Tuesday, April 21, 2009

No Better Time Than the Present

I was tipped off by @gulfgoni of comScore on Twitter to a great blog post by Matt McCall on his blog, VC Confidential titled,"Why Great Companies Get Started in the Downturns."

Matt points to a wide swath of enduring brands that were created during the troubled economic times of the late 1800's, Great Depression, mid 1970's and early 1980's. He lists these 4 reasons why a recession is a great time to start a new biz. These may or may not be self-explanatory so do read the full post for the context...

"1. Dogs Will Try New Dog Food

2. Take Care of Darwin

3. Power of an Equity Culture

4. Weak Gazelles are Pruned"

He closes with this graph that I'm certainly taking to heart as I venture out with Connectual...

"So, yes it is ugly out there and about to get even harder but start-ups are used to hard times and are well suited, if managed properly, to thrive in the downturn and accelerate during the recovery. The trick is to stay alive one day longer than your competitors..."

As I noted in my post explaining Why I Got Connectual, the recession has brought on a number of challenges that my firm specifically addresses to the point where I think I'll do better the longer the economy remains in the tank. As long as companies are under pressure to drive revenue without the ability to make long-term investments in staff or other resources, it will be readily apparent how Connectual can add value.

As for accelerating during the recovery, my hope is to be so entrenched in the client/provider procurement process and have demonstrated such tangible efficiencies that noone will want to go back to the old way of doing business -- read: pushing those pesky RFP's back and forth -- when the economy turns around.

In terms of staying alive "one day longer" -- I love the simple wisdom but it ain't that easy when you're competing with everyone and noone all at the same time. I guess that's what pursuing a Blue Ocean strategy is truly about though!

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