Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy (2008)

2008 was a huge outlier though. This was the start of the hugely lucrative cloud, app-payment, SAS, smartphone, 4g, app-store, social networking, mobile confluence. Also, low interest rates forever. A typical bad economy is not like 2008. But sound advice

Good article, but I disagree with the Microsoft/Apple example in the beginning. MS and Apple happened to come along when the microcomputer was really starting to take off, and they were able to ride that wave (while 1000's of other microcomputer startups crashed). One thing that worries me personally about starting the "stereotypical" HN startup right now, is that I think the free/fremium model is going to lose steam FAST. My prediction is that you will see more companies trying…

This whole “what matters is the founder” idea really discourages me. It’s such a VC perspective. The VC has a flock of people they pick from to invest in and if your traits doesn’t fit the necessary requirements you shouldn’t start a startup. And I’m sure it’s true too. It’s just that it feels like if you don’t have the grit etc necessary you’re just out of luck and out of this club and it’s not really something you can…

For those new to a tough economy, here's my story from 2008: I was laid off from the digital agency I worked at. I had been trying to find a new job for a while but no one was hiring at the income I needed to pay the mortgage on the house I just bought. So, I started my own digital agency. I tried to think of ways to make their model better/faster/cheaper. Better: I would routinely measure the impact…