The Year of the Rat. That was 2008, all gone and in the past now.

The Year of the Ox is upon us. In the Chinese zodiac, ox is the sign of prosperity through hard work and resilience. We may have to work harder this year to overcome some of what we lost to the rats last year, but as the Chinese say “Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up”. So it would be our resilience and persistence, qualities of an ox, which will get us through this year and into prosperity.

I hadn’t intended to have a Chinese theme for this post, but as it appears that I have, I will throw in one more wisdom from the land of dragons. Wēijī, the symbol of crises in Chinese. While there is controversy on how one interprets this symbol, there seems to be a wide acceptance that the first part of the symbol represents danger, while the second can be loosely interpreted to mean opportunity. Hence it seems that while there is danger in any crises, there are always opportunities. So are their opportunities in the current economic crises? I sure hope so. Happy New Year.

Watch the video from Japan and …

It’s Christmas in the middle of an economic blizzard. Money is tight, credit is crunched. Banks are not lending, angels are not investing, VCs are not funding. So how does one go about getting dough to make cookies for Santa?

Why not learn from Santa himself. If Santa was looking to raise money, here is how he would pitch his business:

Santa’s Perfect Pitch

And what do you know; there are businesses out there that reward good behavior.

Thanks Santa.

Watch the video.

So says Guy Kawasaki. This may seem surprising coming from a former uber Apple evangelist, but it is one of the core philosophies Guy hones into every start-up company he has founded or funded.

One of the reasons why start-up companies fail is because the management insists on making their product perfect before shipping. A fatal mistake, especially in a technology industry. Technology changes rapidly and a product can always be made better. If you wait to incorporate all the new features, someone else will probably beat you to market.

But, before you go off and start shipping crap, take heed to the next suggestion from Guy:

“Churn, baby, churn. I’m saying it’s okay to ship crap–I’m not saying that it’s okay to stay crappy. A company must improve version 1.0 and create version 1.1, 1.2, … 2.0. This is a difficult lesson to learn because it’s so hard to ship an innovation; therefore, the last thing employees want to deal with is complaints about their perfect baby. Innovation is not an event. It’s a process.”

So there you have it. Start shipping your products now. Keep innovating and let your competitors play catch up with you.

Went to the Research in Motion Alliance Tour yesterday at the Canada High Commission in London.  RIM and CHC London hosted the event to showcase some of RIM’s partners to the mobile and wireless community in the UK.

There were some interesting products, but the demo from Unify4Life was downright amazing.  They have developed a series of products that would allow you to control variety of home appliances with your BlackBerry.  For example, you can use your BlackBerry to change TV channels, get TV guide on BlackBerry, change music on iPod or other stereo systems.  Control your garage door and your home lightning system, heating and air conditioning equipment.  The list goes on.

Future plans include developing these products for other mobile devices, such as iPhone and Windows PDAs

The West Midlands 2008 ICT Cluster Conference was held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, UK. Now in its 5th year, the event was packed with great sessions, including an interesting session on EU funding sources.

The evening awards ceremony was quite exciting, including wins for CandiTV and Rapide Commuications.

With mayhem all about and news media predicating a certain doom, smart money claims this to be the right time to start a company. And I agree (not that I have any money, smart or otherwise).

Paul Graham (Partner, Y Combinator), for example, thinks this is one of the best times to start a business, especially a technology company. Technology, Paul says, progresses independently of the economy. If you have a good idea it is better to start now than wait. If you wait, it may be too late. Chances are you are not the only one with that idea. Your potential competitors may be working on the same concept as you. If you wait for the economy to get better, your competitors probably already have a head start on you.

Don Dodge (serial entrepreneur) is of similar opinion, adding some great reasons why this is a good time to start a company.

• Easier to hire great employees, which you wont be able to during boom time.
• Easier to find office space, and cheaply too
• Office equipment and furniture can be had for less money

And perhaps most importantly Don says, if your product provides real value, customers looking to improve productivity are more willing to hear you out and perhaps even buy from you.

If that’s not enough to convince you, listen to Melissa Chang (President, Pure Incubation) and Caterina Fake (Flickr, co-founder) who echo Paul’s sentiments. Melissa’s five reasons on why this is a great time to start a company (written in March 2008) resonates well with Caterina’s six reasons why starting a company in boom time is not a good idea (written in March 2006).

One of the interesting points they both make is lack (Melissa’s point 4) or abundance (Caterina’s point 2) of competition. In bad economic times few companies will be started and hence you will have a head start when the conditions change.

However, if the economy is doing well, everyone and their dogs are starting companies and getting funded. Even if your product is better, you still have to deal with a shoddy product from a well funded competitor.

But in my opinion, there is no bad time to start a company. If you have entrepreneurial character, which implies resourcefulness, persistence and perseverance, economic conditions should not deter you from starting a company.

So if you have a great idea, I only have one question. Why are you still reading this?