As a SaaS vendor, I am totally biased, so I’ll say that upfront. But in a liquidity / credit crunch, it just makes economic sense that people want OpEx, not CapEx.

However, I also agree that it is irresponsible and ignorant to assume that this downturn won’t affect even cash flow positive companies, so we should all buckle up for a rough ride.

I’ve already been thought a dot com bubble and don’t like the idea of going through another. There are many young businesses that don’t recognize the signs, but to those who have been through a bubble, the signs are everywhere and obvious.

What is coming will hit like a ton of bricks for those who aren’t prepared – so keep trim, have sensible business models, avoid hype and watch the cashflow!

Oh! and watch this: http://snurl.com/323jb

(Let it be said that I predicted what’s coming back in Dec, 2007)

I got a feeling that it is going to get worse. One just has to look at crazy multi-million dollar funding of those useless Web-2.0 startups with almost all their business model is to target online ads. These crazy fundings of useless Web-2.0 startups are being constantly hyped up at Read/Write/Web and TechCrunch blogs. Startup fundings that have been covered at both RWW and TC have no other business models to gathering revenue apart from online ads, and this is the reason I believe that things got worse.

Useless (well most of them) Web-2.0 startups and their backers are jumping on the bandwagon, since they’re only have one thing in mind and that is, they hoped that their startups will be gobbled up by a bigger vendor. There is no real desire in most Web-2.0 startups to develop something that is revolutionary, ie, life-changing for users or help them lift productivities in work environment, etc,… All Web-2.0 startups are doing is, ME TOO. Look at the proliferation of useless Social Networking sites which is something completely time-wasting for users (without them realizing it because they’re suckers/naives) and it is unbelievable that VCs are jumping in the hypes.

Actually, there has been an interesting conversation going on over at SaaS Blogs about pricing models

http://www.saasblogs.com/2008/07/02/when-should-software-be-sold-pay-per-use/

I just launched an online gallery for NZ artists ( http://www.artklick.co.nz ) and have spent all my money on site redesign to get it good enough to launch to the public…..

What’s the solution? Tattoo NZ artwork on my legs and raise $1,000,000 of course…

Just have to be creative when you have less money for marketing

Great blog Ben

PS I grew up in the Hurunui township!