I feel like the grim reaper here… really I’m not throwing myself out a window.
So why am I posting these? it is important for entrepreneurs to NOT bury their heads in the sand.
I would also take a moment to point out that the majority of this news is coming from Silicon Valley – by far the easiest place to raise capital. If you are not based in Silicon Valley the news is probably worse.
The important thing is not to panic and plot a course of action TODAY – What should you do – you can start by reading Ron Conway’s letter to the companies he has invested in. I’m following this advice – and you should too.
Sorry, Startups: Party’s Over – Silicon Alley Insider
Sequoia Capital, best known during this bubble as the guys who backed YouTube, gathered some of their startups Tuesday for an emergency meeting. “The attendees were greeted by a cute image of a Grave Stone, with a message: R.I.P.: Good Times,” Om Malik reports.
Super Angel Ron Conway To Would-Be Startups: Don’t Quit Your Day Jobs – Silicon Alley Insider
Different story, says Ron Conway, who is perhaps the most famous angel investor in tech these days. Ron is best known for making very early and very lucrative bets on Google and PayPal, but he’s also known as one of the most adventurous angels of Bubble 2.0, and has invested in 130 companies since 2005. We asked him for his advice to would-be-startups last night, and he wasn’t nearly as encouraging:
“I would tell (entrepreneurs) to keep their day job until they got one year of funding, and if they couldn’t get that, then they’re not meant to start that company right now…. My advice to (start ups that don’t have a year’s worth of money in the bank) would be to raise money by reducing your own spending. If you can’t raise more money, you have to cut costs. And that’s what I’m harping on to my companies.”
Fred Wilson: My Thoughts On ‘Startup Depression’– Silicon Alley Insider
All startups are going to have to batten down the hatches, get leaner, and work to get profitable, but the venture backed startups are going to get more time to get through this process than those that are not venture backed. Here’s why.
Venture capital firms are largely flush with capital from sources that are mostly rock solid. If you look back at the last market downturn, most venture capital firms did not lose their funding sources (we did at Flatiron but that’s a different story). If you are an entrepreneur that is backed by a well established venture capital firm, or ideally a syndicate of well established venture capital firms, then you have investors who have the capacity to support your business for at least 3-5 years (for most companies).