For venture investing, will 2012 look more like 2008 than 2011? (poll ...

Will 2012 be a continuation of the good, bubble-like times for the venture capital industry and startups that are raising money? Or will we see a dramatic, economic-doldrums-induced slowdown like we did at the end of 2008?

Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch has raised these interesting questions in a post that recalls the R.I.P. Good Times slide deck that Sequoia Capital produced in 2008 as it was predicting disastrous times for startups and advising those startups to batten down the hatches and get ready for a long dry spell.

Schonfeld quoted Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital. Kopelman (pictured right), warned, ?I think 2012 will look more like 2008 than 2011.? Kopelman and others said the froth of the last 18 months is coming to an end. The number of seed fundings is exceeding the number of Series A fundings, which could result in a crunch for companies seeking Series A fundings.

The economy looks fairly weak, unemployment is at 9 percent, and in a survey released today, about 44 percent of Silicon Valley residents feel like they are not participating in an economic recovery. The latter report comes from the Survey and Policy Research Institute, which polled 458 Silicon Valley adults from Oct. 18 to Nov. 12, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Only 35 percent of valley residents said that they felt an improvement in their own lives from an economic recovery, according to the Silicon Valley Pulse survey. What?s your own view of whether the startup fundraising environment is improving or getting worse? Please take our poll.

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Tags: poll, Silicon Valley Pulse survey, Venture Capital

Companies: First Round Capital, techcrunch

People: Erick Schonfeld, Josh Kopelman

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/27/for-venture-investing-will-2012-look-more-like-2008-than-2011-poll/

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New Zealand set for asset sales after crushing election win (Reuters)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) ? New Zealand's re-elected center-right government claimed a mandate on Sunday to push on with up to $5 billion worth of asset sales and welfare reforms and said it would quickly get down to forming a new administration.

The National Party, led by former foreign exchange dealer John Key, scored 48 percent of the vote, increased its number of seats to 60 from 58 and gained the support of two small parties to guarantee a majority in the 121-seat parliament.

"It's a pretty strong endorsement of where the Government sits, and we're confident we'll be able to build the relationships needed to go ahead with the programme," National's campaign manager Steven Joyce told TVNZ.

National campaigned on promises to consolidate policies of the past three years and work toward economic growth by cutting debt, curbing spending, selling state assets and returning to a budget surplus by 2014/15.

Ray Miller of Auckland University said National had effectively neutralised its biggest weakness -- the unpopular asset sales, slated to raise NZ$5 billion to NZ$7 billion.

"They got the policy out early, they sold it in positive terms and in the end, while it was still a negative, it was one policy among many and not an overriding one," he said.

National plans to sell minority stakes in state-owned power energy companies and further reduce the stake in Air New Zealand. Key has promised local small investors will have preference in share sales, with a 10 percent cap likely on how much any single investor can hold.

WELFARE REFORM, SLOW CARBON TRADE

It also plans to reform welfare by getting people off benefits and back to work, and will slow down the expansion of its carbon trading system to lessen the cost on businesses and households.

Key's strong personal rating, his easy going, affable, unifying style was also a factor behind National's showing, despite continuing worries over the economy.

"I've got a PHD in geology and I still can't get a full-time job," said Sami Alshidi, 52, who has been working as a taxi driver and voted National because he felt it would steer the economy better.

Financial markets had already priced in no change of government and a broad continuation of policies.

"The National Party has a clear mandate to proceed with asset sales to lower fiscal deficits and government debt," said TD Securities head of research Annette Beacher.

"But this election was not on the global radar screens...(and) will likely be completely ignored."

The final tally of seats could yet change when tens of thousands of absentee votes are counted over the next two weeks, although the initial turnout of nearly 74 percent was one of the lowest in more than a century, election officials said.

The main opposition center-left Labour Party slumped to 27 percent, the lowest share of the vote in its 95-year history, and lost nine seats. The environmentalist Greens upped their share to more than 10 percent and gained four seats.

The re-emergence of the nationalist New Zealand First Party, led by the maverick veteran Winston Peters, from three years in the political wilderness, is expected to add fireworks but not impede National.

"We will make sure of a huge amount of sunlight on New Zealand politics," Peters said.

(Additional reporting by Ed Davies in Auckland, Mantik Kusjanto.; Editing by)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wl_nm/us_newzealand_election

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