Future Horizons v Final DR 18/12/08 10:49 Page 55
START UPS
55
Start me up
Counter intuitively, now is the best time to start up a new business, says Malcolm
Penn, Chairman & CEO from Future Horizons.
I
t is a well established fact that innovation is the oxygen a constant steam of new start ups to fuel its future growth. The
of creativity; likewise that creativity is the engine of problem with recessions is that economic issues tend to dominate
future market growth … you never grow a business by the short term agenda, muddying the longer term trends making
relying on old products. It is the next wave of inventions that it harder to get started in a downturn. We actually believe that
keep the industry growing, either by allowing you to do this is a beneficial not an inhibiting factor, and actually enhances
something that was previously impossible, adding new features to the start up’s success probability. Counter intuitively the opposite
expand its appeal, making an existing solution more practical or is true in a boom, as demonstrated by the recent dot.com
reducing its cost to make it more affordable. phenomenon.
It is also well know that smaller companies are much more When business is booming, investment money is freely
innovative than big ones. They have, or at least the successful available. This in turn encourages new ventures that are
ones will have, the passion, drive and fleetness of foot impossible increasingly subject to lower levels of scrutiny as the lemming
to nurture in the inevitable large organisation bureaucracy. ‘triumph of hype versus reality’ culture takes hold and risks are
Entrepreneurs drive creativity; pen pushers stifle it; you do not downplayed, even ignored. This is dangerous both for the
(or rather should not) see many pen investors and the start ups as the (relatively) ‘easy come’ cash
pushers in start ups or SMEs. discourages frugality and inadvertently adds a level of
uncertainty to future financial stability.
The industry thus relies on A further problem with starting up in a boom is that costs
are actually highest and resources the scarcest. Limited
supply and increased demand simply hits home with a
vengeance, everything from engineering manpower to the
price of hotels, office space and services. Time scales also
tend to stretch, as management has to spend valuable
time fighting for share of mine rather than developing
the ideas.
Starting up in a downturn has all these issues in
December 2008 / January 2009 www.euroasiasemiconductor.com
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