Hi Tom,

It's become widely recognised and reported now that the financial crisis is and will continue to impact the tech sector. In order to survive, new start-ups will need to define revenue models upfront and will no longer be able to rely on the old "web 2.0" approach of first launching and only then worrying about revenue strategies at a later stage. For those types of companies, VC funding will be scarce.

Hi Tom,

I enjoyed your "Experiential" piece on Twitter, as this has been my exact experience. Initially I couldn't see what all the hype was about, but I succumbed to the wave of growing publicity and gave Twitter a try. Even then, I was a little circumspect but several weeks later and I am benefitting from Twitter immensely, in various ways. I have tried to explain Twitter to my colleagues, but they still look at me as if I'm crazy - like you say, you have to be "in it" to understand

Thanks Tom, it was a rare opportunity to have the time to talk and ponder so many important topics. We look forward to hosting you at our place, for an under the hood look at PR at Horn Group.
Sabrina

Thanks Tom for this article.
I watched the video and laughed about the German accents. They reminded me of a video called rampenfest (google it :))

Cheers and greetings from Germany,

Florian

Thanks for that video. It was great.

good stuff, thanks Tom.

Maybe the SEC should ban shorting them along with the Yellow Pages too.

Tom,

Sounds like it might be a case of "design to the rescue!" I've been expecting that one of the next waves of innovation will come in the form of design solutions to information/data problems. Visualizations, aggregation but with more compelling visual presentation layer (and thus better or at least more interesting interactions!).

The title of your piece had me thinking that the service finds doppelgangers -- twins of interest and like mind. Are they approaching that one

Yes, we should be doing a lot more for our schools. Silicon Valley area schools should be shining showcases not basket cases. Get your tickets now!

Branko: As as journalist for nearly 25 years I got used to the fact that not all PR people know what they are doing. And the fact that I get hundreds of pitches per day and many of them are of no use to me--is just part of the job. I screen them out without a second glance. I don't know why some journalists like Chris, get their underwear in a twist because someone pitched them an inappropriate pitch...

It's great to see people doing good for children and schools!!

"My view is that part of the problem [...]"

You mentioned earlier that there's a lot of money in PR. If that's true, then the real problem is that PR has become too successful. Which is why I don't understand these hissyfits you people throw here and at Anderson's blog. Is that part of the game of Harass the Journalist? Having some extra fun by pretending not to understand Anderson?

As for the new rift between journalists and flacks, ten years ago us journalists couldn'

Thanks for linking up to our blog! Keep up the great work and let me know of any ideas how we can cross promote...

Take care!

Very interesting read. Those factors should have effects at different time horizon. For example, pension funds investing less in VC funds will impact start-ups in a few years while angel wealth reduction impacts seed financing today.

There are two other factors to consider. First, lower valuation levels of public companies should indirectly affect valuation levels of start-ups' funding rounds. The second is more geared towards web start-ups: such a banking crisis could translate in s

It was great to spend some quality time with you, Tom. Hope to catch up again the next time I am in town!

Thanks for coming by, Tom, it was great to see you and hear your always insightful commentary on the media biz. Hopefully some of the things we talked about will happen - and hopefully some of the others won't. :-)

Very interesting read..

Greg: You make a fair point. Investing in startups can be incredibly profitable but only one in 20 succeed. And it all depends on which stage of investment. Angel investors hold the highest risks and can be wiped out by later stage financing.

And how will investors get their money out if the exits are closed? Granted, the exits won't be closed forever but the liquidity of markets is a key factor in continuing the cycles of investment.