Many of the blogs I read and other sources of information I tap on a daily basis have been consumed with the "tough love" coming from several established venture capital firms like Sequoia and Benchmark.  I'm not going to rehash it here as it has been beaten to death at this point.  I am, however, going to weigh in on the fact that the message is not new but rather overdue. 

Here's a few hard truths that apply to start-up/early stage companies no matter what the broader economy looks like:

1. If you don't have a business model, you don't have a business.  If this is the first time this has occurred to you, you were going to fail (or get fired) anyway.
   
2. Cash is the most cherished resource you have especially when you are not self-supported (by your own revenue).  How you burn it should be governed by looking at every dollar you spend as your last.
3. If you are old school enough to have an actual business model, the projections you have made with regard to uptake/revenue/adoption will take twice as long and equal half what you think.  And that is in a positive economic environment.
4. An entrepreneur I admire once told me that someone has to look at your product and decide to take money out of their pocket and hand it to you because they think it is worth buying.  If this hasn't occurred to you or you haven't visualized how this would happen, see point #1 above.

We do have a few shreds of capitalism left here in the US and this is one – not
all companies succeed.  Quite frankly, venture-backed companies are
even riskier as you are betting on a market that may or may not materialize or has
materialized and there are now loads of competitors vying to dominate
it.

Regardless of the stage of company where you work, your job is always on the bubble (that's for you Dad).  That does not mean that you are teetering on the fire list every day but it does mean that a job is not an entitlement, it is an opportunity.  If you squander that opportunity, you will no longer have a job.  Losing that job can be based on your own performance, management performance, or macro-economic factors beyond your control.  Maybe not fair, but reality.

Basic business principles endure and always rule the day whether you are running 30x leverage in a hedge fund or building the next "it" product or service.  Brad Feld has some good thoughts on his blog including this post.  I am also embedding the much ballyhooed Sequoia Capital presentation below: