Just a reminder that June is the year’s midway point and always a good idea to take stock of where we are so far.

The big tech stocks have all taken a long-overdue hit, as has the rest of the stock market and the word is that it has become harder to raise funding. It’s true that investors aren’t writing checks at the rate that they did, but then again, we’re coming off a 13-year tech high, and many people who cashed out or who were acquired suddenly became investors. But were they qualified? All things considered, that’s part of the broken VC model. Do they add value, or just money? There is a difference, and the distinction is important, especially in times like these.

Even the so-called high-flying seasoned investors are feeling the pain. It’s one thing to be a genius in the good times.  We’ll see who the true outliers are moving forward.

Everything seems to be in freefall right now, and it’s times like this when the pendulum starts to swing back to the other direction. There’s a shakeup going on in tech, on all sides of the equation, and speaking of the pendulum, not to worry: it will right itself in due time.

Employees are leaving Twitter, as they don’t necessarily agree with possible incoming new CEO Elon Musk’s politics. Which has been covered in the tech press ad nauseam. It’s nothing new.

Incoming CEOs often change policies and direction. If you don’t like it, you can voice your feelings in the press as much as you’d like but do keep in mind and head’s up: It’s a workplace, not a democracy. A slack channel is not a ballot box.

Netflix employees have also been very vocal about some of the content that the company chose to air. Result: Netflix updates ‘artistic expression’ guidelines, says employees can quit if they don’t like content – report. Remember when Google employee James Damore was fired for his manifesto? Business Insider reported back in 2017 that James Damore, the Google employee fired for his controversial manifesto, is (almost certainly) not a victim of a free-speech violation. Agree with Damore or not, what else is it?

But given Netflix founder Reid Hastings’ pushback on employees dictating corporate policy, and Twitter not exactly begging employees unhappy with the possible incoming regime to stay, it seems that there’s another change we may well be seeing more and more: that inmates are no longer allowed to run the asylum.

Since we are at the threshold of summer and health scares have once again taken over the headlines, we will share this with you, from the National Institute of Health, no less, so don’t shoot the messenger: COVID UPDATE: What is the truth?, which reported that “For the first time in American history a president, governors, mayors, hospital administrators and federal bureaucrats are determining medical treatments based not on accurate scientifically based or even experience based information, but rather to force the acceptance of special forms of care and “prevention”—including remdesivir, use of respirators and ultimately a series of essentially untested messenger RNA vaccines. For the first time in history medical treatment, protocols are not being formulated based on the experience of the physicians treating the largest number of patients successfully, but rather individuals and bureaucracies that have never treated a single patient—including Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, EcoHealth Alliance, the CDC, WHO, state public health officers and hospital administrators.[23,38]”

The piece is worth a read.

 

What does this have to do with entrepreneurship? Trust but verify.

True entrepreneurs shouldn’t be too disturbed by all of the above: entrepreneurs are accustomed to flying by the seats of their pants. There’s no true roadmap to building a solid company, but in times like these, we repeat, you do want to focus on building a solid company and one that can sustain itself, in the short term and even in the long term. Investment criteria is changing and as to the scrutiny being given to startups presently, we may not see that changing any time soon, so be prepared: at time like these, you not only want to test and verify, but to test, verify then test again.

So, take stock at this midpoint and remember: It’s one thing to make that leap of faith. And quite another to jump out of an airplane and believe that you can somehow figure out how to make a parachute on the way down. Careful out there as we go onward and forward.