Jason Calacanis to Startups: the Economy Is Not Bouncing Back Soon, You Have to Wait It Out

Jason Calacanis tells startups (in another extra long e-mail) that there is no easy escape from this downturn – at least not soon. You can read the entire e-mail here, but he makes his point pretty well in this passage:

The severity of what has happened can't be underestimated. There will be no white knight. Even the massive coordinated government action--including the first global rate cuts and bail outs--has done
nothing to stop the panic or create a bottom (at least from where I sit).

Bottom line: there is zero chance of a short or medium term-rebound.

Zero.

As a startup, you are now, officially, on your own. You can't count on your VCs saving you or some magical offer from Yahoo or Google showing up to bail you out. Chances are Yahoo and Google are going to be shutting down and/or selling off companies they've already bought--like EBAY and AOL have started doing. Parents don't adopt while they're putting their kids up for adoption.

What you do in the next 30 days will probably make or break your company.

The storm is upon us and the death spiral has started. Once that happens, you can't stop it--you can only ride it out.

Jason Calacanis To Startups: The Economy Is Not Bouncing Back Soon, You Have To Wait It Out