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Written by Gerry Langeler
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Monday, May 03, 2010 |
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OK, it's certainly premature to open the bubbly at this point. But
given all that we see, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one of
those bottles chilling for later.
Across our portfolio and with conversations with our colleagues in other
venture funds, there is a steady, rising drumbeat of, "Hey, things are
feeling better...in some cases much better!" We're seeing increased
customer activity across our companies. Budgets that were frozen in late
2008 and stayed that way in 2009 are starting to loosen up. A couple
of our companies are actually ahead of plan for the year so far (unheard
of in 2008 & 2009).
In the last six months, we've seen the return of investment bankers on
our calendar (for the past few years we've thought of them as unicorns,
cute but imaginary beasts). They see a recovery in the economy, bulging
corporate balance sheets, and investor cash on the sidelines all
pointing to a release of pent up demand for products, companies, and
public stock offerings. Are they right? Are we right? Time will
tell...but as of this time, it feels SO much better than it did even
three months ago that we have to believe better times are not just
ahead, but with us already.
The data below point to how hard and fast the fall was in the second
half of 2008, and it appears a sustainable upslope forming now.
 
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