Happy New Year!

December 31, 2008 by Dave Haynes

All the best for tonight and the coming year.

I thought about predictions for next year, but it is sooo hard to get a sense of where things are going when the economy is so wobbly.

Suffice to say I think smart people and smart companies (usually, but not always, related) will do fine. Those who haven’t been all that smart to date, will need to make good and sometimes tough decisions over the next quarter or two and figure out very clearly what they want to do and what it’s going take to get there. Or get out before their investments are totally Draino’d.

Some companies will drop off. Yet more will come in. Prices will drop. So will fees. There will be more tall tales and irresponsible rumor-mongering. Business models will get better. Installations will look sharper. Content will be better tuned to the medium. And we’ll spend even less time explaining what it is we do, and what it’s all about.

Next year was going to be THE big year, for a few of those years now. It’s hard to imagine 2009 being a truly big year with a fat, smelly recession in play,  but I do get a clear sense the industry is coming out of its infancy and will develop some much-needed maturity in the months ahead. I’m actually optimistic about what’s ahead, and look forward to meeting and working my my industry friends and partners in 2009.

If you’re out tonight, have fun … and figure out who’s driving before you start popping corks.