But at some point that will stop being true, so now more than ever I think it's important to be trying to build real, sustainable businesses.
At some point, all of the available in state talent is going to be employed. Now you have to look outside. Much of your senior talent are not going to be able to up and move. There's a big difference between working insane startup worloads with a company in your home town vice doing the same AND doing it a new city after having moved your family across the country.
And suddenly a lot of people can't. The financial crisis has toughened up immigration everywhere.
In addition to people starting their own thing, I've also noticed that a number of people are trying to focus a bit more on the work / life balance. Trying to get out more and enjoy nature/work out/etc. instead of working 20 hours a day. And, in some ways, this is impacting their decisions between startups and large companies.
Reading that sentence alone, and then thinking about how much big corporate CEO's are paid, and banksters and Wall Street types, hedge fund managers, etc. and as a software engineer I tell ya my heart just bleeds for them. What a horrible tragedy, having salaries for talent go up. So irrational! :) Heck, at least the engineers and designers are actually building something, and adding to society, which is more than many of those other types can say.
It's more "can this person commit in the same way that at unattached 25 year old could commit?".
Typically that answer is "no" but it's not fair to make that assumption for them and it is quite honestly a stupid assumption to make.
The current U.S. government's "tax the rich" attitude can't be helping small business, either. It just adds to the uncertainty.
Some have been running for cover, but some of us are running against the crowd.
