2009 was extra special. Mortgage meltdowns, market meltdowns, high unemployment rate, venture/private equity lack of liquidity, the list goes on. I won’t dwell on how horrible 2009 was, but it’s hard not to. It’s still fresh on all of our minds. Let’s all forget about it, like it was a bad nightmare.
The good news is when there are troughs, there are peaks around the corner. Consumer spending appears to be picking up. Banking appears to be improving, the strongest will survive and thrive. Responsibility has returned, mortgage backed securities didn’t seem to be such a good idea. The market finished up more than 20% in 2009 and should continue through 2010. Corporations should have finished their right sizing exercises in 2009 to improve their bottom line but will need to look into hiring in order to improve their top line in 2010. Growth is the key. One more hurdle, commercial mortgage problems are supposed to be felt this year but it appears that it will be more subdued.
You may ask, why am I writing about the macro economy. This is an accelerator blog. Folks, the macro economy affects us micro startup entrepreneurs. Expect venture investing to pick up this year. Startups should have a stronger revenues as customers will look to grow their top line through technology. VCs know this. The key to economic growth is investment.
It all sets us up for positive year. As a friend reminded me, the US is great at growing bubbles. The beginning of bubbles are real growth, the problem is when they get over inflated.