Clunky Flow

First the Bad News:

An impending recession means its bad news if you are in geared in deeply with the VCs and need to move rapidly on from trading on your cool new Web2.0-ish-ness to start demonstrating substantial short-term returns on investment.

And now the Good News:

Its good news if you can bootstrap, grow organically and emerge the other side. Where it’ll be a lot quieter. And much easier to get yourself heard. And by corollary good news for the YCombinator and SeedCamp model.

Via VentureBeat.com

Jon Fisher -a board member for several Silicon Valley based start-ups- predicts a “massive wave� of start-up technology company bankruptcies in the next quarters, as they run out of funding, struggle to make money and fail to find acquirers. On the other hand, some think that if companies can make it through the next several months, they’ll be especially well positioned for the ensuing economic recovery, in part because of reduced competition.

Plus ca change.

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There’s a movement afoot.

First, we witnessed the success of the YCombinator and SeedCamp models. Both standing out for successfully reinventing the incubation model to match the emerging realities of the business landscape.

Now, we have another crops of even more innovative models emerging, best represented by Ooga labs, Mixer labs and Maxtility.

For example:

Ooga Labs…[has] 15 designers and engineers who work in two-man teams to develop ideas in parallel…shrinking the teams down to two people - a designer and an engineer.

Ooga has also developed an unusual “cross-equity” ownership arrangement. “We have five different companies at Ooga Labs and everyone owns equity in each of the projects regardless of which one they’re focused on.”

See more here Financial Times:

It strikes me that this is the kind of thing that emerges naturally out of co-working arrangements. I wouldn’t be surprised if the guys in TL01 are fomenting something similar as we speak. I know the guys have already ‘talked to Joe‘ about how best to structure a company that emerges when passion and talent merge in a coworking space…

The guys could do worse than taking a look at these new and emerging models. Interesting times. And a space worth watching.

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