Calacanis, who co-founded and then sold the blog network
Weblogs to AOL in 2005, believes that 2009 will make or break most entrepreneurs and the workaholics will win:
We're going to find out who the real entrepreneurs are in 2009 because they are going to spend another 12 months, on top of the last six, cleaning up the mess. It will be two years of total pain, so before we go any further you gotta make the decision if you're in or you're out.
Calacanis outlines a 12-point checklist of what he believes many entreprenuers will have to face over the next couple of years, including layoffs, begging VCs for cash and defaulting payments.
When your company goes through this kind of economic boot camp, I
think you get stronger. You understand which parts of your business are working the best and which ones are. ... You figure these things out when you start cutting. It's a sick and sad process to be sure, but Darwin is your friend at a startup.
For those companies that don't have enough cash in the bank, he recommends throwing in the towel, and do so with three or four months of capital left in the bank for the next project.
This email is intended for startup companies with less than 12 months of cash in the bank, who know in their hearts that their VCs have lost faith, and that Google, Yahoo or Microsoft aren't going to pick them up on a magic M&A carpet ride.
This isn't the first time Calacanis has offered blunt advice to entrepreneurs. Last year at just about this time he offered some startup advice on cutting costs, including firing everyone who isn't a workaholic. Check out the video below.
- Maria WoehrSee Calcanis' blog post
Mahalo's CEO Jason Calacanis might be close to evolving into the
Nouriel Roubini of the tech community after his gloom and doom and all too realistic blog post on, 'What to do if your startup is about fail (or "Don't Stop Believing").
