Now Is The Best Time To Start

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-03-13 14:27:00 UTC
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Jolie O'Dell from Mechanicsville, Virginia, is a laid-off web designer and writer attending South by Southwest to make contacts and track down her next job. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Now is the best time to start a new company or organization, and here's why:

Thesis 1: Success is more a factor of the early team behind an idea than the early money behind an idea.

Thesis 2: In an economic recession, there is under-harnessed talent hanging from the rafters, waiting for the next big opportunity.

Conclusion: Now is the time to start something.

Sasha Dichter wrote a post this week about the shifting dynamics of labor in the nonprofit industry and the immense pools of talent to be tapped into. Today, Wired published a story about out-of-work programmers who were making the pilgrimage to South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin in order to expand their connections and find new jobs.

What's the connection, and what's the point? The upside of the downside we're in is that there are tons of kick-ass un- and under-employed people out there, waiting to be put to work in meaningful ways that connect to their values and harness their talents. When it comes to the talent marketplace, there couldn't be a better time to start something.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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