January 13, 2021 Starting a company is an uphill battle even in the best of times. 2020 was not the best of times. While we don’t yet know the startup mortality rate for this annus horribilis, the pandemic derailed some of tech’s best-funded ventures (Quibi, Bird) and left entire industries reeling. For every business that has thrived during Covid-19, dozens of others are limping along or quietly winding down. As startup founders face the prospect of starting over in the new year, how do they know when to throw in the towel? What are their career options afterwards? At Rippling, the HR and IT software firm where I work, we make a point of recruiting former founders—we have more than 30 on staff, including seven alumni of Y Combinator, all keen to put their entrepreneurial experience to good use. We asked five of our entrepreneurs who shut down businesses in the last year to weigh in with their advice.