I have been around startup companies for 35 years and have experienced both good and bad economic cycles. We have  now entered uncertain times.

That said, from a company’s point of view, a financial down turn can be a good time to create an early-stage  start-up.

  1. There will be fewer competitors of your same vintage, which can help lesson competition in the marketplace and with investors. This advantage persists over time. As the economy recovers from a downturn, companies will see fewer other companies at their specific stage of fund-raising. Said another way, when your company becomes a teenager, there will not be many teenagers around vying for attention.
  2. Operating costs often get more reasonable (e.g., lower cost of office space)
  3. It can be easier to bring on early employees (who may have been laid off)

And from personal experience, I know that a down turn is a really difficult time to for a company to raise a many million-dollar, later-stage VC round. During the 2008 recession, I had to sell my company at a loss to the investors because I could not raise a $12M series C round.

For investors, capital-efficient, pre-seed companies who can get by for a few years on minimal dollars suddenly looking pretty interesting. And the current environment means that pre-money valuations and valuation caps will be more attractive. The balance of power has shifted somewhat toward investors.