http://www.rednod.com/the-other-reason-startups-need-to-tighten-their-belt/ Startup accelerator helping companies anticipate markets, create great products, and communicate them simply. Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:30:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.rednod.com/the-other-reason-startups-need-to-tighten-their-belt/comment-page-1/#comment-82 Matt Harrison Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:43:36 +0000 http://www.rednod.com/index.php/2008/10/20/the-other-reason-startups-need-to-tighten-their-belt/#comment-82 I feel for those startups that were on the verge of looking for their first big investment after days, weeks or years of hard work refining their product and now have landed through no fault of their own in this precarious financial situation. If I were them I would be looking for a signal that its not over and that they will not be a victim of unfortunate timing in this downturn. I believe that a solid message needs to come from the leaders of technology investment to say keep working, keep struggling there is investment for innovation and creativity. I have read several articles that follow the theme of the comments above. I was unsettled and asked myself what had changed for tomorrows new thinking? Yes, today there may not be a line up of opporunities to sell your company to a larger one in a tight capex situation, but what timeline is being tossed around? Is the accepted time frame for ROI in the VC metric so short it is deemed to be still inside the recessionary period. Are we all going to accept that we are headed down Japan's road from 20 years ago in a bigger nastier way? This could be an incredible opportunity for those investors who do not believe innovation should be reduced to a brutal darwinistic state in hard times and to partner with small companies and keep them alive. What I wish I would see is publicized investments by the large tech funds to keep morale afloat for those young hard working people putting every hour they have refining an idea. Now is the time for the investors who profited in the past decade to pump working capital into the "market" and protect their future investments. The word needs to get out that the machine is still working and people want to listen to good ideas, from a great team with a solid service or product. No I do not believe we need a US style infusion but some real visible partnering between the investment leaders (large funds and government) and the startup community. My .03 cents. I feel for those startups that were on the verge of looking for their first big investment after days, weeks or years of hard work refining their product and now have landed through no fault of their own in this precarious financial situation. If I were them I would be looking for a signal that its not over and that they will not be a victim of unfortunate timing in this downturn. I believe that a solid message needs to come from the leaders of technology investment to say keep working, keep struggling there is investment for innovation and creativity. I have read several articles that follow the theme of the comments above. I was unsettled and asked myself what had changed for tomorrows new thinking? Yes, today there may not be a line up of opporunities to sell your company to a larger one in a tight capex situation, but what timeline is being tossed around? Is the accepted time frame for ROI in the VC metric so short it is deemed to be still inside the recessionary period. Are we all going to accept that we are headed down Japan’s road from 20 years ago in a bigger nastier way? This could be an incredible opportunity for those investors who do not believe innovation should be reduced to a brutal darwinistic state in hard times and to partner with small companies and keep them alive. What I wish I would see is publicized investments by the large tech funds to keep morale afloat for those young hard working people putting every hour they have refining an idea. Now is the time for the investors who profited in the past decade to pump working capital into the “market” and protect their future investments. The word needs to get out that the machine is still working and people want to listen to good ideas, from a great team with a solid service or product. No I do not believe we need a US style infusion but some real visible partnering between the investment leaders (large funds and government) and the startup community. My .03 cents.

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