Financial crisis = startup opportunity. NYC developers, join a startup

People that still have a job in New York aren't going to quit them to join startups in large numbers. It costs a lot of money to live in New York. Most developers on Wall St. could afford to move there only after they got the job offer. To join a startup, they'd have to completely downgrade their standard of living, which is a hard thing to do - take it from someone that left banking to go back to grad school for a CS degree.

Look on the bright side. This is actually good news for startups overall as it usually means less competition and survival of the leanest.<p>If you are bootstrapping, you should be particularly happy because you'll be seeing less competitors who are better-connected than you and have more funding. This very much levels the playing field between the davids and the goliaths.

This is horrible advice.<p>If you're in NYC joining a startup is a bad move, unless you've just been laid off from Lehmans or something similar.<p>Any startup that gets series A funding right now is going to have problems if they don't make it last or make a profit in at least 2-3 years, maybe more, bailout or none.<p>The lack of liquidity in the markets might get a temporary reprieve from the bailout, but they'll dry up again unless the root of the problems are addressed.<p>I'm not saying startups can't succeed in the US right now, it's just that it's a lot harder and will get harder still.

Good luck.

The whole argument is predicated on the assumption that capital will continue to flow to "start-ups." This is a questionable assumption. The stream of financing for start-ups will probably be shrinking.<p>The opportunity lies in having a lot of savings or having special access to capital through relatives to finance yourself. The shortage of capital and credit means a much less competitive landscape. The financing hurdle will knock many of your competitors out of the field. You'll be up shit creek if you're broke, though.