Nivi · October 15th, 2008
“Over the past few months, I’ve witnessed the experts and the media bemoan and belabor the “tough economy.” My attitude in times like these is to stay focused, stay optimistic, ignore the media and operate as normal. We’ve done a great job of doing these at Infusionsoft and it’s paying off. We had our best quarter ever in Q3 and we’re on track to blow that away this quarter…
“Sequoia Capital is well respected. [But] they blew an opportunity to remain optimistic and they succumbed to the fear that’s swirling around. In the process, they spread their negativity to a bunch of smart people who really ought to know better.”
Topics Downturn · Psychology
I don’t think Sequoia’s negativity spread too far. I’ve spoken to a lot of startup CEOs, especially those in the seed rounds, and there is still a lot of optimism. In fact, I think its a great time to be in a startup, as long as you’re capital efficient. Fred Wilson blogged about it, and I also wrote about my optimism from a founder’s point of view here: http://blog.newscred.com/?p=162
Shafqat,
I totally agree that this is a great time for those companies that are capital efficient. In my post, I pointed out that the Sequoia advice was great advice for any time. My beef was in the delivery and the scare they delivered to their direct and indirect audience.
Bottom line: I share your optimism, my friend!