Here We Go Again

Having managed to get a few days at home, it's now time to leave again. This time around it's just a relatively short hop to Texas, returning Wednesday.

With all that's happening in the economy, we've decided to do about the only thing that makes sense at this stage: go on the offensive and see what we can make of this quarter. We have stuff in the pipeline to close, so we need to close it. Anyway, that's partly the reason for the up-tick in travel, that and getting some other things underway for 2009.

The next couple of months will tell the whole of Silicon Valley a lot about what the future may bring, big company or small. For those with real businesses selling actual products to Fortune 500 customers, we need to pay close attention to what the customer is telling us about their plans and priorities going forwards. For Web 2.0 plays that rely on somehow monetizing advertising dollars, that writing is already on the wall and it's far from eloquent or upbeat. Fortunately, we are in the former category rather than the latter so we have the luxury of a little time in order to see how things play out.

If some extended time on aeroplanes is what it takes, so be it. I just wish they'd find a way to stop them from being large, cylindrical disease vectors into which you get packed sardine-tight just in order to ensure the maximum exposure to everything from a light cold to leprosy.

"Catch a flight and catch the flu", would be a more accurate slogan than any the airlines currently run. And I can vouch for that one being solid, 24-carat-true.