By Paul Gasparro

Two feet (9.44 cm) of snow fell in Denver over the weekend. I called my contact to ask if we should reschedule our Tuesday meeting.  He told me “don’t worry be happy” it will melt before you arrive. By the time I got there the snow was gone and the temperature was 75 F (22 C) and sunny. On Monday the Dow Jones fell 300 points because people thought that the BoA results were too good. On Tuesday it rose over 120 points beause Geitner told Wall Street “don’t worry, be happy” the banks are strong. Things change very fast in the world today. Part of the reason for the change is attitude. Read the Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

Many people are talking about the demise of the Venture Capital industry. In fact, investments in the first quarter($3.9B)in the US were 50% lower than in the first quarter in 2008. However when you look for the silver lining it actually exists. Scott Austin of VentureWire Alert does find it.  In the April 21 edition of Venture Dispatch he makes 3 excellent points about the recent quarter. First, the percentage of investment money going into startups has remained relatively constant (39%) since 2002. Second, not all regions of the country have been hit hard.  In fact, New England was down only 15%. Finally, the VC’s are flushed with cash having raised $24.7B in 2008, which has to be put to work.

So as the saying goes “don’t worry be happy”. The high tech industry will soon be vibrant again and  you will begin to turn on your product development faucet. When that happens, you can be sure that MapleWorks will be ready to support your needs. We have been using this economic slump to build cash reserves and strengthen our staff. We are in a position to turn on as fast as you need us.

(Paul Gasparro is Co-founder and Vice President of Business Development for MapleWorks – the smart choice for on-shore software development.)

by Dawn McGee

For anyone who had the opportunity to read my latest newsletter, you’ve already seen this title, but let me take a moment to expand upon it. It is springtime in New England, so there is a sense of rebirth in the air already, and maybe you’re thinking that I took my exuberance too far.

I was wondering the same thing. Really though, it does feel like there is a small sense of relief in the high tech community, even if it’s not necessarily right here in the Northeast. Normally, there is a regional nature to business, particularly in high tech. However, over the past year or so, everyone has been sharing the same sense of doom. Lately, though, the daily alerts that I’ve been receiving from Venture Deal have been strongly pointing to a resurgence of funding for California companies.

So that’s one data point. As I surfed a little more, I found that Cisco is buying up companies again. They just purchased Tidal Software and Pure Digital Technologies. I also found that VC firms based in the San Francisco Bay area are reporting more confidence again. Lastly, to bolster a general sense that the banking world will survive, Wells Fargo reported a record quarterly profit, giving some hope that the deterioriation in the financial sector is slowing if not outright reversing.

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Who can really say for sure? What I know is this – if the world is going to continue turning and businesses are going to continue running, innovation will also continue to occur and software projects will still need to be architected and developed. For me, at least, this speaks well of our future.

Dawn McGee is a Business Development Manager for MapleWorks – the smart choice for onshore software development.