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6 Companies Born During A Downturn
Feb 2 2009

Our Bioscience Director, Jessica Hanover, at the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) sent out the following link today: 6 Companies Born During Downturns.  You may or may not be surprised at the names on the list (IBM, GE, Procter & Gamble, GM, United Technologies Corp., FedEx) but it just goes to show you that if you focus on the negative, you’ll have a hard time finding the positive reasons to be entrepreneurial right now.

I started to reply to her but decided I’d blog it instead in order to share with all of you.  Here were my initial thoughts.

Starting a company from scratch was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done (2nd only to taking care of little kids).  It almost doesn’t matter if it’s an up time or down time if you are serious about getting your company off the ground.  We started Isochron in an up time but weathered some down times.

There are just some companies and people (when combined in the right space/time) that will make it almost no matter what.  It’s recognizing that elusive pattern that is the holy grail of venture/equity investing. I think we have a few of those at ATI. And just because you recognize it…doesn’t mean it won’t change! But what do I know?  I certainly don’t fit the picture of a stereotypical VC!  Honestly, I think most VCs don’t really know how to see it or look for it.

Maintaining the passion and singular vision to take it through the numerous hurdles is quite a feat.  Anyone can falter on this tough road at any time and therein lies the biggest inherent risk.

Author: | Filed under: entrepreneurship | Tags: , | 6 Comments »

6 Comments on “6 Companies Born During A Downturn”

  1. 1 jan ryan said at 9:29 AM on February 3rd, 2009:

    Another example not to be missed is Cisco….

  2. 2 Aruni said at 8:59 PM on February 3rd, 2009:

    @jan ryan – thanks for sharing. Yes, Cisco is a true success…hope they can continue onward!

  3. 3 Immomsdaughter said at 2:09 AM on February 5th, 2009:

    Thank you for sharing this motivating piece of news. I am also feeling the effect but gotta remind myself to think positive and be thankful for what I have 🙂

    Immomsdaughters last blog post..Chinese New Year 2009

  4. 4 Aruni said at 10:15 PM on February 5th, 2009:

    @Immomsdaughter – Thinking positive helps, but being realistic helps too. I’m sure you will find creative ways to make it through!

  5. 5 Michelle said at 6:45 PM on February 9th, 2009:

    You know, this post reminds me of many trials I had in the corporate world. te ups where good but the downs?! man they where pretty bad. Being a mom doesn’t help with the pressure one already has on a daily basis to acheive some semblance of a life. So in name of my daughter I truly decided to leave that world behind but only after one year of thourough search did I find what would suite me best. I work at home…from home.. with the suppor of 11000 other moms worldwide. Truly a blessing. http://www.themomteam.com/michjean

  6. 6 Aruni said at 9:53 PM on February 17th, 2009:

    @Michelle – I’m glad you found a solution that works for you!