

Credit Crisis Spreads a Pall Over Silicon Valley - browser411
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03valley.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

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Prrometheus
Seems like business as normal. I couldn't tease any palpable changes from that
article besides a general feeling of worry.

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gamble
It's worrying how the IPO market has become completely moribund - has there
been a significant tech IPO since Google? I can't think of one offhand. It
makes me wonder what will happen if the credit crunch makes established
companies less willing to part with cash or borrow to acquire the way they
have in the past.

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bigmac
VMWare was pretty significant, despite their less than stellar performance
lately.

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iamelgringo
It's only a crisis if you're relying on VC funding for your continued sucess.

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RyanGWU82
Or, you know, if you use credit.

It's going to be very difficult to run a company like TiVo which takes a loss
up-front but which makes a considerable profit on subscriptions. On the whole,
each TiVo subscribe is highly profitable, but companies like TiVo need credit
to fund new customer acquisition costs.

Likewise, if your customers are usually buying your products on credit, you're
also going to start having big problems. Many enterprise companies -- hardware
and software -- are used to leasing their products to big customers. Without
easy financing, it's going to become more difficult to sell both hardware and
software.

Plus indirectly, even if you don't use credit directly, your customers might.
ERP software for the auto industry may help them save billions of dollars, but
if people aren't buying cars, they won't be buying new ERP software. B2C
companies aren't immune either. Unemployment and increased consumer savings
will reduce the amount of disposable income that consumers have to spend on
tech goods and services.

It's a crisis for all parts of the economy, and I don't see how the tech
industry is any different.

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sutro
"Twitter for dogs." Classic.

