It's the usual - be as employable as you can, search for a job, apply, interview, get hired. I don't think that you need to do anything special just because the market is worse. When you start applying you'll find out how difficult the market is for you specifically (given your education, location, field etc), and you can adjust your expectations from there if you need to.
Maybe startups specifically look worse than other companies right now? But I never got the appeal of startups anyway (more likely lower pay, less stability, more likely to have poor work life balance and have to deal with inexperienced management).
I spend 5 years in startup around 2008, last big recession if I'm correct. What I appreciated of that time is that the mood was considerably less gloom and doom that my peers in large company.
Also... I was under 30 and I was just ecstatic to have a position of most of my time was greenfield projects. ( as opposed to maintain legacy code for crappy clients because of the aforementioned gloom and doom )
I can see small structures with a purpose being a ok time to spend a recession.
Maybe startups specifically look worse than other companies right now? But I never got the appeal of startups anyway (more likely lower pay, less stability, more likely to have poor work life balance and have to deal with inexperienced management).