Credit crisis or not: it’s a fantastic time to build a start-up
Written on March 19, 2008 – 2:43 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Mike Butcher from TechCrunch UK started the second panel as a depressed man. The credit crisis not just affects the world’s economy, but also the mood of one of Europe’s best bloggers. Luckily there were four investors at Plugg to cheer him up a bit.
Paul Fisher from Advent Venture Partners noted that lots of the start-ups have an advertised-based business model. And online advertising is still growing. Moreover, there’s a continued roll-out of broadband, specifically in Eastern Europe. He also said it’s a challenging time for VC’s: “Talent is a lot more expensive now”. So an important issue, according to Fisher, is that start-up expect more than VC’s.
Julie Meyer (Ariadne Capital) sees the crisis as a way to seperate the women from the girls and the men from the boys. The one’s that really want a start-up will pursue. So she sees it as some kind of filer. “It forces entrepreneurs to be a Fiat Punto instead of a Mercedes S class. Discipline is important now”. Reshma Sohoni from SeedCamp agreed with her: “Companies are now more careful with cash burn and costs”.
So in a few years, people will ask successful entrepreneurs: “What’s your secret?!” Those guys will then probably say: “Wel, we started in Q1 of 2008 and learned to start a company in an efficient way.”
The investors convinced Butcher. I even heard him saying a remarkable thing, something you would expect from a optimist instead of a guy who just lost his faith in world economy: “Yes, it’s a fantastic time to build a start-up.”
I hope you like that post!
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By Drivingsouth on Mar 19, 2008
“Discipline is important now”.
Now????? Maybe that’s why there is a “crisis” out there, specially when the big ones on The Street don’t discipline themselves
By joshua on Mar 19, 2008
Bush is the one who’s had no discipline…
By Steven Carroll on Mar 19, 2008
I started my first successful business in the middle of the recession of the early nineties. Actually it was a great time to build and develop. While the rest of my large monster competitors were cutting back on r&d, and investment in general, I was able to launch and compete within a low key environment. As an unfunded independent developer, this is the idea time to start.
The same fertile ground was around before the first dot.com bubble and then again in 2002-3 after the crash.
If we look about now the main players on the dance floor were concieved and built in these post boom times.
By BRAY on Mar 20, 2008
This is the time for entrepreneurs, rather than corporations. Companies selling targeted niche products, or services, at competitive prices will do well.
Traditionally, marketing, advertising, and allied trades such as graphic art, photography, copyrighting tend to struggle. This isn’t to say, however, that if you’re in one of these fields you can’t prosper.
Manufacturing is more complex. A downturn in the US might well have implications for China, as well as at home.
BRAY
The Family Business School