At the end of the worst financial week the World has ever seen, bankers and stockbrokers may be ready to jump out windows, but I’m feeling rather optimistic today.
Barring a complete meltdown of society (some may argue we are already witnessing that) the coming months are going to be a great time to start a business.
If you already have your own business, Brad Feld has two amazing posts that demonstrate why he’s been a successful entrepreneur, Angel investor and VC: Fear is the Mind Killer and OK Entrepreneurs, Time to Step Up.
Starting a Real Business
When I say start a business, I mean a real business. Something with a revenue plan. Something that scales as the revenue comes in. Something that is built on the premise of what VC’s are telling their portfolio companies (Sequoia Benchmark); aka have a low burn rate and be profitable.
I think companies that start in 2009 will be better off than companies that started in 2008, for one simple reason: The rules changed. Companies starting from scratch will have leaner business models than those that started over the last year.
The last 5 years have been a lot of fun, we’ve got to play with all kinds of cool new products….and now we’re done. Done playing that is. This doesn’t mean an end to Web 2.0, it just means that Web 2.0 has to grow up and look for different business models to add value to.
If you are one of the unfortunate people being laid off from work, I really feel for you and your family. While there may not seem like any upside remember that there is safety in numbers (or misery loves company, that one works too). Grab a few of your most talented colleagues, who also find themselves out of work, and make the leap together.
Entrepreneurs are the only ones that can fix this mess
Entrepreneurs are great at creating something out of nothing. Let’s face it, the more the government gets involved the more they screw it up. The banks (I don’t even need to go there). No one has any answers. Everyone is paralyzed with fear or uncertainty. And while it may be hard to find any capital for your start-up the good news is that everything just got a lot cheaper.
Have you had a great idea but couldn’t find any local programmers willing to give you a break on price? Looking for a good business partner with enterprise experience? I bet all that just got easier.
There are no quick fixes to this mess. My *best case* scenario is that we’ve got 7 long, hard years ahead of us. Entrepreneurialism is tough, so if the next several years are going to suck anyway you might as well face it with both hands on the steering wheel 
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How about starting an e-business focused on direct barter to replace the collapsed U.S. dollar?
Like I said in my previous Thinking 2.0 post, I believe that the financial sector is going to be a hot bed of innovation flush with start-ups.
Right on Tac.
Check out what Tim OReilly has to say on the subject too:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oreilly10-2008oct10,0,3371018.story
O’Reilly argues that Silicon Valley has strayed from the passion and idealism that fuel innovation to instead follow what he calls the “mad pursuit of the buck with stupider and stupider ideas.”
Flush with money and opportunity following the post-dot-com resurgence, he says, some entrepreneurs have cocooned in a “reality bubble,” insulated from poverty, disease, global warming and other problems that are gripping the planet. He argues that they should follow the model of some of the world’s most successful technology companies, including Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which sprang from their founders’ efforts to “work on stuff that matters.”
Cheers,
Oliver
Very well stated.
It is encouraging to see such Wisdom in the younger generations
I have seen in the past 50 years several cycles. One factor has always been True.
Those with Vision, Passion and a true Entrpreneurial Mindset always come out on top. I have never suffered prolonged “downtourns” in personal Economy, even with a couple of Complete Busines “failures”
At age 17 I was privileged to be assigned a Book as a Freshman in colleg. It set my Life course as an entrpreneuer.
Enjoy my audio take on the Matter.
No Secret here
Oliver,
Great points.
Chuck,
Thanks for the support, and the example. We only walk in the shoes of the entrepreneurs who came before us.