As you might imagine, the conversation du jour in VC and entrepreneur circles is around the current market gyrations, the Sequoia conclave (and kudos to those guys for kicking off this conversation), the subsequent very smart opinions from VCs and entrepreneurs alike, and what happens next.
My opinion on what happens next? Hell, I don’t know. And in many ways, I don’t really care. If you focus on what you control, you shouldn’t either.
Listen, it’s not like we’ve just been through a time where the IPO cup runneth over. We’ve seen nothing but bad news about exits for the last year and it’s clearly not going to get much better next year. And, yes, it is likely going to be more difficult to get funding this week than it was two weeks ago.
I have, however, seen a lot of great entrepreneurs build great companies over the last four years; companies they started in very dark days. The majority of them have not seen liquidity and now they probably have at least another 1-2 years before the liquidity window opens up again. But they are psyched about their businesses and they are prepared to leverage the probable downturn to best position themselves for when we come out of this.
Over the next 12-18 months is again going to be a great time to start a company. If you are thinking of starting one, read the deliciously vulgar and beautiful post by Dave McClure. He says it better than I could.
If after reading that post you want to start a company even more, or you aren't sure, or you just want a free cuppa joe, come talk to us. Kent and I will be holding Office Hours at University Café on Tuesday from 11-1, coffee is on us.
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