Five founders of a startup, SOS-AR, which develops augmented reality devices for emergency team training, are asking for your advice on how to manage the complex situation that they are facing: lack of funds and financial support and a dispute among the founders regarding closing the startup. This startup was founded five years ago; three of the founders developed the technology and two others leveraged it into the marketplace. Various bodies expressed interest and the startup gained traction; then, the three founders who developed the technology launched a new startup (that turned out to be very successful) while still being involved in SOS-AR; this created conflicts and lack of trust among the five founders, which were then echoed in the business’ atmosphere and employees’ engagement and dedication to SOS-AR. The five founders decided to keep SOS-AR in its initial form and to ‘give it another chance’; then, when COVID-19 emerged, the founders could not attract financial support, and ran out of money and resources. While the business ran into a bad situation, the three founders who launched the other startup did not feel the pandemic’s effects. The differences in the founders’ perceptions of the crisis’ severity spurred more conflicts among the founders and then in the business as a whole. As their advisor, analyze the complex situation based on the model introduced in Figure 4.2: Entrepreneurs born into crises: a new look at crisis perceptions.

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