Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Surviving (and Thriving?) Through the Recession

This past Sunday's Globe column focused on eight rules for surviving the recession. It mentions companies like MessageSling, EMC, VistaPrint, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, and Cognex Corp. Here's the opening:

    There are two predictions that no businessperson in Boston is ready to make: how bad this recession is going to get, and how long it will last.

    "I'm afraid it's gonna be longer than six or 12 months," says Michael Bonney, chief executive of Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Lexington drug developer. "This is the biggest economic disruption since my parents' youth in the 1930s."

    "This will not be easy to fix," says Robert Shillman, chief executive of Natick-based Cognex Corp. "People are in a gloomy mood, and if enough people feel like they shouldn't be spending money, you get into a downward spiral."

    ...So what do we know about how the economic climate of the coming year will affect our region's innovation economy? In talking last week with a dozen CEOs, chief financial officers, and venture capitalists, some common themes surfaced.


The video is an interview with Chris Marstall, a Cambridge software developer who runs the Web site Tourfilter.com. He talks about the merits of a one-person start-up with unbelievably low operating costs.

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