’t mean doing nothing. So let’s look at the non-options and the options available to leaders and entrepreneurs in our troubled times.

Non-Option 1: Hyperventilate

When bad news hits the screens, most people start panicking. Don’t. The news ticker of your favorite newspaper doesn’t show the whole reality. It shows eye-catching moments that some journalists thought would increase the click rate. In the case of the war in Iran, your favorite newspaper shows all the buildings hit by drones and missiles on both sides. But it doesn’t show all the buildings still intact.

If you base your judgment on the news ticker, you will inevitably start hyperventilating. The best thing to do is avoid the news ticker altogether. It’s enough to read the news once a day.

Non-Option 2: Do Nothing

The opposite of hyperventilating is doing nothing. If bad news doesn’t make you think, something is wrong. As a leader of a business in a global industry, you need to care about the developments in geopolitics, economics, and technology.

In 2008, when the financial crisis hit, Sequoia Capital circulated a slide deck with their portfolio companies named “R.I.P. Good Times.” One of the core messages was that if dire times hit and you do nothing on the cost side, you will be doomed:

Option 3: Be Cautious

So much for what you shouldn’t do. But entrepreneurship is about doing things, not about discussing things.

When adversity strikes, my advice is to act cautiously. This is especially true for the first phase of adversity, when the outlook is still foggy. Let’s return to the war in Iran. A few weeks after it broke out, it’s still unclear (at least to me) which scenario will materialize. Will we see a swift victory of the United States and Israel over Iran? Will the Iranian regime survive and quietly continue working on a nuclear bomb? Or will there be anything in between, possibly sucking other countries into the conflict?

Let’s look at the potential economic consequences of this war. As long as it is unclear if we will slide into a global recession due to the Iran war, I wouldn’t be too ambitious on growth. Call me conservative; maybe I am. Maybe it’s because of my nationality – Swiss business people are more cautious than American business people.

Option 4: Seize the Moment

Look at the Sequoia Capital chart again. If you’re not cautious in troubled times, you’re running the risk that things go south very quickly. On the other hand, if you’re cautious until the fog of war has cleared, you can seize the moment when your competitors who were a little less cautious at the start of the crisis are busy fighting the consequences of their earlier actions.

Always remember, you cannot seize the moment if you’re constantly running behind. That’s an argument for being cautious before you can seize the moment.

Conclusion

Leadership is difficult. It’s difficult because there aren’t any right or wrong answers. And because of that, leaders need the skills to endure tensions and uncertainty. They constantly walk on a tightrope between uncertain outcomes.

And just like on a tightrope, there are two things leaders shouldn’t do: Hyperventilate or do nothing.