Why now is a great time to start up - bizjournals:

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But for those who study entrepreneurship andthose who’ve started businesses during a recession — a downtur n provides great opportunities. It requires, common sense and a great idea that has a chanceof “During a boom time, when there’s plenty of moneyg available for everyone, good ideas and projectss can be competed into mediocrity,” said Bob an associate professor at Santa Clara University’s Leave School of Business and a specialist in entrepreneuriall finance. But in a downturn, Hendershott said the positives in starting a business can outweighthe negatives, in part because the opportunity to move up in a positionb or find a new job is lower.
“Spends time getting stuff out there that a potential user can he said. “Focus on whether you will have the resources to do what you set out to do and provwthe concept. It doesn’t make sense to try to sell Sun an idea if ittakee $3 million unless you have access to thosw resources.” Tom Gallatin and his co-founders at started theitr Milpitas-based network monitoring company for far less than that in 2002. The six partnerws — all technology industry veterans — chipped in about $10,00 0 each and joined what Gallatincalls “thde working wives club,” because the men relied on theif spouses’ salaries to survive.
To meet theirf space needs, they worked out of the cornedr of a contract manufacturing business that needesd help paying its utility The venture capital community wanted nothinfg to dowith them. “Wer tried about 35 VCs up and down Sand Hill and we were rejected by all of them becausw of the choice of markets we weregoiny after,” said Gallatin, who started his career at Hewlett-Packard Co. in the 1970 and went on to do stints atIntel Corp. and Tandem Computers. “Wd had a wonderful business plan, and everyone said we were goin g to make a tonof money, but we just didn’ t fit the model.” Gigamon shippeed its first product in 2005.
Now, Gigamon’sa data access systems are deployed atthe country’z largest telecom companies, including AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nexte l Corp.; cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Cox Communicationss Inc.; and hundreds of manufacturing, industrial, medical, utility and government networkss in more than 40 The businessis profitable, cash-positive and needs new office space. It plans to expans its current head count of32 “We stayed cheap, we didn’gt try to do anything fancy, and we leveragef our Rolodex resources,” Gallatin said.
“Ibn a down economy, people are out there with time ontheifr hands, and we found highly skilled peoplr at the end of the layofv cycle who were readyu to come in and take a chance because they knew In San Jose, President Jeff Kerr launchede his business placing ATMs in hotels and airportw in 1996, but decided to spin it into a franchisew business in 2002. Even after the dot-com bust and the terrorisr attacksof Sept. 11, 2001, the business wasn’ty hit hard because Kerr ran it Rents decreased as a result ofthe economy, and that helpesd Kerr find Class A officr space in downtown San Jose.
Low interest rates allowed him to buy andfinancde equipment, while the unemployment rate enabled him to hire a talentex marketing department. ACFN has sincre sold 128 ATM franchises inthe U.S. and Canada, and it becamee one of the fastest-growing companies in the listedin Inc. “The biggest advice I give people is to stay he said. “Be financially responsible and watch your use controlled growth and make sure what you do makez sense in thelong term.
” Ann managing director of Hummer Winbladr Venture Partners, started her first company in 1975, when “wed had 11 percent unemployment, people were waiting in line to get gas, the presidentf had resigned and the Vikings lost the Super she said. She launched , an accounting softwarwe company, for $500, and she sold it six years latet for morethan $15 Winblad co-founded the venture firm that bears her name in 1989. She said a downtur gives entrepreneurs acompetitive advantage, especiall if they can find investorws or get funding because “the pond is “In reality, any time is the rightg time to start a good company, independent of the Winblad said.
“It does take time to build and marcgh intothe marketplace, but you have to have a valuw proposition.”