Is there a big chill coming for startups?

from The Starr Conspiracy Podcast Hosted by Ocho

As someone working in Work Tech, how worried should you be about the macro-economic outlook? The reason we ask is the appearance of a TechCrunch article wondering aloud if it is time to start worrying about startup layoffs. It’s a fair question. The Ukraine war grinds on, adding to economic uncertainty. The Fed is raising interest rates and ratchets up the prospect of a recession. Inflation has proven to be non-transitory. The global supply chain continues to be disrupted. We continue to experience the tightest job market ever. There are a lot of storm clouds out there. However, there are also lots of reasons to be positive. The underlying fundamentals of Work Tech remain strong. As the books close on Q1, the $8.125 billion in Work Tech investment may be a 25% decrease from Q4’s all-time record $10.9 billion, but it’s still up 86% from Q1 2021. Also, deal volume was at an all-time high — 202 deals, up 35% from Q4. And mega-deals keep coming, like Bay Area startup Remote. They power payroll and HR for distributed global workforces, and just raised $300 million from Softbank. TL;DR: It’s too early to panic. Music by Bonkers Beat Club. “Fifteen on Me.”